Everything you need to know about sugar

Many people try not to eat too much sugar, yet it is added to so much food and drink that it can be hard to avoid. It goes by more than 50 different names on labels, turns up in seemingly savoury products and leaves consumers puzzled by alternatives. Table sugar, or sucrose, is the familiar white granulated form made from refined sugar cane or sugar beet, but sugar is a broader term for simple carbohydrates found naturally in fruit and some vegetables (fructose, glucose and sucrose), dairy products (lactose) and malted grains (maltose).

Sugar in whole foods such as fruit, vegetables, milk and plain yoghurt is not the same health concern as added sugars; “These foods offer so many nutrients that are important for overall health,” says Sammie Gill of the British Nutrition Foundation.

United Kingdom

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