Added Sugars (The Empty Calories)

An important fact to keep in mind when reading nutrition labels:

4 g of sugar= 1 tsp

Your body does not get any nutrtional benefits from added sugar except the calories. That is why added sugar are called "the empty calories". The average person consume nearly 22 tsp of added sugar a day that is counts for 350 calories. Even though we add sugar to the food ourselves, most of added sugar come from processed and prepared foods. Sugar-sweeetend beverages and breakfast cereals are among the highest foods with added sugar content.

There is nutritional need or benefit come from eating added sugar. A good rule is to avoid the products that are high in added sugar, and skipping foods which list "sugar" as the first or second ingredient. However, the growing use of alternative sweeteners make it more difficult to distinguish ingredients count as added sugar because the availability of multiple sources of sugar with different names.

Sugar-sweetend beverages:

Soft drinks are the prime source for the added sugar. They contribute to weight gain and provide no nutritional benefits. Studies indicate that liquid carbohydrates such sugar-sweetened beverages are less filling than the solid forms. As result, people continue to feel more hungry after drinking them despite the high caloric value.

The average can of sugar-sweetened beverages provide about 150 calories usually come from high- fructose corn syrup.

Regular consumption of a can of sugar-sweetened beverage daily, and not cutting back on calories elsewhere, could lead to weight gain as much as 7 kg a year.

Cereals and other foods:

Unfortunately most of marketed breakfast foods such as ready-to-eat breakfast cereals, cereals bars, instant oatmeal with added flavors contain high amounts of added sugars. Some ingredient lists mask the total sugar content by using a tactic where sugars are represented separately in smaller amounts of various forms. By doing so that makes it difficult for consumers to determine the actual amount of overall sugar in a product.

How to spot added sugar on food labels:

Spotting added sugar can be challenging. Though food and beverages manufacturers list a product's total amount of sugar per serving, they are not required to list how much of the sugar is added sugar versus naturally occurring sugar. There are few steps can be followed to estimate how much added sugar in a food by scanning its food label:

Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, so where sugar is listed in relation to other ingredients can indicate how much a particular food contains
Added sugars go by different names such alternative sweeteners. they are in fact forms of added sugar. Some other names for added sugar include: