What about added sugar?

[Guide]

image courtesy of the CDC

Sugar is just as much a valid rosacea trigger as any of the other proposed rosacea triggers since Sugar = Rosacea Fire.
You will not learn that sugar is a rosacea trigger from any other rosacea non profit organization because the RRDi is the only one that lists sugar as a rosacea trigger. This post will help you understand how you can figure out better what added sugar is in the processed food or drink you might consume to see how much sugar you are allowing in your diet. 

We reported in 2015 how the FDA was considering make a a change on the nutrition facts label about how many grams of added sugar is in a food or drink (the eighth post in this thread dated Posted July 25, 2015). The FDA did change the Nutrition Facts Label to show added sugar with this announcement in October 2018 that allows certain manufacturers until 2021 to comply with the change. While there are six new differences in the label, item number 3 is about added sugar and note what the FDA states about this:

"3. Added sugars are now listed to help you know how much you are consuming. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends you consume less than 10 percent of calories per day from added sugars. That is because it is difficult to get the nutrients you need for good health while staying within calorie limits if you consume more than 10 percent of your total daily calories from added sugar." October 2018 announcement

Healthline had this to say about the above label change:

"Before this label change, different types of sugars were lumped into a total sugars category on the Nutrition Facts label. For example, many fruit yogurts contain sugars from three sources: lactose from milk, natural sugars from fruit, and added sugars. All of these were tallied as one figure under total sugars. The new labels will distinguish added sugars to help people understand exactly how much they’re eating, which shouldn’t be more than 10 percent of their daily calories, according to the FDA’s dietary guidelines." New Nutrition Labels Reveal How Much Added Sugar You’re Eating, Healthline, November 2, 2018

WebMD had this to say about the label change:

"It can be tough to recognize added sugars by looking at the list of ingredients on a label, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar and sucrose are just some of the many different ingredients that contribute added sugars to food, the CDC notes.

To make things simpler for consumers, the FDA proposed a new line on the Nutrition Facts label that totals up all these sources of added sugar." 'Added Sugars' Label on Foods May Save Many Lives, Dennis Thompson, WebMD

Later, the FDA allows manufacturers of certain "single-ingredient sugars and syrups and certain cranberry products' that "allow for the use of a “†” symbol immediately following the percent Daily Value declaration for Added Sugars, which leads consumers to a statement that provides information about the gram amount of Added Sugars, as well as information about how that amount of sugar contributes to the percent Daily Value." Statement on new guidance for the declaration of added sugars on food labels for single-ingredient sugars and syrups and certain cranberry products, Susan T. Mayne Ph.D., Director - Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN)

The CDC has this to say about the amount of added sugar you should consume each day: 

"Americans should keep their intake of added sugars to less than 10% of their total daily calories as part of a healthy diet. For example, in a 2,000 daily calorie diet no more than 200 calories should come from added sugars." Know Your Limit for Added Sugars

To convert calories to grams you should remember that there are 4 calories in one gram of carbohydrate. So the above recommendation from the CDC which is based upon the new FDA recommendation means that 10% of added sugar amounts to 50 grams of carbohydrate. Sugar is carbohydrate. Further, the added sugar is just what the label is pointing out to you besides the natural sugar or carbohydrate in the food or drink your are consuming. So if you look at the new label at the top of this post the TOTAL carbohydrate (sugar) contained in the item is 37 grams. Of that 37 grams there is included 10 grams of added sugar. In other words, if the product didn't add the 10 grams of sugar the food item still has 27 grams of carbohydrate (sugar). 

If you want to learn for your self whether reducing sugar (carbohydrate) in your diet improves your rosacea, looking at the Nutrition Facts Label can be an eye opener for many who are not aware how much carbohydrate (sugar) is in the diet. A simple test to discover that sugar (carbohydrate) is a rosacea trigger for you, reduce the amount of sugar (carbohydrate) in your diet to no more than 30 grams a day for 30 days. During this test you should see some improvement in your rosacea within the thirty days. After the thirty days, gorge yourself with all the sugar and carbohydrate you want and see if your rosacea comes back? That is the basic nutshell version of the Rosacea Diet. This post on the new label requirements for added sugar makes it easier for you to spot added sugar. 

The New York Times had this to say about added sugar:

"While you might think you’re not eating much sugar, chances are you’re eating a lot more than you realize. Added sugar lurks in nearly 70 percent of packaged foods and is found in breads, health foods, snacks, yogurts, most breakfast foods and sauces. The average American eats about 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day (not counting the sugars that occur naturally in foods like fruit or dairy products). That’s about double the recommended limit for men (nine teaspoons) and triple the limit for women (six teaspoons). For children, the limit should be about three teaspoons of added sugar and no more than six, depending on age and caloric needs." Make 2020 the Year of Less Sugar, Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times, December 31, 2019

The above article also included a seven day challenge. 

There was a follow up article on the above article which added: 

"As an example, take a look at the label on whole milk, which shows 11 grams of sugar in a one-cup serving. That sounds like a lot, but the new label will make it clear that all that sugar occurs naturally as lactose and that the same cup of milk has zero grams of added sugar. A chocolate milk label will show 26 grams of total sugar, which includes 11 grams of lactose, and the extra information that a serving has 15 grams of added sugar." 
Dried Fruit, Oats and Coffee: Answers to Your Sugar Questions
Our 7-Day Sugar Challenge prompted a number of questions about cutting added sugar from our daily diet.
Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times, Jan. 8, 2020