Beware of Hidden Sugars

Sugar is everywhere in your supermarket! It's in plain sight in many foods, such as cereals, cakes, cookies and candy. But it's also lurking under many different names in products that you might never suspect. Foods such as canned soup and spaghetti sauce can also be heavy on the sugar.

Even though sugar and other simple carbohydrates can play a part in a well balanced diabetes diet, hidden sources of sugar can wreak havoc with the best laid nutritional plans.

Sugar travels incognito under many different aliases. Here are just a few of the common sources.

• Table sugar
• Brown sugar
• Powdered sugar
• Cane sugar
• Corn syrup
• Sorghum
• Maple syrup
• Honey

But then it can get a little bit tricky. There are other sugars that also end in "ose" just like sucrose does. They can be found in many food items.

• Glucose, (aka dextrose)
• Lactose
• Maltose
• Fructose - Even though fructose doesn't affect blood sugar as easily as sucrose, it is still a sugar and must be counted as a simple carbohydrate when you're keeping track.

Even more sneaky are the "ols" which are basically sugar alcohols. A lot of chewing gums and breath mints have these sugars in them. You may have seen these ingredients listed for these and other products.

• Sorbitol
• Xylitol
• Mannitol
• Maltitol

How can you defend yourself against these masked marauders? Be aware and read the labels. If it ends in "ose" or "ol", it's most likely a sugar.

Photo by Hilary Quinn