5 Surprising Habits That Can Help You Cut Back on Sugar

The goal of most food companies is to make their products hyperpalatable so that you eat more of them. To do that, they add sugar, salt and fat. The catch? If they take out something—like fat to make a low-fat food—they balance that equation by adding in more sugar to improve the taste, says Laura Schmidt, PhD, professor of health policy at the School of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco. And you can also assume that other "healthy" labels, like "gluten-free," might have the same problem. Research in 2018 in the journal Pediatrics, which looked at gluten-free foods marketed to children, found that 88 percent of these products contain less fat and sodium compared to conventional fare, but 79 percent were packed with sugar. The lesson? Read the nutrition label to know exactly what you're getting.