Did you know that sugar is the most popular food additive in the United State?

Did you know that sugar is the most popular ingredient added to foods in the United States? It's not always so obvious either. We all know that sugar is added to foods like candy, cookies, ice cream, cereal, soda, and other obviously sweetened foods, but I think you may be a little surprised to know that sugar has also made its way into many processed foods, including: ketchup, bread, tomato sauce, salsa, soups and broths, salad dressings, mayonnaise, processed meats, and even "health foods" like plant-based milks, nut butters, and veggie burgers. In fact, it's estimated that approximately 74 percent of processed foods contain added sugars stealthily hidden under more than 50-plus different names.

What exactly is added sugar?

Added sugars are sugars and syrups that are added to foods or beverages when they are processed or prepared. This does not include naturally occurring sugars such as those in milk and fruits.

Nutrition Facts:

If you want to cut down on added sugar in your diet, the first step is to cut down on highly processed foods. The second step is to start reading labels. Start by checking out the nutrition facts panel on the label to see how much sugar is in a serving size of that food. Food and beverage manufacturers in the United States have been required to list a product's total amount of sugar per serving, but they don't need to disclose how much of that sugar is added versus naturally occurring. Fortunately, that is changing and by 2021 all nutrition facts panels should include a line disclosing "added sugars."

Serving size:

Pay special attention to the amount of sugar in each serving size. If you have two serving sizes, you have to multiply the sugar grams by two. A lot of people make this mistake with beverages. They just consider the bottle one-serving size when it can actually be more than two. This can add up to a lot of sugar!

Ingredients:

Next you want to scan the ingredients to identify hidden sugars. Unfortunately, very few manufacturers call sugar by that name on the label and often use names that are more difficult to decode. As I said yesterday, anything with an "ose" ending is most likely sugar. Here are the names the food industry uses for added sugars on labels: