Hidden Sugars in Your Diet: How to Read Labels

I'M QUITTING SUGAR #4 - If there's processed starch in your jar of tomato sauce, cassava starch in a prepared meal, or corn dextrose in your slice of ham, you're swallowing sugar.

>> This article is episode 4 of our series "I quit sugar"

Corn dextrose in ham, glucose syrup in a country terrine, processed starch in tomato sauce, maltodextrin in vegetable broths, glucose-fructose syrup in crackers and cassava starch in cheese pasta all mean the same thing: these products are sweet.

In charcuterie, ready meals, canned vegetables, cans of tuna or mackerel, gherkins, vinaigrettes and mayonnaise, tomato sauces, bricks of soup, pasta with sauce, ready meals, sandwich bread, soy steaks, biscuits for appetizers and even small savory baby jars: all these products which are not yet found in the sweet aisle of supermarkets contain sugar or sweeteners.

Syrup, starch, starch and what ends in "ose" or "ol"

Without realizing it, it is very easy to absorb large quantities of it as it hides everywhere in our everyday consumer products. Only one solution: read the labels. But the operation of deciphering is not necessarily easy, so many names to designate sugar are numerous and the labels themselves sometimes sibylline.

First tip to help you see things more clearly: anything that contains the words "syrup", "malt", "starch" or "starch" and anything that ends in "ose", "ol" or "ide" should alert you.

Ranked from most to least present

Another no less important detail: the ingredients are indicated not in alphabetical order or randomly thrown but according to their quantity in descending order. Which means that for this rather high-end thick bar of milk chocolate and whole hazelnuts which displays in the first ingredients of its list sugar, hazelnuts (22%), cocoa mass, cocoa butter and skimmed milk powder, it It's actually a hazelnut and cocoa sugar bar.

Sugar is naturally present in fruits and vegetables as well as in other foods containing carbohydrates, such as dairy products, cereals or legumes. In detail: on the label of a product, the word "carbohydrates" refers to the total of simple and complex sugars present naturally or added. This includes sugar, starch, and fiber, which are considered carbohydrates but are not metabolized. If the term "carbohydrates" appears alone without further detail, it means that there are no added sugars.

If the word "including sugars" is indicated, this only refers to simple sugars, i.e. sucrose, glucose and fructose which can be natural or added. It is thus difficult to know what is the share of sugars inherent in the food of those added during its manufacture. The list of ingredients can still give you a clue: if no term suggests that sugar is part of it (of the starch, malt or syrup type) it means that these sugars are naturally present.

In the case of ketchup, which we know is particularly sweet: for 100 grams, the label indicates 23 grams of carbohydrates, including 22 grams of sugar. Knowing that on the list of ingredients, sugar appears in second place just after tomatoes (in their raw state, they contain a little more than 2 grams of glucose and fructose per 100 grams), there is a good chance for most of the sugars are added.

"Sugar", "sugar-free", "sugar-free" and "no added sugar"

As for "sugar" in the singular, it only refers to sucrose (extracted mainly from sugar cane and beets).

There are other subtleties. If a label says the product is "sugar-free", that means it does not contain sucrose (i.e. regular table sugar) but may well contain other simple sugars, such as fructose. "Without sugars" in the plural indicates that the product does not contain any simple sugar (sucrose, fructose, glucose, lactose). "No added sugar" means that the product contains only naturally occurring sugars. The mention "reduced in sugars" implies 30% less sugars than a similar product.

Example with plain yogurt. It displays 5 grams of carbohydrates: this corresponds to the natural sugar in milk, lactose. But in the case of a flavored yogurt: if it is indicated 15 grams of carbohydrates including 10 grams of sugars, this means that in addition to the 5 ranges of lactose, 10 grams of sugar have been added, as detailed by the doctor and nutritionist Laurence Plumey in Le Grand Livre de l'alimentation.

As for sweeteners, they are not indicated on the sheet detailing the nutritional values ​​of a product since they are not nutrients. These substances provide a sweet flavor and almost no calories. However, they must be specified in the list of ingredients.

Here is a non-exhaustive list of the many names that designate carbohydrates, sugars and sweeteners:

Acesulfame potassium (acesulfame K), starch (from wheat, corn, potato, rice, tapioca or processed), arabitol, aspartame, caramel, brown sugar, cellulose, sugar cane juice crystals ( and in general anything containing the word cane), cyclamate, dextrin, dextrose, erythritol, ethyl-maltol, starch (from cassava), fructose, galactose, glucose, glycerol, gum arabic, locust bean gum, guar gum, gum xanthan, isomaltose, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice, lactose, whey, diastatic malt, barley malt, maltodextrin, maltose, mannose, molasses, honey, pectin, polyol, sucrose, birch sap, syrup agave, carob syrup, glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), corn syrup, malt syrup, maple syrup, rice syrup, sorghum syrup, sorbitol , stevia, glucose solids, sucanat, invert sugar, telosmosides, thaumatins, trehalose, trehalulose, trilobatin, turbinado, xylitol, xylose.

Sweeteners have been included in this list because despite their low glycemic index, their health effects are criticized, in particular the fact that they disrupt the metabolism of blood sugar. Moreover, some carbohydrates in the list above are not used as sweeteners but for other purposes, such as thickener - this is the case of guar gum - flavor enhancer - thaumatins - or coloring - for caramel.

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