What’s more, you may be none the wiser about the sugar content of your food by looking at the label. Palmer-Wright says this is because food labels can be misleading. “Sugar can be written as sucrose, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup, glucose, maltose, dextrose, polydextrose, corn syrup, and maltodextrin, amongst other names,” she explains.
How to reduce your sugar intake? With foods becoming sweeter and misleading food labels making it difficult to decipher what you’re actually eating, it may seem like reducing your sugar intake is a losing battle.
First things first, it can help to know how much sugar you should actually be consuming on a daily basis.
Sal Hanvey, also a nutritionist at YorkTest, says according to recommended daily allowance guidelines, adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, (roughly equivalent to 7 sugar cubes).
When making more conscious food choices, you’ll also need to be aware of when sugar has been replaced with an artificial sweetener. Many people often see these as a healthier alternative.
However, Hanvey says the word ‘artificial’ speaks for itself. These artificial substances don’t occur or develop naturally. They are typically industrially made and manufactured on a large scale,” she points out.
