Sugar Labels and Your Sweet Tooth

Sugar Labels and Your Sweet Tooth

We all have a" sweet tooth", or an urge for something sweet to eat, at times.  Many foods have hidden sugars in them, including foods that might taste salty.  How often do you check your sugar content on the nutrition labels of the foods you buy? If you are like most Americans, you probably do not check often. 

Sugars are hidden in our foods because we like how they taste and we like the euphoric feeling we get when eating them.  Sugar often makes nutritious foods taste good.  If the food comes without sugar, we often add sugar.  We add sugars to things like cereals, oatmeal, pancakes and coffee.  We have become a society addicted to sugar.

A Sample Nutritional Label

Americans have long known that a diet high in sugar can pack on extra pounds and lead to tooth decay.  For some people this makes alternative sweeteners an attractive substitute.  Nutritive sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate are very similar to table sugar from a nutrition and calorie perspective. Packages that claim to be “sugarless” often contain nutritive sugars.  In other words these nutritive sweeteners are just a liquid sugar. 

Some things you can do to reduce your sugar intake are…

·        Read food nutrition labels to determine sugar content.

·        Don’t add sugar to foods

·        Be aware of liquid sugars (honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, etc…)

·         Try to eat unprocessed foods as much as possible. Foods that are less processed tend to have less sugar content.

·        Be aware that breaking down  complex carbohydrates to sugar(bread,pasta,cookies) begins in the mouth.  If you do not brush your teeth before  bedtime, this sugar can affect your teeth health.

By observing the above, you might be surprised your waistline is trimmer and your teeth are less susceptible to decay.  We welcome you to leave any questions or comments and we will get back to you as soon as possible.