Natural Sugar vs Added Sugar
Natural sugars are produced in fresh, whole foods like fruits and vegetables. Added sugars are introduced into products as they are manufactured. The natural sugars usually come with fiber and antioxidants while added sugar offers no extra nutrients, but do come with a higher calorie count.
Processed products with added sugar includes putting sweetener in your morning coffee. Realize that added sugars can include some natural product like honey, but most are white sugar and chemically created sweeteners.
Sugar Search
Of course, as much as possible you want to avoid added sugar (empty calories) as much as possible and consume nutrient-rich food.
Some of us have become avid label readers to find the more nutritious products available to us in the food stores. Labels are now required to list both total sugar and added sugar, although some companies have until 2021 to comply. When you read the list of ingredients, these are some of the names of added sugar you may see:
Anything ending in “ose” like dextrose or fructose
Corn sweetener
Fruit juice concentrates
Honey
Invert sugar
Brown sugar
Molasses
Raw sugar
Syrup
There are also some common terms used that will give you a clue about how much added sweetener is involved:
Sugar-free – This is less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving.
Reduced sugar – Compared to a standard serving of a traditional type of this food, the processed version has 25% fewer sugars per serving.
No added sugar – There were no sweeteners added including anything artificial, juices, or dried fruits
If the product has no fruit or dairy listed as ingredients, then most likely all the sugars listed are added.
Reduced Usage
It is best to get sugars (carbs) through natural sources like fruits and vegetables. Added sugars will increase the calorie count but do nothing toward nutrition, and will displace the more nutritious foods.
If you need help figuring out what a healthy plate should look like, talk to obesity medicine and nutrition specialist.
