“Sugar is the sociopath of foods. It acts sweet…but it’s really poison.” – Karen Salmansohn
Ahhhh, sugar….you had to know it would come up eventually! Sugar itself isn’t bad, in fact, there are lots of whole, unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods with naturally occurring sugars. The problem lies in the foods with (sometimes, a lot of) added sugar. To make it even more difficult for us, food companies have gotten really, lets say, creative with how they list sugar as an ingredient. There are 56 {yes, 56!!} different ways sugar can be listed. {woah!} And some companies use multiple names to try and trick us hide it, so it’s really hard to know how much sugar is natural vs. added.
That is, until the FDA updated it’s nutrition label requirements, back in 2016, to include added sugars. {YAY!!} BUT they keep pushing back the compliance dates. {BOOOO!} Originally companies had to change their labels by July 2018, now it’s January 2020…or January 2021 if the company does under $10 million in annual sales. {A huge thank you to those companies who have complied and made their label much easier to understand!} I’m not convinced that any company that isn’t already compliant will ever be, because it seems as though the FDA can keep pushing the date. {sigh} So for now, we all have to be diligent consumers and read the list of ingredients to see if they’re sneaking in added sugar, even if we can’t tell exactly how much.
Some of the ways sugar is listed include the top three: sugar/sucrose, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and agave nectar/syrup. Here are a few more of the 56, that may appear a little less “sugary”, but they’re not:
- sucanat
- barley malt
- dextrose/dextrin
- caramel
- evaporated cane juice
- ethyl maltol
- brown rice syrup
- fruit juice/fruit juice concentrate
- sorghum syrup
The list goes on and on. Now lets talk about some of the reasons these added sugars are NOT good for us. (Note: it’s also quite a list, so I’ll just hit on a few). Too many added sugars in our diet may lead to:
- weight gain
- increased risk of heard disease, diabetes and certain cancers
- accelerated shortening of telomeres (aka faster cellular aging)
- decreased energy
- fatty liver
- decreased cognitive function (aka increased risk of dementia)
- dental problems
In respect to referring to sugar as an addiction, there is (as with most things) some debate. There are several studies where rats have shown sugar-addictive behavior, even going so far as choosing sugar over cocaine when given the choice. This is good for startling media headlines, but the bottom line is there are few human studies (aside from the giant one we are all a part of…called life) on the drug-like affects of sugar. More importantly, these animal studies are using sugar in isolation. Humans, in contrast, have access to sugar (and other foods) all. day. long. This makes it hard to replicate how we use sugar in a lab. We can, however, all agree on the fact that sugar DOES release dopamine in the body and food companies know this and are using it to manufacture food we are unable to resist. The way to stop this? First and foremost, be a label sleuth, look for added sugars, either on the nutrition facts label or the ingredients list, and stop buying these processed foods. Slay that sugar dragon!
Light and Love,
♥k