The nutrient analyses that accompany recipes on MyRecipes reflect the values that are presented with the recipes in our partner
magazines and the books from Oxmoor House and currently do not include a value for "Sugars".
For people who use the nutrient values to help with dietary management of diabetes, the value that is the most important is the value for total carbohydrate rather than the amount of sugar. The total carbohydrate
value includes sugars as well as other types of carbohydrate such as starches that impact blood glucose levels. Insulin dosages
and other treatment plans are typically based on the total carbohydrate amount instead the sugar content.
Also, the value for sugar is misleading because it does not indicate whether the food contains added sugars or natural sugars
such as lactose (milk sugar) or fructose (fruit sugar). Natural sugars impact blood glucose levels differently than added
sugars. For example, the nutrient label on a carton of fat-free milk may indicate that 1 cup of milk contains 12 grams of
sugar. This is not added sugar; it is lactose, or milk sugar.
The best way to determine whether a recipe has added sugars is to look at the ingredient list and see what sources of sugar
are in the recipe, then look at the value for carbohydrate in the nutrient analysis to see what those sugars contribute to
the total carbohydrate content.