How many times you shop for your groceries every month? I do it once a week, and I find it quite a feat these days as the price of things are pointing to the sky and have no signs of going down anytime soon. It’s pretty hard to keep my expenditures strictly to the budget these days.

Last Friday, I went for my grocery shopping routine again. When I passed by the milk powder aisles, I got rather confused.

Why confused? Well, plenty of growing up milk powder now has this label “No sugar”, “Sugar-free” or “No-added sugar”, “No Sucrose”, “Reduced sugar” on the packaging.  If I were to be honest with you, I could say that most of the growing up tins have these labels. I wonder how true is their claims? As far as I’m concerned, there is only one brand in particular that is proven to really have no added sugars in it’s formula.

Mamil Gold (claims that they have no sucrose)

S-26 (claims no sucrose in their milk)

I noticed that the brand Mamil Gold says that their milk has “no sucrose”, Ductch Lady “reduced sugar”, while S26 Gold, Nan and Snow “no sucrose” and “no added sugar” respectively.

Those “No sugar”, “Sugar-free” or “No-added sugar”, “No Sucrose”, “Reduced sugar” is somewhat misleading concerned parents out there, I must say. I’ve read in the newspaper Harian Metro and the Health Today magazine not long ago that recent research studies has called in to question some of these claims.

The truth is, these claims made by some milk companies only focus on single type of added sugar in the milk formula. If they’re to make a claim that their milk really has no added sugars, they need to exclude glucose syrup solids, corn syrup solids, dextrin and maltodextrin from their ingredients. This is because these ingredients are actually added sugars too. They are in fact, scientific names for added sugar.

According to studies and scientific research, growing up milk powder in Malaysia has too much added sugar in it. Why do I say this? Well, elementary my dear readers. Most growing up milk has a high GL level.

So you know what ‘GL’ is? Have no idea? Well, GL is an abbreviation for Glycemic Load, and it is the unit used to measure the changes of sugar level in the bloodstream of a child after drinking a glass of growing up milk. A high GL means the milk has a lot of added sugars, which causes the sugar levels in the bloodstream to rise too high and too fast. A low GL means the milk has low or zero added sugars, so the sugar levels in the bloodstream stay in a healthier balance.

So far, there is only one brand of growing up milk in the market that has a low GL. The rest, despite of their claims on “no sucrose”, “no added sugar”, “reduced sugar” on their packaging and labels, still have high GL levels. This could only mean one thing; these brands are misleading the parents and the consumers with their claims.

I’m sure most of the parents out there are aware that food experts, paediatricians and child nutritionists do not encourage children to take food that is too sweet or has too many added sugars in it as it could bring serious health implications like diabetes, obesity, hyperactivity as well as dental cavities. So if you’re really concerned about the added sugars in your child’s growing up milk, you should check the labels carefully and do not let your children consume growing up milks with high added sugars, period!

Remember there is only one brand with a low GL. What is this brand? Anmum Essential of course! I would strongly suggest that you go for this brand instead of blindly believing the claims made by other milk companies.

I know it’s always confusing to read and decipher the ingredients in your children’s growing up milk and to determine whether or not the milk powder contains added sugars or not, but do keep it in mind that as long as the label contains these words: glucose syrup solids, corn syrup solids, dextrin or maltodextrin, then it does contain added sugars.

Cleffairy: Take a look HERE and HERE  if you’re interested about this issue and wants to find out more about added sugars in your children’s growing up milk powder