Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

Other Names for Sugar on Food Labels: How to Spot Them

Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

Other Names for Sugar on Food Labels: How to Spot Them

by Mo Mandegar, PhD on Aug 11 2026
Oats first, then cane sugar, brown rice syrup, honey, and apple juiceconcentrate scattered through the next ten positions. No single sweetenersits near the top, but together they may outweigh everything else in thebar. Sugar goes by more than 60 names on ingredient labels, and nearly allof them fall into five recognizable families. Here is how to read them, andwhat the Added Sugars line does and does not catch.
How to Choose a Healthy Chocolate Bar: A Buyer's Guide

Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

How to Choose a Healthy Chocolate Bar: A Buyer's Guide

by Mo Mandegar, PhD on Jun 13 2026
The chocolate aisle is full of claims, but the label that matters ison the back. Choosing a healthy chocolate bar comes down to fourchecks: 60%+ cacao, a short list led by cacao, an unrefined sweetener,and no seed oils, emulsifiers, or sugar alcohols. Here is the buyer'sguide, plus a comparison of common bar types scored against all five.
What Does 'Clean Label' Really Mean, and What It Doesn't

Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

What Does 'Clean Label' Really Mean, and What It Doesn't

by Mo Mandegar, PhD on Jun 06 2026
The fronts of food packages compete for your trust with words like"clean," "natural," and "real" — but most of them carry no legalweight at all. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has neverdefined "clean label," so it guarantees nothing on its own. Here iswhich claims are actually regulated, which are pure marketing, andthe one ten-second habit that cuts through all of it.
Annotated dark chocolate label showing how to read a dark chocolate label, with the ingredient list, cacao percentage, sweetener, and emulsifier fields highlighted

Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels

How to Read a Dark Chocolate Label: What Actually Matters

by Mo Mandegar, PhD on May 02 2026
Two bars labeled 70% cacao can have very different cacao quality,sweetener load, and fillers. Learning how to read a dark chocolatelabel takes about a minute and turns the candy aisle into a usefulcomparison shop. Here is what actually matters on the back of thebar, signal by signal.