Unless you’re chemically or scientifically minded, it’s likely you think of the white granules you sprinkle over your breakfast cereal or add to your cup of coffee as sugar. You’re right – it is sugar but the scientists and chemists among us refer to it as sucrose. Similarly lactose is the term for milk sugar and fructose is fruit sugar. 

If you want to know how much sugar is in a packaged product, you can look at the Nutrition Information Panel and see the quantity per serving and per 100g. If you can’t work out why a seemingly innocent product is high in sugar, you may be interested in the following ingredients which are all forms of sugar:

Sucrose is commonly known as sugar and is the predominant ingredient in icing sugar, brown sugar, caster sugar, cane sugar and raw sugar. Sucrose has a relatively high Glycemic Index (GI) rating (64) suggesting it’s rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and has an immediate response within the body’s digestive system. When sucrose is listed in an ingredients listing, it’s referring to sugar.

Lactose or milk sugarprovides milk and dairy products with sweetness. It’s also found in human breast milk, at a higher concentration than cows’ milk. Lactose makes up approximately 2-8% of milk. The name comes from the Latin word for milk ‘lac’ and ‘ose’ implying sugars. As lactose is inherent in milk, you won’t see it included in an ingredients listing.

Fructose occurs naturally in honey, fruit and vegetables and is the sweetest of all naturally occurring sugars. It has the lowest GI (19) of all natural sugars indicating it’s released slowly into the bloodstream and is longer sustaining than sugars with higher GIs. Like lactose, it’s intrinsic to fruits and vegetables so won’t appear as ingredient.

Glucose is the simplest form of carbohydrate and is almost always found accompanied with sucrose, lactose and fructose thus adding sweetness to foods. Glucose is the main fuel for the body and is essential to brain function. Glucose may be referred to as dextrose.

Agave nectar or syrup is a sweetener that’s approximately 1.4 – 1.6 times sweeter than honey and is often substituted for sugar or honey in recipes (being from a natural source it’s a vegan alternative to honey). It consists mainly of fructose and glucose and has a GI comparable to fructose. Agave can be purchased as in ingredient from health food shops or found in commercially produced foods as a sweetener. 

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)is a manufactured liquid sweetener commonly used in the food industry sector. It’s predominantly found in soft drinks but may be present in yoghurt, breakfast cereal, muesli and cereal bars and even bread and processed meats. It’s frequently used as a replacement to sugar/sucrose due to its liquid form (easier to transport and blend), relative affordability and because it’s sweeter than sucrose.

Invertor Inverted Sugar Syrup is a manufactured sweetener commonly added to baked goods and confectionary. Upon heating it results in a golden colour, hence the addition to biscuits, cakes, baked goods, chocolate and sweet treats.

Maltodextrin is an easily digestible food additive that’s less sweet than other sugar alternatives (and is subsequently lower in calories). It’s used in the production of powdered drinks, dried soup and dessert mixes and can also function as a thickener so you may find it in sauces and dressings.

Corn Syrup is a syrup primarily consisting of glucose so may be referred to as glucose syrup. It’s added to sweets and confectionery to add volume, enhance flavour and prevent crystallisation of sugar. However it can also function as a thickener, sweetener and humectant (an additive that enhances freshness by keeping foods moist). Like HFCS, corn syrup is commonly found in mass produced foods because it’s significantly cheaper than sugar.

Don’t forget that cupboard ingredients like maple syrup, golden syrup, honey, treacle, molasses and fruit juice concentrate also serve as sweeteners and may be listed as ingredients on food labels. If a food claims to have ‘no added sugars’ none of the above listed products should be listed, with the exception of fructose and lactose, which are naturally occurring.

Endorsed by our New World Nutritionist  ||   Proudly Partnering with Parents Centre

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