Hidden sugar in food

In short: Sugar often appears under many names in ingredient lists. This pushes it back, even though the sum can be large.

In more detail: The ingredient list is sorted by weight. When a manufacturer uses several kinds of sugar, each one appears further down than “sugar” in total would.

Our context: The product scanner recognises sugars in the ingredient list, counts them and deducts points when three or more different ones occur.

In Depth

Names for sugar

• sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose, lactose
• glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, corn syrup, invert sugar, rice syrup
• maltodextrin, concentrated juice, honey, agave syrup, maple syrup, caramel syrup, sweet whey powder
• “fruit sweetness” and concentrated fruit juice

How much is a lot?

• Sugary drinks: often 8 to 11 g per 100 ml, which is five to seven sugar cubes per glass.
• The nutrition table lists “of which sugars” per 100 g. More than 22.5 g counts as high, less than 5 g as low.
• The World Health Organization recommends limiting free sugars to under 10 % of energy, better 5 %.

Tips

• Look at “of which sugars” per 100 g, not at the advertising.
• Combine plain yoghurt, oats and fruit yourself.

See also: Sweeteners and sugar alcohols, Nutri-Score, Reading the nutrition table