Increasing global consciousness about the dangers of too much sugar in the diet has resulted in manufacturers of processed foods trying to hide the sugar content. A myriad of names that could hardly be associated with sugar, or are innocent sounding, are used on the label. But sugar by any other name is still sugar.
In his book “Drop Acid” Dr. David Perlmutter lists seventy different commonly used names for sugar, listed here in alphabetical order.
- A: agave syrup, anhydrous dextrose.
- B: barley malt, beet sugar, birch syrup, blackstrap molasses, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, buttered sugar/buttercream.
- C: cane juice (crystals), cane sugar, caramel, carob syrup, coconut palm sugar, coconut sugar, confectioners’/powdered sugar, corn sweetener, crystal dextrose, crystalline fructose.
- D: date sugar, demerara sugar, dextrin, dextrose, diastatic malt.
- E: ethyl maltol, evaporated cane juice, evaporated corn sweetener.
- F: florida crystals, fructose, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate.
- G: galactose, glucomalt, glucose, glucose syrup solids, Golden sugar/syrup, grape juice concentrate, grape sugar.
- H: high-fructose corn syrup.
- I: icing sugar, invert sugar.
- L: lactose, liquid fructose.
- M: malt syrup, maltodextrin, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, muscovado sugar.
- N: nectar (including all fruit nectars, such as peach-, pear-, agave-, palm- and coconut nectar).
- P: palm sugar, panela sugar.
- R: raw sugar, refiners’ syrup, ribose, rice syrup.
- S: saccharose, simple syrup, sorghum syrup, sucanat, sucrose, sugar beet syrup, sugar cane juice.
- T: tapioca syrup, treacle, turbinado sugar.
- X: xylose.
- Y: yacon syrup, yellow sugar.
What is so bad about lots of sugar?
A single molecule of sugar consists of equal amounts of glucose and fructose, which gets separated early during the digestive process in the small intestine and follow different pathways in the body. After absorption into the blood stream during the digestive process, about 80% of glucose circulates in the blood stream and around 20% goes to the liver, while 100% of fructose goes straight to the liver.
Glucose: When glucose enters the bloodstream, it signals the pancreas to release the hormone insulin, which tells cells to absorb the glucose for processing inside the cells. The mitochondria in cells process glucose to form energy. Levels of the most critical energy molecule, called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), is tightly maintained in the cell.
Excess glucose is first stored in the liver as glycogen, and further excess is then converted into fat, as triglycerides, and stored in liver cells as such, or sent to fat cells for storage.
Too much sugar, too often, results in the body being flooded regularly with glucose, which causes repeated spikes in insulin levels. Eventually the cells revolt and become desensitized to insulin, a condition called insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes.
Fructose: During digestion, fructose is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and ends up in the liver, where it goes through various steps in its metabolism. While glucose is the currency of energy in the body, fructose is the currency of energy storage, in the form of fat, in the body. The byproduct of fructose metabolism in the liver is uric acid. High levels of uric acid have in the past few years come to the fore as the instigator of harmful effects on most metabolic processes in the body, including impaired brain functioning
What about the unprocessed sugar in honey?
Honey is the most ancient sweetener known to man. The use of natural honey as food and medicine by mankind has been in existence since time immemorial. While honey is popularly regarded as a healthy alternative to sugar, it has a very high sugar content and is in fact higher in fructose than in glucose – contributing to its sweetness.
Apart from glucose (31%) and fructose (38%), honey contains other sugars such as maltose and sucrose.
While about 85% of the solids in honey are a combination of glucose and fructose, honey also contains trace elements, minerals, and vitamins, which make up 0,5% of honey’s composition. The small quantities of trace elements and minerals includecalcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc. The wide range of vitamins found in small quantities in honey include the B vitamins riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, pantothenic acid, and vitamin B6; vitamins A, C, and E. It must be noted that honey’s unique composition can vary greatly, depending on the climate, soil conditions, and other variables in the environment such as the flowers from which the honey is made.
Honey has been used for centuries for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties. Due to the high sugar content, the use of honey has for a long time been frowned upon in dietary circles. However, recent scientific research has resulted in scientists such as Dr David Perlmutter changing their minds about honey and concluding that, due to its unique composition, honey is far more than a sweetener, made from sugar and that a touch of honey can be enjoyed in moderation. However, all honeys are not created equal. Raw honey straight from the farm may offer more benefits than processed, and often diluted varieties.
Conclusions:
The take-away message is to scrutinise the labels of all packaged and processed foods and drinks, even dietary supplements, to look for sugar content, as it all adds up to the daily intake of sugar. Guidelines from the World Health Organisation suggest a maximum of 6 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that into perspective, the average amount of sugar in a single 330 ml carbonated beverage (cold drink) is 8 teaspoons. (4 Grams of sugar = 1 teaspoon.)
If you simply cannot do without sugar, the healthier option may well be the most ancient sweetener known to man, natural raw honey, but enjoyed in moderation due to the high sugar content. Sugar by any other name is still sugar.
References:
Drop Acid. Book by Dr. David Perlmutter. Published 2022 by Little, Brown Spark, USA. P.324.
The chemistry of honey. Published 25 July 2015. Bee Culture. The Magazine of American Beekeeping. (www.beeculture.com)
Chemical composition of honey. Published online. School of Chemistry. University of Bristol. UK. (www.chm.bris.ac.uk)
Facts about sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB’s) and obesity in S A. Published April 2016 in Research News. University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg. South Africa. (www.wits.ac.za)
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