Carbohydrate and Sugars Label Claims
Sugar Free - Less than 0.5 g sugar/serving
Reduced Sugar - At least 25 % less sugar than the regular product
No Added Sugars, Without Added Sugar, No Sugar Added -
- No amount of sugars, or any ingredient that contains sugars that functionally substitute for added sugars, is added during processing or packaging
- Contains no ingredients that contain added sugars, such as jam, jelly or concentrated fruit juice
- The label specifies that the food is not low calorie or calorie reduced as appropriate.
Monosaccharides and disaccharides are often referred to as simple sugars. Food labels sometimes lump all these sugars under that one category, listing them as sucrose and other sugars. The nutrition label on a food package does not list a Percent Daily Value (% Daily Value) for sugars. There is no scientific proof to indicate that a particular amount of sugars in the diet is appropriate or inappropriate. Other than dental caries or cavities, there is no evidence that sugar intake is associated with chronic disease conditions.
The ingredient list tells you exactly what is in a food. Ingredients are listed by weight from most to least. Those in the largest amounts are listed first. Ingredients that are sugars may be listed as different words. Many of these end with three letters: ose. These include lactose, maltose, glucose, sucrose, fructose, dextrose, polydextrose and levulose. Other names of sugars used in foods include brown sugar, confectioner’s sugar, turbinado sugar, invert sugar, sorbitol, mannitol, honey, corn syrup or sweeteners, high-fructose corn syrup, molasses, date sugar, maple syrup, dextrin, caramel and fruit sugar.
Activity
Get two boxes of cereal and compare the breakdown of the total carbohydrate they contain. How many grams of dietary fiber, sugars and other carbohydrates do they provide? Which is lowest in sugar? Now, look at the list of ingredients. When does a source of sugar appear in the list of ingredients? Is it listed first, second, third or later in the listing? Ingredients in largest amounts are listed first. For the highest nutritive value, select the cereal that is high in other carbohydrate, high in dietary fiber and lower in sugars. For more nutritive value, select a cereal that does not give a source of sugar as the first, second or perhaps even the third item listed in the list of ingredients. Use this information to help you make informed choices.
Did you know?
Fewer than one in 10 Americans eats the recommended amount of food from the Grain Group. In 1996, bread, buns and rolls topped the list for the most foods eaten from the Grain Group.
Americans eat an all-time high of 25 pounds of candy a year! It's not just children eating candy. More adults are celebrating Halloween, and older adults eat candy to remind themselves of memories of when they were young. Americans spent nearly $1.8 billion on Halloween candy in 1998.
When Americans were asked to name their three favorite foods from the Grain Group, bread was ranked first, followed by cereal, rice and pasta.
Although foods from the Grain Group are good buys, Americans spend only 15 cents of their food dollars on those foods. They spend 16 cents of their food dollars on fruits and vegetables. Almost 60 cents of the food dollar is spent on more expensive food, including foods that are high in fat or sugar. Of this 60 cents, 30 cents is spent on other foods, foods that generally are high in fat or sugar and are more expensive, and 27 cents is spent on foods from the Meat, Poultry, Fish and Eggs Food Group. Americans get most of their saturated fat, the unhealthy kind, from this food group by not selecting lower-fat choices.
Popular Diets
A number of popular diets are low in carbohydrates. Some suggest that carbohydrates are “bad” and unnecessary; others emphasize high carbohydrate intake.
- High Carbohydrate/Low Fat (Ornish, Pritikin and Food for Life diets)
Thousands of “low-fat” alternatives now crowd the supermarket shelves. But simply cutting back on fat and loading up on carbohydrates may not be a healthy way to eat or lose weight, according to research. Just as not all types of fat are bad, not all types of carbohydrates are good.
Gram for gram, fat has more than twice as many calories as either protein or carbohydrates. Yet all too often the low-fat products on supermarket shelves are packed with sugar and highly processed carbohydrates to make up for the taste that’s lost when fat is removed. These low-fat alternatives often have just as many calories as the full-fat versions and may even have more.
- Low Carbohydrate/High Protein (The Zone, Atkins, South Beach)
In theory, a high-protein/low carbohydrate diet could help increase satiety, the feeling of fullness that comes with eating. Fewer carbohydrates could also avoid fast and high rises, and falls, in blood sugar, which may also keep hunger at bay. Together, these could help avoid overeating and make one satisfied with fewer calories.
In a review of low-carbohydrate diets, it was shown that low-carbohydrate diets were safe in the short term but that weight loss was due mostly to reduced caloric intake, not necessarily to the low-carbohydrate nature of the diets. Such reductions often happen when people drastically change what they eat.
Until more is known about diets that manipulate macronutrient ratios, it is best to follow the USDA’s 2005 Dietary Guidelines for any diet, whether reduced-calorie or not.
Artificial Sweeteners
Saccharin (Sweet ’n Low)– provides no calories and is 200 times sweeter than sugar. It was banned by the FDA until consumers rallied in support. Today a statement has to be added to foods that have saccharin that states that it can cause cancer in laboratory animals.
Aspartame (Equal) – composed of two amino acids and provides 1 calorie/tsp. It is 180-220 times sweeter than sugar. Aspartame may cause headaches in sensitive individuals. Heat denatures aspartame, and therefore it cannot be used in foods that need to be cooked.
Acesulfame K – provides no calories and is about 200 times sweeter than sugar. It is heat stable and can be used in foods that need to be cooked or heated.
Sucralose (Splenda)– a fairly new product derived from table sugar. It is 600 times sweeter than sugar and is stable at high temperatures.
Summary
Choose a diet with plenty of grain products, vegetables and fruits. They give you carbohydrates, a nutrient that gives you get up and go! Carbohydrate foods are also generally low in fat, depending on how they are prepared and what is added to them at the table.
Follow the Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid to eat healthy and stay healthy every day. To fuel up on carbs, have 6 ounce-equivalents from the Grain Group, 2.5 cups from the Vegetable Group and 2 cups from the fruit group every day (for a 2,000 - calorie diet). For other important nutrients, eat 3 cups from the Milk Group and 5 ounce-equivalents from the Meat Group. Since dry beans are a good source of protein, they are found in the meat group as well as in the vegetable group.
Foods that are complex carbohydrates are also some of our least expensive foods! Major food sources include grains, legumes (beans and peas), potatoes and sweet potatoes. For more nutritive value, eat more naturally occurring sugars that are in fruits, vegetables and milk instead of concentrated sugars in candy, cookies and soft drinks.
Read the Nutrition Facts label on food packages. Look to see what percentage of calories from carbohydrate the food provides. The percentage of calories from carbohydrate is more important than the total grams of carbohydrate in a particular food.
Enjoy!
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