Sugar is playing a clever game of hide and seek with consumers. While it might seem easy to spot sugar in obvious places like sodas, ice cream, and candy, the reality is that sugar is often lurking in unexpected products. Surprisingly, about half of the added sugars in our diets come from these obvious sources, but the other half is hidden in places you might not suspect.
Take a closer look at the ingredients in everyday items such as ketchup, bologna, spaghetti sauce, soy milk, sports drinks, fish sticks, and peanut butter. You’ll find sugar hiding in most of these products. In fact, added sugars are present in three-quarters of the more than 600,000 items available in grocery stores. But how does sugar manage to stay hidden? Can’t we just check the food labels?
Just like a person might have multiple nicknames, added sugar has numerous aliases—56 to be exact. These include brown rice syrup, barley malt, demerara, Florida Crystals, muscovado, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), sometimes referred to as corn sugar. Even sugar’s tricky nicknames have their own nicknames. For instance, grape or apple concentrate affects your body the same way as its sugary counterparts. Organic evaporated cane juice might sound healthy, but once evaporated, it becomes sugar. Chemically, it’s all the same.
To complicate matters further, when multiple types of added sugars are used in a single product, they can be buried in a long list of ingredients. This makes the sugar content appear acceptable, but when combined, sugar can become the largest ingredient. Currently, the FDA does not provide a recommended daily limit for sugar, making it challenging to determine if 65 grams in a bottle of soda is excessive. However, the World Health Organization advises limiting sugar to just 5% of your total calories, or about 25 grams per day. Thus, 65 grams is more than twice the recommended amount.
So, what exactly is sugar? What’s the difference between glucose and fructose? Both are carbohydrates with the same chemical composition of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, but they have different structures and behave differently in our bodies. Glucose is the primary energy source for nearly all organisms on Earth and can be metabolized by all organs in the body. Fructose, however, is primarily metabolized in the liver. When the liver becomes overloaded with fructose, the excess is converted to fat.
Fresh fruits contain fructose, but it’s naturally occurring and doesn’t cause an overload because the fiber in fruit slows its absorption. This gives the liver the time it needs to process it effectively.
Sugar plays a significant role in making cookies chewy, candy crunchy, and bread crusts golden brown. It also acts as a preservative, preventing spoilage and evaporation, which makes foods easier to store and ship over long distances, often at a lower cost. This is why sugar is found in so many products.
It might be easier to list the foods that don’t contain added sugar, such as vegetables, eggs, meats, fish, fruit, raw nuts, and even your kitchen sink. Opting for water instead of soda, juices, and sports drinks is an excellent way to avoid hidden sugars. At the very least, pay attention to food labels to maintain a healthy sugar intake. In this game of hide and seek, every time you avoid added sugar, you win!
Grab a few packaged food items from your kitchen and examine their ingredient lists. Identify and list all the different names for sugar you can find. Compare your findings with your classmates to see who found the most aliases!
Calculate the total amount of sugar you consume in a day by keeping a food diary. Write down everything you eat and drink, then use the nutrition labels to add up the grams of sugar. Compare your total to the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 25 grams per day.
Conduct a simple experiment to understand how glucose and fructose affect your body differently. Eat a piece of fruit (which contains fructose) and a piece of bread (which contains glucose). Note how you feel after each one and discuss the differences with your classmates.
In groups, create a scavenger hunt in your local grocery store. Make a list of common items like ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and peanut butter. Find these items and check their labels for hidden sugars. Share your findings with the class.
Work in teams to create a delicious recipe that contains no added sugars. Use natural ingredients like fruits and vegetables. Present your recipe to the class and explain why it’s a healthier option.
Sugar – A sweet substance that is often added to foods and drinks. – Many candies and desserts are high in sugar, which can lead to tooth decay.
Glucose – A type of sugar that is an important source of energy for our bodies. – When we eat, our bodies break down food into glucose to fuel our activities.
Fructose – A natural sugar found in fruits and honey. – Eating fruits like apples and bananas gives us fructose, which is healthier than added sugars.
Carbohydrates – Nutrients that provide energy, found in foods like bread, pasta, and rice. – Carbohydrates are essential for our bodies because they give us the energy we need to play and learn.
Calories – A unit of measurement for energy in food. – Foods with high calories can provide a lot of energy, but it’s important to eat them in moderation.
Fiber – A type of carbohydrate that helps with digestion and keeps us feeling full. – Eating foods rich in fiber, like vegetables and whole grains, is good for our digestive health.
Liver – An organ in the body that helps process nutrients and filter toxins. – The liver plays a key role in breaking down the food we eat and storing energy.
Energy – The ability to do work or cause change, often obtained from food. – We need energy to run, think, and even sleep, which we get from the foods we eat.
Foods – Substances that we eat or drink to provide nutrition. – Healthy foods like fruits and vegetables help our bodies grow strong and stay healthy.
Preservatives – Substances added to foods to prevent spoilage and extend shelf life. – Many packaged foods contain preservatives to keep them fresh for longer periods.
