Sugar Is a Catch-All Word for Many Different Ingredients
It also includes fruit juice, honey, and starch, and it shows up far beyond the dessert aisle.
TED-Ed · How sugar affects the brain - Nicole AvenaSugar is not one ingredient. It is a general term for a broad family of carbohydrates, the starches and sweet-tasting compounds that supply energy in food and drink.
That one word covers glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, and starch. It also covers high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, raw sugar, and honey. Check the label on many sweet products and one of those names will be there.
The bigger surprise is where else those names turn up. Sugar is added to tomato sauce, yogurt, dried fruit, flavored waters, and granola bars, not just cookies, candies, cakes, and ice cream.
So sugar is not only in desserts. That is why reading the ingredient list matters.
Questions people ask
How can I spot hidden sugar on a label?
Look at the ingredients list for words ending in ose, such as glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, and dextrose, plus syrup, juice, honey, and raw or brown sugar. Then check the Nutrition Facts panel for total sugars and added sugars per serving. The same product can differ by several grams of added sugar between brands.