• There are many different names for sugar, which can make it difficult to cut added sugar from your diet.
• Reducing your added-sugar intake can be beneficial for your health, and may even help with weight loss.
• Here are 71 names for sugar that you should look for on nutrition labels.

We eat a lot of sugar — more than most of us realize. And while we know to limit sweet treats like candy and ice cream, sugar is also hidden in some surprising foods — like bread, almond milk, and even salad dressing.

That’s because there are so many names for sugar — some you might not even recognize as sugar.

“Yes, sugar hides in plain view,” says Dr. Whitney Bowe, in Sugar Free 3.

“And it may be called something other than ‘sugar,’” she says. “Cane sugar, sucrose, fructose, agave nectar, high fructose corn syrup — but sugar is sugar, no matter how you spell it. There are more than sixty different names for sugar!”

How can you cut back on sugar if you don’t even recognize it on a nutrition label? Here’s what you need to know about these other names for sugar so you can make more informed eating choices.

Think you already know your sugar handles? Before you read on, test your knowledge and see how many sneaky sugars you can identify!

Take the quiz!

What Is Added Sugar?

Before we get into the other names for sugar, we first have to differentiate between the two major ways we get it in our diet — a.k.a. natural sugar and added sugar.

“Fruits and grains have a naturally occurring sugar which comes with fiber, vitamins, and minerals,” says Emily Tills, MS, RDN, CDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Syracuse, New York. “Added sugar is sugar that is not naturally occurring in the food — it is usually added to increase the sweetness or taste of foods.”

Added sugars are empty calories, Till explains.

They don’t provide the fiber, vitamins, and minerals — from eating a piece of fresh fruit, for example — that help your body process sugar more healthily.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend we consume no more than 10 percent of our daily calories from added sugar.

And the American Heart Association recommends limiting added sugar intake to less than 6 teaspoons (25 grams) per day for women, and less than 9 teaspoons (36 grams) per day for men.

71 Other Names for Sugar

By some accounts, there are more than 250 other names for sugar. “It can be hard to avoid sugar if you don’t make a conscious effort and know what to look for,” Dr. Bowe says.

These are some of the names of sugar you’re most likely to find on ingredient lists. When you’re trying to cut back on your sugar consumption, watch out for sugar hiding under these aliases.

1. Agave juice
2. Agave nectar
3. Agave syrup, all varieties
4. Beet sugar
5. Blackstrap molasses
6. Brown rice syrup
7. Brown sugar
8. Buttered syrup
9. Cane juice
10. Cane juice crystals
11. Cane sugar
12. Cane syrup
13. Caramel
14. Carob syrup
15. Castor sugar
16. Coconut sugar
17. Confectioners’ sugar
18. Corn glucose syrup
19. Corn syrup
20. Corn syrup solids
21. Date sugar/syrup
22. Demerara sugar
23. Dextrose
24. Drimol
25. Ethyl maltol
26. Evaporated cane juice
27. Flo malt
28. Florida crystals
29. Fructose
30. Fructose sweetener
31. Fruit juice
32. Fruit juice concentrate
33. Glucose
34. Glucose solids
35. Golden sugar
36. Golden syrup
37. Granular sweetener
38. Granulated sugar
39. Grape sugar
40. High fructose corn syrup (an added sugar derived from corn starch and commonly found in processed foods)
41. Honey
42. Honibake
43. Icing sugar
44. Inverted sugar (a.k.a. invert sugar)
45. Isoglucose
46. Isomaltulose
47. Kona-ame
48. Malt syrup
49. Maltodextrin
50. Maltose
51. Maple
52. Maple sugar
53. Maple syrup
54. Mizu-ame
55. Molasses
56. Muscovado sugar
57. Nulomoline
58. Panela sugar
59. Powdered sugar
60. Raw sugar
61. Refiner’s syrup
62. Rice syrup
63. Sorghum syrup
64. Starch sweetener
65. Sucanat
66. Sucrovert
67. Sugar beet
68. Treacle or treacle sugar
69. Turbinado sugar
70. Unrefined sugar
71. Yellow sugar

Is There A Difference Between Glucose and Fructose?

Glucose and fructose are two different types of sugar. Both can be found naturally in food, and they contain the same amount of calories.

But glucose and fructose have different chemical structures, and they’re digested and metabolized differently once consumed.

Glucose

Glucose is a monosaccharide, meaning it’s a simple unit of sugar that is one molecule.

“Glucose is what our bodies use for energy and is stored as glycogen in our muscles and liver,” says Tills.

Fructose

Fructose, also a monosaccharide, is a naturally occurring sugar in fruit. When converted to glucose in the liver, our bodies use it for energy, Tills explains.

Fructose from fruit is allowed in moderation on certain sugar free plans, but added fructose — such as from high-fructose corn syrup or agave syrup — in excess has been linked to negative health effects.

Which Sweeteners are Allowed on a Sugar-Free Diet?

It depends on the diet, but generally speaking, naturally occurring sugars (like the sugar in fruit and milk) can be part of a healthy diet. Here are a few types of sweeteners you may be allowed to consume on a sugar free diet.

1. Foods with naturally occurring sugars

On some sugar-free plans, Tills says, “Naturally occurring sugar can still be included, so you can still have your fruits, vegetables, and grains.”

This includes the fructose in fresh fruits and the lactose in milk.

2. Sugar alcohols

Some sugar free diets also allow foods infused with sugar alcohols, while others don’t.

These compounds — which may be naturally occurring or chemically produced — taste sweet, but they aren’t absorbed like sugar and don’t have the same impact on blood sugar but still have calories.

Some sugar alcohols you might find on an ingredient label include:

• Erythritol
• Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates
• Isomalt
• Lactitol
• Maltitol
• Mannitol
• Sorbitol
• Xylitol

Pro tip: If you see an “itol” at the end of it, that means it’s a sugar alcohol, says Michele Promaulayko, author of Sugar Free 3.

“This isn’t a great name for them since they’re neither sugar nor alcohol,” she says. “They are, however, chemically processed artificial sweeteners, so they’re a no-go on our program.”

Because they’re absorbed through the digestive tract slowly and incompletely, sugar alcohols may cause stomach discomfort, bloating, and gas in people.

3. Monkfruit

Monk fruit sweetener — an extract that’s 25 to 100 times sweeter than sugar — is a non-nutritive sweetener that doesn’t add calories.

4. Stevia

This natural sweetener is 50 to 350 times sweeter than table sugar. Because stevia is a plant extract and doesn’t add calories, 100 percent stevia extract may be allowed on some sugar-free diets.