Most foods these days have a nutritional label attached to them. Among other things, it lists all the ingredients the food contains. They are listed in order from largest to smallest by amount.
This is a problem for many foods because they contain a lot of sugar, which often is actually the largest ingredient. So the food manufacturers came up with a solution. They used products that are basically sugar, but in slightly different form and with a different name. And they count as a separate ingredient.
Here is a food label from a popular breakfast cereal
Ingredients & Allergens
Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Whole Grain Corn, Corn Starch, Corn Syrup, Dextrose. Contains 2% or less of: Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Gelatin, Trisodium Phosphate, Red 40, Yellow 5 & 6, Blue 1, Natural and Artificial Flavor. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate), Iron and Zinc (mineral nutrients), A B Vitamin (niacinamide), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), Vitamin B1 (thiamin mononitrate), Vitamin A (palmitate), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), A B Vitamin (folic acid), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.
As you see, Sugar is ingredient #2. But Corn Syrup is also sugar and so is Dextrose. So sugar may well be the ingredient #1. In any case, it has plenty of sugar. But to hide this fact, food manufacturers use different names for sugar. So read your labels carefully.
Here are the names in alphabetical order
- Agave nectar
- Barley malt syrup
- Beet sugar
- Brown sugar
- Cane juice (or evaporated cane juice)
- Caramel
- Coconut sugar
- Corn syrup
- Date sugar
Demerara sugar (cane sugar minimally processed)
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Fruit juice concentrates
- Galactose
- Glucose
- Golden syrup (type of invert sugar)
- High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- Honey
Invert or inverted sugar (mixture of glucose and fructose)
- Lactose
- Maltodextrin
- Maltose
- Maple syrup
- Molasses
- Muscovado sugar (unrefined or raw sugar)
- Panela (unrefined cane sugar)
- Powdered sugar
- Raw sugar
- Rice syrup
- Sucrose
- Sugar (or cane sugar)
Treacle (another name for blackstrap molasses)
- Turbinado sugar