How many teaspoons of sugar are there in a glass of milk?

There is sugar in every milk, but that is not always a problem. Find out what kind of milk has more than 5 teaspoons of sugar in a glass, which milk has no added sugar at all, and how to combine milk in a balanced diet

How many teaspoons of sugar are there in a glass of milk?

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People who adopt a conscious diet usually start reading ingredient lists and nutritional value tables, and then they are often shocked to find that there is sugar everywhere - even in milk. True, all types of milk have some or the same amount of carbohydrate that is sugar, but let's make sure - what sugar to avoid and what sugar to live in peace with.

But let's start with clarification. Articles of this type sometimes create a shouting voice among vegans, so it is immediately stated that it is intended for anyone who drinks milk anyway, and will also refer to it as non-animal milk. We have no goal of encouraging drinking milk or vice versa, but simply knowing the facts about the sugar that is hidden in our milk.

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2.5 teaspoons of sugar

"Normal" cow's milk always has sugar. It is lactose, the milk sugar found in mammalian milk, not sugar added proactively. Our human milk is even sweeter, and the cow's milk is also sweet, though slightly less. As mentioned, this sugar is a natural part of the milk. When you want to adopt a reduced sugar diet, we first want to avoid eating or drinking added sugar. So regular lactose-containing milk is the right choice, but milk with different flavors is added to sugar - less.

The way to choose milk without added sugar is to read the list of ingredients, but it is important not to repeat a common mistake: many look at the nutritional notation table and not the list of ingredients, and then are horrified to discover the words "of which sugars", but this phrase will always appear in the table The notation, and it actually refers to carbohydrates. What should be of interest to you is whether sugar is added to milk, not whether it contains carbohydrates naturally, so we go to read a list of ingredients. If we found 100% milk there, you can be calm.

If the list of ingredients says 100% milk - you can be calm. A glass of milk (Photo: Giphy)

Milk cup gif (Photo: Giphy)

Diabetics or people who still care about how much carbs they eat or drink can now continue to the nutritional markup table. There, they will find that a glass of milk (200 ml) contains 10 grams of carbohydrate that actually breaks down to 2.5 teaspoons of sugar, because a teaspoon of sugar = 4 grams.

And what about low lactose milk? It is really a particularly sweet milk whose taste comes from a unique process of lactose decomposition. It does not contain added sugar and the number of carbohydrates that is the same as a standard cow's milk.

4 teaspoons of sugar

There are flavored milk drinks where you will not find only 100% milk in the ingredient list, but also the words: glucose, fructose, sucrose. All are synonyms of sugar that has been artificially added to milk to make it even sweeter. These may contain one amount of carbohydrate in one cup, which also contains the lactose milk, but also added sugar, which comes to about 15 grams of carbohydrate in a glass of milk (200 grams) which breaks down to almost 4 teaspoons of sugar.

For example, a caramel flavored milk drink also contains added sugar, and such a glass of milk also contains about 4 teaspoons of sugar.

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And what about vegetable milk?

Milk is not just cow's milk, and vegans among us deserve to enjoy coffee with non-animal sourced milk. Many options: soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk. In each of these types the basis is different, and so the base of the carbohydrate also changes. But here, too, what matters is whether or not milk is added to sugar.

Let's look at soy milk as an example. Normal soy milk, and even lightly defined, contains added sugar, whether written sugar or the words fructose and maltodextrin listed in the list of ingredients. True, the amount of carbohydrates is not very high - in one glass of 200 ml there are 5 grams of carbohydrate that break down to a teaspoon of sugar and a quarter. But - soy milk without added sugar does not contain carbohydrates at all. That means you drank a cup of it? You did not actually consume sugar at all.

How much milk do you put in your coffee. Cold coffee (Photo: Giphy)

Cold coffee gif (Photo: Giphy)

In contrast, rice-based milk is a whole other story. Unlike soy, the rice base itself promises a large amount of carbohydrates. In a glass (200 ml) of rice milk without added sugar, there are 16 grams of carbohydrate that break down to 4 teaspoons of sugar.

In a glass of rice milk and almonds without added sugar, there is 21 grams of carbohydrate that breaks down to slightly more than 5 teaspoons of sugar. And this is before we even talk about milk of this kind that comes in "refined sweetness" and actually has even more sugar in it.

What's our bottom line?

Milk, animal or non-animal, is just fine as long as milk is not added to artificial sugar, ie added sugar.

The recommendation of the Israeli Ministry of Health is not to pass a 5% cap on added sugar from all daily caloric intake. But it is much easier to talk about "spoons" try not to go through 5-7 teaspoons of added sugar per day and it is best to try to reduce the added sugar at all out of awareness of what you are eating. If you like to drink coffee with lots of milk and you drink a few cups a day, you may be drinking a lot more sugar than you thought.

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