How Sweet It Is! ASK Magazine Looks at the Science of Sugar

ASK Magazine Looks at the Science of Sugar

By Tyler Thompson, Licensing Manager, Cricket Media

 

Sugar. Maybe you’ve heard of it. When Cricket Media receive licensing requests from State Education departments, they specify they can only license articles that do not mention sugar, sweets, candy, ice cream, or cookies. Several states have passed legislature banning the sale of soda and sugary drinks in public schools, and lawmakers New York and in California are trying to emblazon sodas with a message that looks very similar to one you see on cigarette packages and alcohol bottles.

 

In this month’s issue of ASK, “Why Do We Love Sweets?”, Editor Liz Huyck takes a completely different approach. Since you can’t really keep children away from sugar, why not tell them everything there is to know about it? Rather than demonize sugar, why not educate children on how it works and we need it? The issue covers everything from the history of sugarcane (people have had a sweet tooth for at least 10,000 years), Napoleon Bonaparte’s sugar dilemma, the low-down on artificial sweeteners (yikes), a child with diabetes separates diabetic fact from fiction, sugar addicts in the animal kingdom (hummingbirds, yo), when it’s okay to eat glass, and a virtual tour through a candy cane factory complete with delicious photos.

 

ASK even breaks down the molecular structure of sugar and shows how your body converts it into energy in a fascinating section called “Sneaky Sugar.”

 

Check this out:

 
“By 2018, food makers will have to tell you have much sugar they add to your snack. Even if you read the list of ingredients, it can be hard to spot! Some can by sneaky. See if you can find any of these in your kitchen or lunch box—they’re all different names for sugar:

 

  • Agave
  • Barley malt
  • Cane juice
  • Caramel
  • Carob syrup
  • Corn syrup
  • Dextrose
  • Fructose
  • Fruit juice
  • Fruit nectar
  • Glucose
  • Golden syrup
  • Grape juice concentrate
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Honey
  • Lactose
  • Maltodextrin
  • Maltose
  • Maple syrup
  • Molasses
  • Muscovado
  • Nectar
  • Refiner’s syrup
  • Rice syrup
  • Saccharose
  • Sorghum syrup
  • Sucrose
  • Treacle”

Whoa.

 

Enjoy the attached article “I [heart] Sugar” as our free gift to you. We hope it will give you a taste of how sweet an issue of ASK can be.

 

For more in-depth looks at topics your kids are ASKing about, be sure to subscribe to ASK.