Why does sugar have 61 names?

Why do you think Sugar has 61 different names? Are you aware that up 74% of products is most grocery stores have sugar added? Did you know that studies conducted on rats have shown sugar to be more addicting than cocaine?

Sugar is addicting. Rats placed in cages with regular water, water with sugar and water with cocaine will end up only wanting the water with sugar.  Even showing signs of cravings and withdrawals if the sugar is not available.  Food companies know this. The problem is most consumers don’t.  Some foods promoted as “natural” or “healthy” have added Sugar.  Knowing the damage sugar causes how can companies be allowed to print “healthy” on the front and hide the sugar with one of these names in the ingredients list?  It is widely known that excessive intake of sugar-sweetened foods can increase your blood triglyceride level, increase fat accumulation in your tissues and raise your risk for developing Type 2 diabetes.  Fructose and glucose are metabolized for energy in your cells.  The energy is stored in a molecule called ATP.  However, when your tissue ATP levels are high, instead of being metabolized for energy, fructose and glucose are converted into fatty acids that are assembled into triglycerides for tissue storage.

I used to buy some juice drinks at the local grocery store. Promoted as healthy, natural drinks with no sugar added. That was before I knew that they could add apple juice from concentrate as the first ingredient and still say no added sugar.  In fact apple juice concentrate is worse for you then real sugar.  Because it has higher levels of fructose.  Creating higher levels of insulin and cortisol that end up leading to insulin resistance.  The food companies don’t want to place sugar as the first ingredient either, so they use several different names for it.  Here they are, the 61 names of sugar the food companies wish you didn’t know.

• Agave nectar
• Barbados sugar
• Barley malt
• Barley malt syrup
• Beet sugar
• Brown sugar
• Buttered syrup
• Cane juice
• Cane juice crystals
• Cane sugar
• Caramel
• Carob syrup
• Castor sugar
• Coconut palm sugar
• Coconut sugar
• Confectioner’s sugar
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup
• Corn syrup solids
• Date sugar
• Dehydrated cane juice
• Demerara sugar
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Evaporated cane juice
• Free-flowing brown sugars
• Fructose
• Fruit juice
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Glucose
• Glucose solids
• Golden sugar
• Golden syrup
• Grape sugar
• HFCS (High-Fructose Corn Syrup)
• Honey
• Icing sugar
• Invert sugar
• Malt syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Maltol
• Maltose
• Mannose
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Muscovado
• Palm sugar
• Panocha
• Powdered sugar
• Raw sugar
• Refiner’s syrup
• Rice syrup
• Saccharose
• Sorghum Syrup
• Sucrose
• Sugar (granulated)
• Sweet Sorghum
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Turbinado sugar
• Yellow sugar

One of the best books I have read on food and nutrition is a book by Dr Mark Hyman. If you really want to dive deep into the reasons sugar is so bad and why the food companies have vilified fat than you need to read this book. Eat Fat, Get Thin. This is an affiliate link, you will get a discounted price over buying it at your local bookstore.

Live Every Day Strong, Healthy and Happy.