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Food & Health

The 60+ Names for Sugar

Ages 10–14 25 min read Intermediate

If sugar were listed as "sugar" in ingredients lists, you'd see it and think twice. So food manufacturers use dozens of alternative names. Same substance, different label. Once you know the names, you'll find sugar hiding in products you never suspected.

The Sugar Name Game

Here are some of the 60+ names for sugar or sugar-like ingredients:

The Obvious Ones

Sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, caster sugar, icing sugar, cane sugar, palm sugar, coconut sugar.

The Syrups

High fructose corn syrup, golden syrup, maple syrup, rice malt syrup, agave syrup, glucose syrup, invert syrup.

The "-ose" Family

Sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose, lactose, galactose. Any word ending in "-ose" is a sugar.

The Sneaky Ones

Maltodextrin, dextrin, barley malt, fruit juice concentrate, evaporated cane juice, molasses, treacle, honey, muscovado, panela, demerara.

Why So Many Names?

Two reasons:

  1. Different sugars have different properties. Glucose is less sweet than sucrose. Fructose browns better. Manufacturers choose sugars for functional reasons.
  2. Multiple sugars = sugar lower on the list. If a product uses three different sugars (glucose, fructose, maltodextrin), each appears separately in the ingredients list — further down than if "sugar" were listed once as a combined total. This makes the product appear to contain less sugar.

Where Sugar Hides

Products you might not expect to contain significant added sugar:

  • Pasta sauce: Can contain 7-10g sugar per serve
  • Bread: Most commercial bread contains added sugar
  • Salad dressing: Some contain more sugar than chocolate sauce
  • "Healthy" cereals: Many "high fibre" cereals contain 20%+ sugar
  • Yoghurt: Flavoured yoghurt can contain 15-20g sugar per serve — as much as a chocolate bar

The Australian Context

The average Australian consumes approximately 60g of sugar per day — more than double the WHO recommendation of 25g. Much of this is hidden in processed foods, not spooned from a sugar bowl.

Tonight's Question

"Check the ingredients of our bread, pasta sauce, and breakfast cereal. How many different names for sugar can you find?"

Sugar Hunt

  1. Go through the pantry with the sugar names list from this lesson.
  2. For every product, count the number of different sugar names in the ingredients.
  3. Calculate total sugar per serve using the NIP.
  4. Convert to teaspoons (grams ÷ 4).
  5. Create a "Sugar Wall of Shame" on the fridge with the worst offenders.
  6. For the top 3, find lower-sugar alternatives.

Go Further

  • Documentary: That Sugar Film (2014, Australian) — Damon Gameau eats "healthy" foods for 60 days to reveal hidden sugar.
  • Research: How did the sugar industry influence nutrition science in the 1960s-70s?
  • Question: Should Australia introduce a sugar tax like the UK, Mexico, and other countries have?
  • Challenge: Try to eat under 25g of added sugar for one day. Track everything.

What We Simplified

  • Not all sugars are equal. Fructose in whole fruit (with fibre, vitamins, and water) is metabolised differently from fructose in soft drink. Context matters.
  • Some "hidden sugar" is functional. Sugar in bread aids fermentation. Sugar in pasta sauce balances acidity. Not all of it is for sweetness.
  • Sugar isn't the only concern. Focusing only on sugar can lead to ignoring other nutritional issues (sodium, saturated fat, fibre).

Sources

  • ABS (2022). "Australian Health Survey: Nutrition." Cat. 4364.0.
  • WHO (2015). "Guideline: Sugars Intake." WHO
  • Kearns, C.E. et al. (2016). "Sugar Industry and Coronary Heart Disease Research." JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(11), 1680-1685.
  • Gameau, D. (2015). That Sugar Book. Pan Macmillan.

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