HIDDING SUGAR IN PROCESSED FOOD

Eating a lot of added sugar is bad for your health.

It’s been linked to illnesses like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease ,however, most people aren’t pouring lots of sugar on their food.A large part of your daily sugar intake is hidden inside various packaged and processed foods, many of which are marketed as healthy.

Here are ways that food companies hide the sugar content of foods.

1. CALLING SUGAR BY A DIFFERENT NAME

Sugar is the general name given to the short-chain carbs that give your food a sweet taste. However, sugar has many different forms and names.You may recognize some of these names, such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Others are harder to identify. This is because food companies often use sugars with unusual names, this ingredient can be difficult to spot on labels.

2. USING MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF SUGAR

Food manufacturers often take advantage of this to make their products appear healthier, some use smaller amounts of three or four types of sugar in a single product. These sugars then appear further down on the ingredients list, making a product look low in sugar — when sugar is one of its main ingredients.

SUMMARY

Food companies may use three or four different types of sugar in a single product, making it appear lower in sugar than it is.

3. ADDING SUGAR TO FOODS YOU WOULD LEAST EXPECT

It’s common sense that a piece of cake or a chocolate bar probably harbours a lot of sugar.

Still, some food manufacturers pour sugar into foods that aren’t always considered sweet. Examples include breakfast cereals, spaghetti sauce, and canned beans, soup that is food that is expected to be salty will contain sugar for purpose of controlling taste buds or create addiction. Some yogurt cups can contain as many as 6 teaspoons (29 grams) of sugar.

As many people don’t realize that these foods have added sugar, they’re unaware of how much they’re consuming and eventually find themselves with diabetes .If you’re buying packaged or processed foods, make sure you read the label and check the sugar content — even if you think the food is healthy.

SUMMARY

Sugar is hidden in many foods — even ones that don’t taste sweet. Make sure to check the labels of packaged or processed foods.