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Hidden Sugars

✨ The Sugar Trap

Hidden sugars are sugars added to foods and drinks that people may consume without realizing how much they are eating. Unlike the natural sugars found in fruits, vegetables and plain milk, added sugars are incorporated during manufacturing, cooking or preparation to improve sweetness, texture, color or shelf life.

They can be present in products that do not taste especially sweet, such as breakfast cereals, flavored yogurt, bread, sauces, soups and ready-made meals. On ingredient lists, added sugars may appear under many names, including sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose, dextrose, syrups or concentrated fruit juice. Reading nutrition labels can therefore help identify foods that contain significant amounts of added sugar.

Regularly consuming large amounts of added sugars is associated with an increased risk of tooth decay, weight gain and a higher likelihood of developing conditions such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease when it contributes to an overall unhealthy diet. Health organizations recommend limiting free or added sugars while encouraging foods that naturally contain carbohydrates together with fiber, vitamins and minerals.

Reducing hidden sugars does not require avoiding all sweet foods. Choosing plain dairy products instead of sweetened versions, drinking water more often than sugary beverages, preparing meals at home and comparing food labels are practical ways to lower added sugar intake. These habits support a balanced diet without eliminating the enjoyment of eating.

💡 Did you know?

Cereal record. Some cereal boxes for children, which look very healthy with fruit drawings, can contain up to 40% sugar! This means that almost half of your bowl is filled with sugar. It's better to choose whole grain cereals and add real fruit into them.

Many names of sugar. Sugar likes to disguise itself! On labels, manufacturers sometimes use more than 50 different names so as not to write 'sugar'. If you see words that end in '-ose' (sucrose, maltose) or words like 'corn syrup', it's hidden sugar!

The soda experiment. If you boiled a can of soda until all the water evaporated, there would be about 7 to 10 sugar cubes left at the bottom of the pot, turned into a thick black syrup. It's impressive to see all the sugar we drink without realizing it!