Did you know: Sugar has over 50 names!
image: pexels / mali maeder
It is the fact that no one tells you about. I mean, come on!
That’s at least fifty more than P. Diddy has at the moment.
? Wait… is that his name, now???
sourced from GIPHY via HypeBeast
Much like my feelings toward Diddy, I’m not mad that sugar has so many names. It’s just that, WE NEED TO KNOW what they are because sugar is in pretty much everything we eat and that is mindblowing to me.
Although I have been teeter-tottering with the idea of actually committing to our NaturallyCurly No Sugar challenge, I have to admit… seeing this collection of various sugar names has me leaning more toward following through than I originally planned to.
With so many names, my curiosity shifted to overdrive. I began to learn about how sugar breaks down in the body, how to deep dive into food ingredient labeling, and why sugar addictions are even a thing, the latter of which was most fascinating to me.
Sugar addiction is real.
That is why I wanted to know how sugar, with its various and cleverly disguised monikers, affects our brains.
What I found blew me away. Seriously, you guys. It’s science.
This is Your Brain on Sugar.
If you have ever wondered why you cannot stop thinking about mashing fistfuls of cookies and scores of multi-colored, pellet-shaped candies into your face, you are not alone. It is because your brain LIKES it, and it wants you to feed more sugar to it. WOW! Can you say #headgames?
As educator Nicole Avena states, “Sugar also causes dopamine to be released, though not as violently as drugs.” Well, that fact may very well be why people use terms like “fiend,” “junkie,” and “addict” when talking about the sugary stranglehold of Tootsie Rolls, Nilla Wafers, and grandma’s chocolate chip cookies.
Learn more by watching educator Nicole Avena’s explanation of how your brain responds to sugar:
Post-watch, that gives me a whole new lease on just saying “No!” to sugar. But enough about me. Surely, you are ready to know every color of this rose so here are the names of our frenemy sugar.
Sugar names for the sweet:
- Anhydrous dextrose
- fructose
- lactose
- maltose
- carbitol
- concentrated fruit juice
- corn sweetener
- diglycerides
- disaccharides
- evaporated cane juice
- erythritol
- Florida crystals
- fructooligosaccharides
- galactose
- glucitol
- glucoamine
- hexitol
- inversol
- isomalt
- maltodextrin
- malted barley
- malts
- mannitol
- nectars
- pentose
- raisin syrup
- ribose rice syrup
- rice malt
- rice syrup solids
- sorbitol
- sorghum
- sucanat
- sucanet
- xylitol
- zylose
- brown sugar
- cane crystals
- cane sugar
- corn sweetener
- corn syrup
- corn syrup solids
- crystal dextrose
- evaporated cane juice
- fructose sweetener
- fruit juice concentrates
- high-fructose corn syrup
- honey
- liquid fructose
- malt syrup
- maple syrup
- molasses
- pancake syrup
- raw sugar
- syrup
- white sugar
So, there you have it!
All the potential baby names you could possibly imagine.
sourced from GIPHY
Dang it – I mean, all of sugar’s names!
When scanning food labels, make sure that you’re looking out for these bad boys (tip o’ the cap if you’ve come full circle – if not, please refer to Diddy at the top of the article”>.
Did you know all of these names? Is your brain hooked on sugar?
Let us know on Facebook!
Now that you are thoroughly versed (and possibly freaked out/disgusted/alarmed”>, are you going to take the No Sugar challenge? You can sign up by clicking this link: NaturallyCurly No Sugar Challenge 2018!
For #nosugar challenge progress reports, follow me @gerilynhayeson Instagram ?
As ever, be sweet!
If you need more sugar info, read these pieces by the NaturallyCurly editors participating in the No Sugar Challenge 2018:
