Reduce added sugars

Not all sugar is the same

Sugar occurs naturally in foods such as fruit, milk and vegetables. These foods contain vitamins and minerals that your body needs. Don’t hesitate to eat them every day. Added sugars are used in cooking, baking and preparing foods. These added sugars are found as ingredients in most of the packaged food we eat – cookies, soft drinks, candy, cakes, pastries and other sweet treats, as well as non-sweet options like sauces and condiments.

Sugar and cancer

While sugar as an ingredient does not increase your risk of developing cancer, what it does to your body can. Foods and drinks with added sugar have lots of calories but usually contain few nutrients – and they don’t help you feel full for long. Eating foods with too much added sugar means you’re more likely to put on weight. And research shows that obesity increases your risk of cancer.

The World Health Organization and leading Canadian health organizations recommend that no more than 10% of our total daily calories should come from added sugar. Ideally, it should be less than 5%.

For an average 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, 10% is about 48 grams, or 12 sugar cubes.

One of the best ways to make sure you’re not eating too much sugar is to read nutrition labels. If sugar is one of the first few ingredients, the product is probably not a great choice.

Infographic showing added sugars contribute to weight gain and obesity, which can increase cancer risk

Tip: ingredients ending in “ose” are usually sugars.

There are many types of sugar. If you see any of these names on a list of ingredients, you’ll know you’re eating sugar:

agave nectar, brown sugar, buttered syrup, dextrose, cane sugar, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice, lactose, galactose, maltose, raw sugar, demerara sugar, honey, ethyl maltol, icing sugar, white sugar, date sugar, glucose, corn syrup solids, cane juice extract, fructose, carob syrup, fruit purée, maple syrup, maltodextrin, molasses, golden syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose, turbinado sugar, treacle.

Skip the sugary drink

Sugary drinks have little or no health benefits, but Canadians sure drink a lot of them. In fact, sugary drinks are the single greatest contributor of added sugar in our diets!

Sugary drinks include:

pop or soft drinks
energy and sports drinks
flavoured waters
sweetened coffees and teas
flavoured milk
drinkable yogurt
fruit drinks
100% fruit juice

Read nutrition labels

This will help you avoid foods high in added sugar. For example, choose whole grain breakfast cereals that have at least 4 grams of fibre and less than 5 grams of sugar per serving.

Rethink your drink

Drink water instead of soft drinks and juice drinks. Try diluting 100% fruit juice with sparkling water if you find it hard to give up soft drinks. Gradually reduce the amount of sugar you take in your coffee or tea.

Be ready for cravings

Avoid the sudden drop in energy that comes after choosing cookies for a mid-afternoon snack. When you’re craving something sweet, try a piece of fruit with low-fat yogurt or nuts.

Reduce sugar in recipes

Try using half the amount of sugar you would usually use in recipes. It works for most things except jam and meringues.

Check your condiments

Cut down on sauces such as ketchup, barbecue sauce, honey mustard and plum sauce. They’re usually very high in sugar.

Limit how often you eat processed foods

Many processed foods have added sugars. Eating processed foods less often lets you better control how much sugar you’re eating.

Sugar substitutes

Sugar substitutes, also called “sweeteners” or “artificial sweeteners,” are substances added to food and drinks to make them taste sweet. These substitutes help some people cut back on sugar, but you don’t need them to make healthy choices. You can also reduce sugar by choosing whole foods, drinking water and cutting back on sweets.

Aspartame is a common artificial sweetener that’s been used in Canada since 1981. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has said aspartame may be linked to cancer, but the World Health Organization (WHO) confirms that it’s safe to consume in moderation. The WHO outlines moderation as being within the daily limit of 0 to 40 mg per kilogram of body weight. More research is needed to understand how sugar substitutes affect health, including whether they might increase cancer risk.

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