Compiled by Heidi Boudro
Here is a list of the names for sugar that you might find in an ingredients list on a food label.
Included are almost 150 different terms!
Food labels include two parts: the Ingredients list and the Nutrition Facts.
The ingredients list is the only way to find out whether refined, concentrated, or added sugar is inside the package.
If a sugar (under any of the the names listed here) is on an ingredients list, that sugar is an added sugar. It will also be a free sugar. Only free sugars are avoided in a sugar-free diet.
The free sugars that are most of concern are refined sugars--those are the monosaccharides and disaccharides created by refining.
The opposite of a free sugar is one occurring naturally in a non-concentrated food.
The Nutrition Facts part of the food label lumps together added sugars, concentrated sugars, and non-concentrated sugars.
This is useful if you are trying to avoid carbohydrates, but it doesn't give you any information if you are trying to avoid refined, concentrated, or added sugar.
In 2014, the FDA has proposed rules that would require a separate line for "Added Sugars" in the Nutrition Facts. That would solve the problem of trying to locate added sugars in the ingredients list, and we certainly hope that the FDA will institute this labeling rule.
Monosaccharides and disaccharides are biochemical names for two types of carbohydrates. They are a natural component of many whole foods.
However, any of the following terms seen on an ingredients list indicate a manufactured, chemically pure substance.
Pure sucrose or pure sucrose with additives
Sugar beet syrup
White granulated sugar
Products Made From Refined Sugar
Inverted sugar syrup
Brown sugar is normally white sugar with a small amount of added molasses
Molasses is a residue from sugar cane processing
Rapadura is a non-centrifugal cane sugar--partially refined to about 80% sucrose
Cane juice crystals
Cane juice solids
Dark brown sugar
Dehydrated cane juice
Evaporated cane juice
Evaporated cane juice solids
Light brown sugar
Natural brown sugar
Raw cane sugar
Regular brown sugar
Whole cane sugar
Examples of the range from concentrated to highly refined:
Fruit juice is a concentrated sugar that could be made simply by pressing the fruit at home
Fruit juice concentrate is fruit juice that is further refined
High fructose corn syrup is a mixture of industrially manufactured glucose and fructose
Derived from Barley
Barley malt crystals
Barley malt syrup
Derived from Coconut flowers
Coconut palm sugar
Derived from Corn
Corn syrup solids
High fructose corn syrup
High fructose maize syrup
High maltose corn syrup
Pancake syrup (typically)
Table syrup (typically)
Waffle syrup (typically)
Derived from Fruit
Concentrated fruit juice
Date sugar (same as sucrose)
Dehydrated fruit juice
Fruit juice concentrate
Fruit juice crystals
Grenadine (fruit and sugar)
Luo Han Guo
Derived from Rice
Brown rice syrup
Rice bran syrup
Rice syrup solids
Derived from Saps of various plants
Pancake syrup (more typically derived from corn)
Derived from Sorghum
Derived from Cassava root (Tapioca)
Raw honey is concentrated sugar as "manufactured" by bees.
Commercial honey is industrially refined.