Sugar is another ingredient that can hide under many different names. If you see any of the following words on a label, beforwarned; it’s sugar!
- Brown sugar is sugar crystals contained in molasses syrup with natural flavor and color.
- Confectioners’ sugar is finely powdered sucrose.
- Corn sweeteeners are corn syrup and sugars derived from corn.
- Corn syrup is a syrup produced by the action of enzymes on cornstarch.
- Dextrose is an older name for glucose.
- Fructose is sometimes known as fruit sugar or levulose.
- Galactose is part of the disaccharide lactose.
- Glucose is sometimes known as dextrose or grape sugar.
- Honey is sugar formed from nectar (mostly sucrose) gathered by bees.
- Invert sugar is a mixture of glucose and fructose formed by the hydrolysis of sucrose in a chemical process.
- Lactose is commonly known as milk sugar.
- Levulose is an older name for fructose.
- Maltose is sometimes known as malt sugar.
- Maple syrup is a sugar (mostly sucrose) purified from concentrated sap of the sugar maple tree.
- Molasses is a thick brown syrup, left over from sugarcane juice during sugar refining.
- Raw sugar is the first crop of crystals harvested during sugar processing.
- Sorbitol is a sugar alcohol, which can be derived from fruits or commercially produced from dextrose.
- Sucrose is commonly known as table sugar; beet sugar, or cane sugar.
Sugarless does not mean calorie free, and many sugar-free products will not contain table sugar, but may contain other forms.