OMG! We DID It!!

In the video, Dr. Amen refers to a healthier alternative to pasta. It is the “Shirataki noodle”. This is a Japanese noodle made from the Konjac yam AKA “devil’s tongue yam” or “elephant yam”. They range from $3 to $4 a package  at health food stores. I found them at Rainbow Foods in Ottawa. 🙂

Did you notice that each time Dr. Amen looked at a package, he turned it over to the INGREDIENTS list, not the NUTRITION label? This is how I teach all of my Challengers to read labels, because the ingredients don’t lie….Nutrition labels  can be very deceiving.

That said, the food industry tries to keep us in the dark when it comes to ingredients a lot of the time, too! Dr. Amen even says “you need a chemist to know” what’s in this stuff!

So I wanted to try to make label-reading easier for you especially as it relates to sugar.

56 Most Common Hidden Names For Sugar

I have shared a list of the 56 most common hidden names for sugar so that when you turn over a package and you DON’T see “sugar” listed, you will still know what’s lurking inside.

I used the list found on a post written by Adda Bjarnadottir, MS, for Authority Nutrition, and then I researched what each one was to give us more knowledge and context.

I hope this serves you as you continue to navigate the world of food, food products, and food marketing.

1. Sugar/Sucrose: What we think of when we think of sugar. Extracted from the sugar cane.
2. High Fructose Corn Syrup: Highly processed sweetener derived from corn. Found in most processed foods, especially soda.
3. Agave Nectar: Once thought to be a healthier sweetener than sugar, agave contains about 70–90% fructose, and 10–30% glucose. Given the harmful health effects of excess fructose consumption, agave nectar may be even worse for metabolic health than regular sugar.
4. Beet sugar: A form of sugar extracted from the common beet. Sugar produced from sugar beet or sugar cane is identical.
5. Blackstrap molasses: Although it contains minerals like manganese, copper, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium, it is still the dark liquid byproduct of the process of refining sugar cane into table sugar. It is made from the third boiling of the sugar syrup and is therefore the concentrated byproduct left over after the sugar’s sucrose has been crystallized.
6. Brown sugar: White sugar combined with molasses to give it its colour
7. Buttered syrup: Think Mrs. Butterworth’s or Aunt Jemima’s
8. Cane juice crystals: See evaporated cane juice
9. Cane sugar or “raw, organic cane sugar”: For all intents and purposes, raw, organic cane sugar is completely identical to regular sugar.
10. Caramel:Sugar that has been melted and browned.
11. Carob syrup: Natural sweetener from the carob plant; lower in sugar than chocolate
12. Castor sugar: Ground, granulated sugar.
13. Coconut sugar: Considered a “healthier” sugar because it maintains minerals and fiber and is lower on the glycemic index, it is still high in calories and is a sugar.
14. Confectioner’s sugar: Finely powdered sugar with cornstarch added, used for making icings and candy.
15. Date sugar: Date Sugar is made from dehydrated, ground dates and is used like brown sugar. It is sweeter than sugar.
16. Demerara sugar: Partially refined light brown cane sugar coming originally from Guyana.
17. Evaporated cane juice: Since sugar is evaporated cane juice, this is simply a way for Big Sugar to mislead us into thinking this ingredient is somehow better. It isn’t.
18. Florida crystals: AKA evaporated cane sugar
19. Fruit juice: Fruit juice contains some nutrients, but less compared to many plant foods. It contains no fiber and is just as high in sugar and calories as most sugar-sweetened beverages.
20. Fruit juice concentrate: Fruit juice where the water has been removed, usually for packaging.
21. Golden sugar: AKA Brown sugar.
22. Golden syrup: Cane syrups, thickened by evaporation.
23. Grape sugar: Another name for dextrose.
24. Honey: Derived from bees, this natural sweetener is high in sugar but also contains antioxidants and minerals.
25. Icing sugar: It is powdered granulated sugar, with a touch of cornstarch (gluten-free) added to prevent caking that would otherwise occur when icing’s very fine particles absorb moisture from the air.
26. Invert sugar: A mixture of glucose and fructose obtained by the hydrolysis of sucrose.
27. Maple syrup: The main thing that sets maple syrup apart from refined sugar is the fact that it contains a small amount of minerals, especially manganese and zinc. However, it is also very high in sugar (about 67%).
28. Molasses: By-product of sugar cane and sugar beet refining processes. Dark coloured syrup.
29. Muscovado sugar: Dry crystal sugar made by crystallization of dark syrups (similar to Demerara-style)
30. Panela sugar: Unrefined whole cane sugar, typical of Central and of Latin America in general, which is a solid form of sucrose derived from the boiling and evaporation of sugarcane juice.
31. Raw sugar: A sticky brown sugar produced at a sugar mill by extracting cane juice from sugar cane, then partially purifying the sugar through boiling, evaporation and re-crystallization.
32. Refiner’s syrup: AKA Golden Syrup
33. Sorghum syrup: Sorghum stalks are pressed through an old-fashioned cane press which squeezes the juice from the sorghum stalks. This sorghum juice is then cooked down in an evaporation process similar to making maple syrup.
34. Sucanat: Dehydrated sugar cane juice. Sucanat (an abbreviation for sugar-cane-natural) has a stronger molasses flavor than refined white sugar and retains all of the nutrients found in natural sugar cane juice, including iron, calcium, vitamin B6 and potassium. Note: The amounts of trace minerals in raw sugar are so small that they are nutritionally insignificant.
35. Treacle: Treacle is any uncrystallised syrup made during the refining of sugar. British term for molasses.
36. Turbinado sugar: A semi-refined specialty brown sugar. It is a raw sugar that has been processed (double washed) for human consumption. Its molasses coating gives it a golden colour and mild caramel taste.
37. Yellow sugar: AKA Brown sugar.
38. Barley malt: an unrefined sweetener produced from sprouted i.e., malted barley, containing approximately 65 percent maltose, 30 percent complex carbohydrate, 3% protein. Barley malt syrup is sometimes used in combination with other natural sweeteners to lend a malt flavor.
39. Brown rice syrup: Brown rice syrup is made by breaking down the starch in cooked rice and turning it into easily digestible sugars. Rice syrup contains a lot of energy with almost no essential nutrients. In other words, it is “empty” calories like most refined sugars.
40. Corn syrup: AKA High Fructose Corn syrup.
41. Corn syrup solids: To qualify as “corn syrup solids,” the glucose (dextrose) content must be at least 88% of the weight of the concentrated syrup. This product can be called “dried glucose syrup” or “glucose syrup solids” in an ingredient list. Corn syrup solids are used in the same types of foods as dextrose and corn syrups.
42. Dextrin: a soluble gummy substance obtained by hydrolysis of starch, used as a thickening agent and in adhesives and dietary supplements.
43. Dextrose:  Dextrose is the name of a simple sugar chemically identical to glucose that is made from corn. Dextrose is used in baking products as a sweetener.
44. Diastatic malt powder: Diastatic malt powder is powdered malted grain, usually barley, but wheat and rice may also be malted. “Diastatic” refers to the diastatic enzymes that are created as the grain sprouts. These convert starches to sugars.
45. Ethyl maltol: Ethyl Maltol is a food additive. It is used in bakery products, chocolates, chewing gums, cocoa products, coffee, tea and herbal infusions. It is also used as a flavoring agent in tobacco, food, beverages, wine, and cosmetics. It enhances the flavor of food and increases the sweetness effects of food.
46. Glucose: Glucose, or sugar, comes from the food we eat. Carbohydrates such as fruit, bread pasta and cereals are common sources of glucose. These foods are broken down into sugar in our stomachs, and then absorbed into the bloodstream.
47. Glucose solids: Easy-to-digest simple carbohydrates, most often made from corn, rice, wheat, or potato starch. To obtain glucose syrup solids, a starch is cooked and then broken down into smaller glucose molecules.
48. Lactose: The sugar present in milk.
49. Malt syrup: Malt syrup is dark brown, thick and sticky, and possesses a strong distinctive flavor described as “malty.” It is about half as sweet as refined white sugar.
50. Maltodextrin: Maltodextrin consists of D-glucose units connected in chains of variable length. Maltodextrin can be enzymatically derived from any starch. In the US, this starch is usually corn; in Europe, it is commonly wheat.
51. Maltose: Maltose is the disaccharide (two glucose molecules) produced when amylase breaks down starch.
52. Rice syrup: Brown rice syrup contains three sugars: Maltotriose (52%), maltose (45%) and glucose (3%). Maltose is basically just two glucose molecules, while maltotriose is three glucose molecules. So by the time rice syrup reaches your small intestine and gets broken down, it is basically just 100% glucose, the same sugar that raises blood sugar levels.
53. Crystalline fructose: Pure fructose.
54. Fructose: Pure fructose.
55. D-ribose: A less sweet and less common sweetener.
56. Galactose: A less sweet and less common sweetener.

When We Know Better, We Do Better.

I hope today’s post served you. I hope it empowers you to know what you are putting in your body so that you can make informed choices. So often, people will believe that what they are eating is a wholesome food because of the marketing.

Just yesterday, I had someone ask if they should keep making their granola bar recipe that calls for both organic agave and organic brown rice syrup.

Now they know.

We can get excited by the word “organic” and “agave” and “rice” and believe that these are somehow better for us because they are more “natural”. But they are just as natural as sugar cane and often far worse for us, organic or not.

To this person, I offered  the recipe for Angela Liddon’s sugar-free granola bars. Angela runs the blog Oh She Glows and has a cookbook by the same name. It is a staple in my kitchen and I’ve shared the recipe below.

I also suggested swapping out the agave and rice syrup for honey or maple syrup, and cutting way down on the quantity of the sweetener in the recipe.

When we know better, we do better.