Although in moderation sugar is not a health hazard, we all know that we should avoid having loads of added sugar in our diets. When we say sugar, it means table sugar but also all the other forms of sugar that are used during food manufacturing.

You can see how much sugar is in a product by checking the nutritional information panel (the list with energy, protein, carbohydrate content etc.). The tricky part comes in when the nutritional info for sugar is not provided on the food label or when sugar is not called sugar in the ingredients list on the packaging.

Here are a few clues to make this easier:

By law, all the ingredients in a foodstuff must be listed on the label in descending order of mass. This is helpful because when there is no nutritional info on the label, the ingredient list can help you choose a healthier food. For example, when sugar is listed as the second ingredient in a tomato puree and appears fifth in the ingredient list of another brand of tomato puree, the second puree contains less sugar.

Other names for sugar used in ingredient lists that can help you identify it: corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, molasses, brown rice syrup, cane juice, evaporated cane juice, all fruit juice concentrates, including apple and pear and most of the words ending in "ose" including dextrose, fructose, glucose, maltose and sucrose.