Sweet Escape: How to Spot Added Sugar and Cut Back Your Intake

Jenna Congdon
3 hours ago
4 min read

Let’s talk about that sweet stuff we all know and love: sugar. It’s a quick energy boost, it brings a smile to your face, and our bodies rely on it as an easy-to-use source of fuel. Modern food science has found ever-increasing ways to sneak sugar into a dizzying variety of highly processed foods. It’s often hidden in plain sight, disguised behind monikers that would win a round of Scrabble. Knowing how to spot added sugar in an ingredient list and choosing to skip them for lower-sugar options are essential tools for improving your daily diet and overall health.

Sugar: It’s What’s for Dinner (and Breakfast and Lunch, too)

American adults eat an astounding average of 17 tsp or 71 grams of added sugar per day. (1) That’s just under half the weight of the average smartphone! All that extra sugar provides hundreds of excess calories per day without contributing any other nutritional value.

In contrast, the American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 tsp, or 24 grams, of added sugar per day for women, and no more than 9 tsp, or 36 grams, for men. (2).

It’s important to note that these numbers only refer to added sugars, not natural sugars that are already present in foods such as fruit and dairy products. While natural sugars are still sugar, they typically come along with other good stuff like the fiber and vitamins in fruit.

Sky-high sugar consumption is linked directly to increased incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke. (3) Cutting back is a smart move that can protect you for a long, healthy life.

The Surprising Places Sugar Hides

Sugar finds its way into a dizzying array of packaged foods. Some syrupy suspects are obvious: soft drinks, candy, cookies, cereal, desserts, ice cream, coffee confections, and jams or jellies are all liable to be full of sweeteners.

Others are more subtle. Even foods that don’t seem sweet, like bread or condiments (think ketchup, salad dressing, and barbeque sauce), are often loaded with sugar. Seemingly “healthy” foods like protein bars or granola often have lots of added sugar hiding in them.

How to Spot Sugars on a Food Label

First, check how many grams of added sugar there are per serving. As of 2021, the FDA required all food manufacturers to include added sugars and total sugars on the nutrition label. (4) If a label lists 15 grams of total sugar and 10 grams of added sugar, this means 10 grams of sweetener has been added. The remaining 5 grams is sugar that is already present in that food. Choose foods that are low in added sugar, ideally less than 15% of the daily value listed.

Next, glance at the ingredient list. Ingredients ordered by descending weight; the first ingredient listed is present in the highest quantity. If you see a lot of different types of sugar listed early in the ingredient list, it’s best to skip that food in favor of something with less added sugar.

Finally, get smart about the names sugar hides behind on labels. In general, anything that has the word “sugar” or “syrup” in the name is added sugar, as are words that end in “-ose”. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but see if you can spot these sweet aliases on your favorite snack’s label:

Agave nectar

Raw sugar

Cane sugar

Evaporated cane juice

Coconut palm sugar

Sweet sorghum

Molasses

Beet sugar

Palm sugar

Maple syrup

Barley malt syrup

Rice syrup

Golden syrup

Sorghum syrup

Invert sugar syrup

Corn syrup

High fructose corn syrup

Sucrose

Glucose

Fructose

Saccharose

Maltose

Mannose

Dextrose

Maltodextrin

Back Away from the Sweet Stuff

Labeling foods “good” or “bad” and trying to entirely ban them from your diet isn’t always helpful or sustainable. Occasionally enjoying something sugary isn’t wrong, but aim to exclude most added sugars from your daily diet. Give these tips a try:

Switch to unsweetened versions of common foods such as non-dairy milks and yogurt, and ditch the soda for plain water or seltzer. Pump up the flavor of plain yogurt by adding fruit, cinnamon, or a dash of vanilla extract.

Add more protein and fiber to your diet. We crave sugar when our bodies need energy, or when our blood sugar swings wildly. Balance meals with protein and healthy fats to keep things level and dampen cravings.

Be suspicious of any food that has a mile-long ingredient list of impossible-to-pronounce items. Put those ultra-processed foods back on the shelf in favor of whole foods like vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.

It’s fine to indulge once in a while, but be a dessert snob! Don’t just nosh on anything sweet; hold out for your absolute favorite treats, and then take the time to really appreciate them.

The Bottom Line

Sugar harms our health, and it’s hidden everywhere, leading most Americans to eat far too much. Get smart about spotting sugars on food labels and make a few changes to your daily choices to support a long and healthy life.

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Assessed and Endorsed by the MedReport Medical Review Board