How manufacturers hide sugar in our food
Dutch people consume twice as much added sugar as they think they do. On average, we think we consume 7.4 sugar cubes a day in added sugar. In reality, it is more than 14 sugar cubes. One of the causes: the hidden sugars listed on packaging under devious pseudonyms. That is the ultimate trick manufacturers use to sneak sugar into your food in disguise. And there are quite a few of them.
All in all, we consume around 10 kilos of sugar per person per year. This is shown by research conducted by PanelWizard on behalf of the Diabetes Fund*. Those sugars are added to many products, including products you would not expect. So it is hardly surprising that people estimate their sugar intake to be so low.
Sugar undercover
Keuringsdienst van Waarde once devoted an entire episode to the sneaky terms used for sugar. The official term is hardly used anymore, but sugar often goes undercover. For example, under the name fruit juice concentrate. Clever, because it sounds as if it is packed with vitamins, but nothing could be further from the truth.
Pseudonyms for sugar
And there are more than 50 (!) pseudonyms for sugar. Fruit extract sounds just a little friendlier, right? Many consumers associate the word fruit concentrate with fruit, and fruit is healthy. No, that is not fruit; it is simply sugar in a more sophisticated outfit. None of the manufacturers contacted wanted to admit to Keuringsdienst van Waarde that they use it. And what about maltose, dextrose, fructose and glucose?
For people who want to be more conscious of their sugar intake, the Diabetes Fund has a tip. Neeke Smit, dietitian at the Diabetes Fund: “To recognize sugar, it is important to look for words ending in -ose, such as dextrose, or -syrup and -siroop.
Sugar from ready-made packet sauces
We get three-quarters of our daily intake of added sugar not only from sweet products such as cookies, candy and soft drinks, but also from flavorings such as ready-made packet sauces. The amount of sugar in sweet chili sauce, for example, is bizarre! And these products also contain sugar—you probably did not know that.
Keuringsdienst van Waarde also checked which 10 supermarket products contain the most sugar. Forewarned is forearmed.
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The research was conducted by PanelWizard on behalf of the Diabetes Fund. The research ran from May 3 through May 27, 2024. A total of 1,140 Dutch people aged 18 and over participated in the research, representative in terms of gender, age, family situation, employment situation, education, region and province.
