Sugar Talk: Naturally Present Carbs vs Added Sugars

What’s the deal with sugar? Is it as bad as they say? Like most things in nutrition, it depends. I know, that’s not a very exciting answer but I’ll explain. If you google “sugar is”, you’ll see a list compile of either very good or very bad outcomes. Like the ones pictured below, is sugar good, bad, a drug, or simply a type of carbohydrate? or…as hard as a rock…not sure what that means exactly?

The Nuance of Sugar

It’s important not to suggest that all carb sources are the same and that all carbs are simply sugar with no added benefit.

Nuance is a true nutrition professionals favourite word. A lack of nuance (making simple, extravagant claims) is their greatest adversary and leaves much to be discussed and explained.

a subtle distinction or variation

Nuance

Without nuance, claims can seem concrete, definite, simple, and easy. When someone says something like “carbs are bad”, its a simple, matter-of-fact statement. When a nutrition professional sees this statement, they cringe a little because there’s no nuance behind it. We immediately ask ourselves questions like, carbs are bad…for who? for what? compared to what? how many? what types are we talking about? what does the rest of the diet look like?

For the sake of nuance, lets talk about the difference between naturally present and added sugars. Since sugar is a carb, lets start there.

What’s a Carb?

To simplify things, we have simple and complex carbs.

Simple carbs include sugar, the most basic unit of a carb. Complex carbs are many units of sugar attached together, branching like a tree. One of the main differences between simple and complex carbs is that the simple ones are absorbed almost right away. If we eat a bunch of simple sugars (like drinking a pop), they all get absorbed quickly. Complex carbs on the other hand, are digested one piece at a time. Its branches are clipped by enzymes, one sugar unit at a time, taking longer to digest and absorb. Complex carbs are also deep thinkers, stoic-like even…

Simple sugars (because they digest so easily) raise our blood sugar faster. They’re the types of carbs most present in ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks.

Naturally Present Carbs

Carbs aren’t necessarily just sugar. I think this is an important distinction because many carb-based whole foods are loaded with important, healthy nutrients like fibre, potassium, and many other vitamins and minerals. Let’s compare sweet potatoes to orange juice as an example. Both have naturally present carbs, though sweet potatoes have more complex carbs and the orange juice is missing many key nutrients like fibre:

Naturally Present Sugars

Fruit vs fruit juices

Some foods, like milk and juice have naturally present sugars. The important nuance here though, is what else is in the food. Think about an apple and apple juice for example, apple juice is, again, missing nutrients like fibre (similar to the comparison above between sweet potatoes and orange juice). The fibre plus the carbs plus all the other nutients in a whole food also work together to help us feel full and satisfied.

White vs chocolate milk

Both white and chocolate milk technically have naturally occuring sugar, known as lactose. But in this case, chocolate milk also has added sugar in it to change the taste and sweetness. The amount of carbs in a cup of chocolate milk is double that of white milk from the addition of added sugars.

Rememer from above, what else is in the food? The sugar in white milk (lactose) isn’t necessarily bad or good (though if you’re lactose intolerant it probably isn’t great). Milk has lots of protein, some fat (depending on the kind you buy), and is a great source of other important nutrients like calcium and vitamin B12.

Added Sugars

Let’s take a closer look at foods with added sugars.

Added sugars are, just that, added to foods to change the taste and texture. They ultimately make foods more appealing and keep us coming back for more. Added sugar offers no nutritional value other than calories.

How much added sugar should we eat?

Before we look at how much sugar is in some popular foods and beverages, lets adjust our reading glasses and know just what we’re comparing these numbers to.

The organization, Diabetes Canada, recommends that Canadians limit their intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their diet (less than ~50 grams per day, or 12 teaspoons). They also acknowledge the WHO guidelines for sugar intake that recommend even more benefit if we limit intake to 5% (that’s about 26 grams or less per day).

Keep those numbers in mind for this next section.

HOW much sugar is in those foods?

One of the most consumed sources of added sugars is sugar-sweetened beverages, like pop, energy drinks, and fancy coffees from places like Starbucks. Even the smallest sizes of a frappucino beverage has over 30 grams of added sugar. A medium size being the one used in the graphic below:

Apart from sugar-sweetened beverages, most other processed food are also likely to have added sugar. Especially things like chocolate bars, donuts, and cupcakes (…and candy…but I think we all know that’s just straight sugar).

Let’s take a look at how much added sugar is in something like a chocolate bar; a Snickers bar to be exact. I posted recently on my Instagram about what makes a Snickers bar so tasty, I’ve taken the following graphic from that post:

If you found this blog to be interested or helpful, you may enjoy reading the first blog I ever posted. It was about how our brain secretely sabotages us and our intentions to eat healthier, click here to read it 🙂

For more actionable tips on changing your diet, I wrote about how its important to consider both what we are, and what we aren’t eating. You can read that by clicking here 🙂

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