Monday, April 12, 2010

Sugar By Any Other Name.....

Have you ever wondered why your plain yogurt contains 10 grams of sugar? Or whether the "fruit juice concentrate" in your power bar is a better form of sugar than table sugar (sucrose)? These are questions I receive quite often, so it's time for a quick review.

Carbohydrates (Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen bound together) come in two forms:
  • Simple mono- or disaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose, sucrose, and lactose)
  • Complex polysaccharides (starches such as legumes, corn, potatoes, bread, and cereals)
  • Fiber? On food labels, fiber is considered a carbohydrate. This is because fiber is a type of polysaccharide, which plays a structural role in plants. Humans cannot digest fiber.
When you look at a food label, this is what you see:

The cereal above has 24 total grams of carbohydrate, 2 grams of which is from indigestible dietary fiber, and 10 grams of which is from simple sugar (one of the six I mentioned above).

When you look at a label for milk or plain yogurt, you may see this:

Strange? You wouldn't think milk or plain yogurt would have any sugar, but lactose (a type of simple sugar) is found in all dairy products. On the food label it is considered a carbohydrate, and is under the sub-category "sugar". In my opinion, there should be an alternative sub-category called "Added Sugar". Would you know that the plain yogurt above has zero added sugar? Many of you may have know that, but some may have not. In fact, the typical amount of lactose found in dairy products is about 12 grams per serving.

What about this "Just Fruit Bar"?


Check out the ingredients. Pear Puree, Pear Concentrate, Cranberry Concentrate.

According to the nutrition facts, this one bar has 35 grams of carbohydrate, 6 grams of which are from fiber (nice!), and 23 grams of which are from sugar. In this case, the sugar is in the form of fructose. Is it any more healthy since it's in the form of the "fruit sugar, fructose"? Not really.


Yes this is a less processed form of fructose than HFCS, but if you were to eat a serving of fruit, which is what this bar is trying to mimic, you would only be consuming about 15 grams of fructose, not 23. You'd also be getting a lot of phytonutrients, which do not survive the heat it takes to create a "fruit juice concentrate".



Bottom Line: Carbohydrates are best in their most natural form; whole fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products. Limit your added sugars (from the extra sugar companies add to their products, other than the naturally occurring lactose and fructose) to 26 grams for females, and 37 for males.

Speaking of sugar, Julie is having a VitaTops giveaway!! Yeah, they have sugar, but less than most muffins, that's for sure.

Coming Up

Tomorrow I will post a new recipe and my thoughts on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution form Friday. Did you watch?! I also have an interesting post about Kashi, and whole grains coming up this week.
Thanks for reading! Have a great day.


30 comments :

  1. Carbs are complex, aren't they? :-) Like you, I TRY to get my carbs from natural, whole food sources, but it's tough in a world of processed foods.

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  2. WOW another awesome post girl!! I def try to get my carbs from fruits, veggies, grains. I never actually thought about it like that..no wonder sugary processed foods have so many carbs!

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  3. Thanks for all the info, this is very interesting! I am actually trying to cut down on sugars right now. I'm trying to eat just fruit and SOMETIMES a bit of dark chocolate and that's it. I hate that it's so addicting!

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  4. i MUCH prefer to eat my carbs then drink them or habve them in bar form I was just having this discussion with Jason because he was askign me about all natural fruit juices where the only ingredient is APPLES or ORANGES. I told him that you get way more fiber in real fruit and its in its most natural form. He is trying to gain a little weight so I told him that all natural juice would be good for him...

    anyways, great info! thankssss

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  5. Great post. I love being able to learn something new from you each time I come to your site :) It is amazing to me all this sugar nonsense! Now that you have enlightened me though, I am really going to watch it. Fresh fruit is so much better anyway!

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  6. Thanks for this information. It is very confusing. I would like to keep a lot of added sugar out of my diet (it is a trigger to binge) and out of my daughters diet (I just don't think all the added sugar is necessary). When buying yogurt that is flavored besides looking at the ingrediants I also take the brand I am looking to buy and compare the "sugar" grams of the plain to the flavored to try and figure out the added sugar.
    I am loving Food Revelution, it is on my DVR to watch today while I work out. I can't wait to read your post about it.
    Have a Great Day!!!!

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  7. I also prefer to consume my sugar from real fruit, not its juice. However, if I'm going to eat a bar or fruit leather or something like that, I prefer that sugar comes from the fruit, even if it's more than what would be in the fruit in its natural state.

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  8. This was such a great post! I read it as if I were being tested on it...I kept re-reading it to make sure I soaked in all the info lol...

    Since I have PCOS I need to start paying BETTER attention to my sugar intake...I have been slacking like WOAH in that dept.

    Thanks for always giving us such great info! People have to pay for you and WE get you for FREE! Lucky us =)

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  9. Great post! I would love if they included an "added" sugar category on the label. I think it would help to clear up some confusion with sugar.
    I only caught the first half of Food Revolution. Can't wait to catch your recap.

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  10. I would love if they included "added sugars" on labels as well. For most products I have taken time to try and figure out ones that have added it through reading the ingredients list and searching for the many different names for sugar, but I know i'm still missing it at times. It would be nice if it was right there in the nutritional facts.

    Will be watching jamie's food revolution on DVR tonight. Look forward to seeing your thoughts on it.

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  11. Great post! I would love to know how much added sugar is in a product as opposed to overall. I've seen sample nutrition labels like this in the works but I don't know when/if they'll be enacted.

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  12. Great post! Definitely the less added sugar the better, regardless of the source.

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  13. I totally agree with you that there should be an "added sugar" section. I know that plain yogurt contains some sugar that is not added but I don't think everyone knows that and I think it's important to know how much is added to make the most healthy choices. I think by including natural sugar in the list, people get used to seeing pretty large amounts and don't notice as much when even more sugar than necessary is added.

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  14. oh i love this! thank you for clearing so much up :)

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  15. Hadn't heard about 'palatinose'-thanks for the info :)
    Have posted a video from the "Food Revolution"-that show is amazing!!!

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  16. I loved this post- it's hard to really see what's in our food with all the marketing that goes into the packaging.
    I find that when I pull back on the added sugars, natural sugars taste so much better!

    I hate drinking my calories too- I would rather chew them!

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  17. Great post! Definitely breaks it all down in a bit simpler state to understand!

    I have one question - do you really like frozen fruit better than fresh? Any particular reason(s)?

    Have a great day!

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  18. Let's start a petition to have that additional category added on for added sugar. That is a fantastic idea!

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  19. Great to know! so would your advice for now just be to read the ingredients to see if there's added sugar? I didn't know all this - thanks!!

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  20. I always learn something new from your posts. Every single time! I think it would be so appropriate to add “added sugar” into nutritional labels. I have a probably silly question, but if you have a product with 24g of carbs, 10g of which is sugar and 4g of which is fiber…then is the remaining 10g the “real” carbohydrates? How should we look at that? Good or bad or neutral?
    Thanks Gina!!! And ew to energy drinks…I haven’t found one that I like yet!!

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  21. Thanks for this post, Gina. I am trying to be more aware of my sugar intake lately, and I am shocked at how it masquerades in so many of the foods I eat!

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  22. Awesome post!!! I totally agree about the need for "added sugars" on the food label. I missed Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution (too busy in wedding planning land); I can't wait to read your recap!

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  23. just found ur blog and really loving it! great posts!

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  24. I love how you break it down and get complex nutrition points across in such a clear method. You're really good at that, I'm sure your patients really appreciate it :)

    Looking forward to your Jamie Oliver review. I'm posting one tomorrow. Nothing in-depth, just a little something!

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  25. Oh no! I better catch up on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution before your recap. I love reading your thoughts on it!

    I knew all about the sugar info you gave us today! Haha! Do I get a star? :-]

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  26. "Have you ever wondered why your plain yogurt contains 10 grams of sugar?" YES I have!
    Sometimes the vanilla flavored yogurts only have a few more grams of sugar than the plain and I enjoy vanilla a lot better. But with the flavored yogurts, is there added sugar then to flavor them?

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  27. Great explanation. I couldn't have said so better myself. I always ha that issue in teaching diabetes classes. My patients (yes, more than one) would give up all dairy products because it contained too much sugar. The biggest concern was the label: carbohydrates 12 grams, sugar 12 grams and as you said, there was a total panic. Then people swear off all sugar and they need to be reminded of the differences between what is found in milk and fruit and what is sucrose (added table sugar). This is one of those topics that I find myself most often reviewing with clients and other people.

    I can totally understand your interest in the cake more than the dress and stuff. I planned my wedding in Baltimore and lived in Vegas and I was so excited that (and it was bittersweet as I was only in town for my grandpa's funeral) I actually got the chance to sample all the flavors and pick out what I wanted. And, I was traveling back shortly after to Vegas so I took Ryan some samples. Boy did I drag that woman's cakes all over the place. I wonder if you did it on a cruise, if there was a caterer where you would board that could make the cake and then deliver it on board. Hmm, just a thought. I like the cruise idea though.

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  28. I totally agree that added sugar should be it's own subcategory! I was given mona vie as a gift and didn't like it either. I hate super expensive products, that are marketed as super healthy when they really aren't.

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  29. Thanks for this post! I try to stay away from things with added sugar and get a lot of mine from fruits n such!

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  30. An "added sugars" column on the nutrition label would be AWESOME!! GREAT IDEA!!

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