1. Both “reduced sugar” and “no added sugar” mean the product has no sugar.

WRONG. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows the term “reduced sugar” on products with “at least 25 percent less sugars” than leading brands. In other words, that means a reduced-sugar Coca-Cola must have 25 percent less sugar than the regular Coke. (Which means that it can still contain 75 percent of the sugar in the original formula.) Meanwhile, the term, “no added sugar,” is used for foods with naturally occurring sugars such as jams, jellies, preserves, yogurt, milk, some vegetables, and tomato sauce. But, in many instances, companies also add more non-naturally occurring sugars to these products.

2. If a food is labeled “sugar free,” it contains no sugar. 

NOT NECESSARILY TRUE.  So-called “sugar free” foods can legally contain trace amounts of sugar—less than .5 grams per serving, according to the FDA, which sets labeling guidelines. This means about 1/8 (or less) of a teaspoon of sugar might be in that tomato sauce you’re eating. “If you consume only one serving, then you’re getting negligible amounts of sugar,” points out Lynn Grieger, R.D., www.ivillage.com’s Healthy Eating Expert, “but if you eat several servings of one food or many `sugar free’ foods throughout the day, then the amount of sugar you get can add up.”

3.  Raw sugar, brown rice syrup, barley malt, honey, and maple syrup are better for you than refined white sugar.  

NOT TRUE.  This seems to be a universal belief, especially among the “health conscious.” “This is a way that manufacturers fool consumers by capitalizing on our desire to buy natural sugars,” observes nutritionist Ann Louise Gittleman, Ph.D.

            “I think people want to believe that some of these products are better for you,” adds Lynn Baillif, M.S., L.D., R.D., C.D.E., diabetes nutrition educator at Mercy Medical Center’s Diabetes Center in Baltimore. “Even though raw sugar and maple syrup may have different flavors, people have to understand that their nutritional value is no different from that of plain table sugar.”

      In fact, Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., author of Lick the Sugar Habit, further explains, “Raw sugar, maple syrup, honey, brown rice syrup, and barley malt are all metabolized by our bodies like sucrose, raising our blood sugar levels rapidly, upsetting mineral relationships and suppressing the immune system.”

4. Fruit juice concentrates are better for you than refined sugars.

FALSE.  Granted, foods containing orange, pineapple, or other fruit concentrates may look healthier, but fruit juice concentrates are metabolized in the same way as refined sugars, according to dietician Grieger. “People think fruit juice concentrate is as healthy as fruit, but it’s stripped of most of its vitamins, minerals and fiber,” she explains.

4 of 10 Common Food-Label Misconceptions About Sweeteners.

Excerpted from Sugar Shock! (Berkley Books, Jan. 2007) by Connie Bennett