Hello and welcome to the nutrition diva podcast. I'm your host

Monica Reinagel. A listener recently asked me to look into an ingredient called glucose syrup.

This is often used as a sweetener in processed foods such as cookies, candy, and other confections.

And she'd read that it's a very concentrated source of sugar that supposedly

contains four times the amount of sugar and calories per tablespoon as regular table sugar. The implication, of course, that one should avoid foods

made with glucose syrup. I tracked this specific claim to an article written by a dietician for a website called

Health Line. Now this is a site that I consider to be a very reliable source.

In general I have found their nutrition articles to be thorough, accurate, and very well referenced.

And sure enough, that statement that glucose syrup contains four times the sugar and calories found in regular sugar was

footnoted and it linked to the USDA's food and nutrient database, the gold standard

for nutrient data. One footnote linked to the nutritional analysis for

light corn syrup, which is another name for glucose syrup. One tablespoon

contains 17 grams of sugar and 62 calories.

The other footnote linked to the nutritional analysis for regular table sugar.

One tablespoon contains four grams of sugar and 16 calories.

Case closed.

Actually, make that case overturned on appeal,

because unfortunately this second listing was inaccurate.

You see in addition to the tens of thousands of foods that have been analyzed by

the USDA to create their amazing food and nutrient database.

They also include as a public service,

nutrient information for tens of thousands of additional packaged and processed foods, and they base that on information

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