How to know if a food has a lot of sugar | The State
Added sugar can also be found in large amounts in non-sweet products.
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He added sugar It is present in a large number of food products. You may think that you know which are the sweetest and that you are ridding excess sugar by not choosing these foods, but It is not all cases the sugar content is so obvious.
Sugar is also found in products that are not sweet Or you would think they are not loaded with sugar. In addition, many products can mask the sugar content in your ingredient list.
In the American diet, the main sources of added sugar are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavored yogurts, cereals, cookies, cakes, candy, and most processed foods. But Harvard Health also notes that added sugar is also present in products like soups, bread, cured meats and ketchup.
Food manufacturers add to products to increase flavor or extend shelf life. Many times know how much sugar a food contains may not be so clear to you or simple by consulting the label.
How do you know how much added sugar a food has?
The Total sugars include both added sugars and natural sugars. This includes the natural sugar in milk products (lactose) and fruit (fructose). Added sugars are the ones to limit.
If the product does not have fruits or dairy products in the ingredients, all sugars come from added sugars.
An important fact to keep in mind when reading nutritional labels is that 4 grams of added sugar equals 1 teaspoon.
The order of the ingredients. The ingredient that is at the beginning of the list is the one with the highest proportion in the product. The Harvard Nutrition Source recommends Skip foods that list “sugar” or its synonyms as the first or second ingredient.
Don’t be fooled. Some ingredient lists mask the amount of sugar. To avoid having “sugar” as the first ingredient.
Food manufacturers they can use multiple forms of sugar, each with a different name, such as brown sugar, honey, agave nectar, molasses, corn syrup, among others, and list them individually. Also they Sweeteners are forms of added sugar.
Don’t get carried away by the legend “Reduced sugar or less sugar”. The fact that a product indicates 25% or 50% less sugar, means that it contains less sugar than other similar products but not necessarily that its sugar content is low or recommended.
How much added sugar is too much
The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests a added sugar limit no more than 100 calories per day (approximately 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for the women and no more than 150 calories per day (approximately 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for the mens.
According to the limits recommended by the AHA, with a 12-ounce soda or fruit juice with 36 grams of added sugar we would be reaching the limit added sugar all day.
How many calories does sugar provide?
To find out how many calories of sugar in a product for each serving. Multiply the grams of sugar by 4. For example, a product that contains 15 g of sugar has 60 calories from sugar per serving.
Limiting added sugar not only looks after your weight, but also your health. The effects of added sugar intake such as higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease are linked to a increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
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