Since we take a close look at all the products in the supermarket during the 2-hour shopping consultation, I wanted to give you a little insight today.
Tomato sauce is often criticized for being too high in sugar! But what exactly is behind this? Does tomato sauce really contain that much sugar? And if so, what would be a better alternative?
I compared all the common brands of tomato sauce in Switzerland online, from jars to pouches. The results showed that tomato sauce contains an average of 5-8g of sugar per 100ml. Note: This refers to pure sugar, not the carbohydrate content. Well, now we know the basic facts.
In our example, which you can see in the photos, we have a sugar content of 7g per 100ml. Now, I think it's fair to say that virtually every vegetable has a certain amount of sugar; for a tomato, this is about 3g per 100 grams. Let's not be fussy and stick with the units of measurement as ml and grams ;) This means that 3 of the 7g can be attributed to the tomato.
Point 2:
If you look at the list of ingredients, you'll first see the ingredients that make up the largest portion, etc. This means that diced tomatoes, at 70%, are the ingredient that makes up the most. Unfortunately, we don't see a percentage for sugar, but what we can see is that sugar is listed after oil. Fat is listed at 1.5 grams, which probably comes exclusively from the sunflower oil. This means that 1.5g of oil > sugar. So if there is less than 1.5g of sugar added to 100ml, for a 400ml pack we only have about one sugar cube that actually comes from sugar and not from the sugar in the tomato.
Dramatic? Isn't that right? Plus, hardly anyone consumes an entire 400ml package of tomato sauce on their own. So don't be afraid of tomato sauce; it's one of the lightest sauces there is. But if you want to completely avoid added sugar, buy tomatoes, herbs, and spices and make them yourself. Of course, you can also use other vegetables to create a tasty sauce ;)
