You’d think there’d be a good online reference for all the Sugar Aliases out there, wouldn’t you? One that’d tell you ALL those different names for Sugar-With-A-Capitol-“S”, (which is to say ingredients that contain extracted fructose, ie: the BAD GUY in sugar). And there are some sugar-name lists, but, I’ll venture to say, perhaps none as comprehensive as this one.

One big problem is that many of the Sugar Name lists out there fail to distinguish between sweeteners that contain fructose and those that do not– thereby committing the unforgivable sin of lumping innocent and lovable brown rice syrup in with such metabolic evils as crystalline fructose! (Can you imagine?)

In compiling this new comprehensive list, many of the terms I already knew, but some I had to research further. I hope you appreciate all the articles I had to read with titles like “The Biological Synthesis of Dextran from Dextrins,“ and the fact that I now – against my will- know what a structural isomer is. Yes! I did that for you.

So, (insert trumpet fanfare here) here is my Up-To-The-Minute, Pretty-Much-Alphabetized, Family-Sized LIST of Sugars-to-Watch-Out-For:

PS- Find a new sugar name? Send it to me!! I’ll add it.

THE SUGAR ALPHABET (54 different names and counting)

• Agave
• Barbados Sugar
• Beet Sugar
• Brown Sugar
• Brownulated Sugar
• Buttered Syrup
• Cane Juice
• Cane Sugar
• Cane Syrup
• Caramel
• Carob Syrup
• Castor/ Caster Sugar
• Confectioners Sugar
• Crystalline Fructose
• Date Sugar
• Demerara Sugar
• Dextran
• Dehydrated Cane Juice
• Evaporated Cane Juice
• Evaporated Cane Syrup
• Evaporated Sugar Cane
• Florida Crystals
• Free Flowing Brown Sugar
• Fructose
• Fructose Crystals
• Fruit Juice
• Fruit Juice Concentrate
• Glazing Sugar
• Golden Sugar
• Golden Syrup
• Granulated Sugar
• High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
• Honey
• Icing Sugar
• Invert Sugar
• King’s Syrup
• Maple Sugar
• Maple Syrup
• Molasses
• Muscovado
• Panocha
• Powdered Sugar
• Raw Sugar
• Refiners’ Syrup
• Sorghum
• Sorghum Syrup
• Sucanat
• Sucrose
• Superfine Sugar
• Table Sugar
• Treacle
• Turbinado Sugar
• White Sugar
• Yellow Sugar

Not sugar but if I were you I would also avoid:

Sugar Alcohols:

• Erythritol
• Isomalt
• Maltitol
• Mannitol
• Sorbitol
• Xylitol

Artificial Sugar Substitutes:

• Acesulfame Potassium
• Aspartame (Nutrasweet, Equal)
• Cyclamate
• Neotame (Nutrasweet)
• Saccharin (Sweet n’ Low)
• Stevia (Truvia)
• Sucralose (Splenda)

The Good News List!

These sound suspicious, but are more or less fine. They aren’t all necessarily health foods mind you, but they are sweetening agents that contain no fructose.

• Barley Malt
• Barley Malt Syrup
• Corn Syrup
• Corn Syrup Solids
• Dextrose
• Diastatic Malt
• Diatase
• Ethyl Maltol
• Galactose
• Glucose
• Glucose Solids
• Grape Sugar
• Isomaltose
• Lactose
• Malt Sugar
• Maltose
• Maltodextrin
• Rice Syrup

Foods to Watch Out For:

You’ll find sugars in the strangest places, once you start to look. Here are some of the surprising, but very common offenders of hidden sugar (fructose):

• Crackers
• Bread
• Bacon
• Vanilla
• Baby Food
• Baby Formula
• Salad Dressing
• Cold Cuts
• Marinades and Sauces
• Tortellini
• Smoked Salmon
• Chicken Broth
• Sausages
• Cereal
• Breakfast bars
• Granola bars
• Nuts
• Dried Fruit

Foods That Are Generally Safe from Fructose: (it’s a short list, isn’t it?)

• Cheese
• Non-flavored Pretzels
• Non-flavored Yogurt
• Non-flavored potato chips