How to Spot "Hidden Sugars"

Look at a range of nutrition labels, and you won’t find the word ‘sugar’ written very often.  That’s because added sugars have many different names.

Why is it important to be on the lookout for these “hidden sugars”?  For cardiovascular health, women should consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar daily, men 9 teaspoons.  Unfortunately, many diets have double or even triple that amount of sugar. Here’s what to look for when reading nutrition labels.

• Look for the word “syrup”.  For example, rice syrup, high fructose corn syrup or just corn syrup.
• Ingredients that end in “ose”, such as glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, lactose, dextrose, and galactose.
• Different types of sugar: brown sugar, cane sugar, raw sugar, confectioners sugar