Sugar on Japanese food labels

Hello,

I was looking at the food label of a Japanese cornflake breakfast cereal when I found the following:

エネルギー：151 kcal
たんぱく質: 2.8g
炭水化物: 糖質(33.5g)、食物繊維(1.4g)

(The tansuikabutsu part is devided into two sections which is toushitsu and shokumotsuseni).

This is for a portion of 40g or 1食分当たり like it says on the box. When 200 ml of milk is added, the 糖質 becomes 43 g, according to the label.

I know 炭水化物 are carbohydrates, and I know sugar in Japanese is 砂糖, but what I don't understand is the difference between 砂糖 and 糖質.

So what's the difference between the two?

I'm asking this because I think 33.5g of pure sugar for a 40g portion of a regular type of cornflakes is quite a lot. Even with milk, sugar still makes up a lot of the entire meal, which doesn't sound right.

I also don't understand why the total amount of carbohydrates or 炭水化物 is not listed, but only 糖質 and 食物繊維.

If you would please look at the link below I think my point will be clarified:
http://www.ferrero.be/?IDpagina=172

It's French, but the food label says:
Energy: 1750kj/420 kcal
Proteins: 8.2g
Glucides (or carbohydrates): 34g
of which are sugars: 29.5g

What I mean is, in this food label, the value of glucides/carbohydrates is clearly listed (34g), and so is the value of sugar as a sub-set of carbohydrates (29.5g), but on the Japanese food label, the value of carbohydrates is not listed, only the amount of sugar.

Sorry if my question is a little long.

糖質 ( とうしつ) (toushitsu)
saccharinity or sugariness

Sugariness is actually a term used to define the sweetness of the substance, not necessarily how much actual sugar is in it. It could also be defined as how much of sugar-like or sweet-tasting substances is in the food.

砂糖 is usually refined sugar, ie, table sugar, in nutritional term, sucrose.

糖質 can be any form of sugar--glucose, sucrose, lactose galactose, fructose, etc.

I believe that 糖質 is close to "glucides" so the Japanese label is saying:
"carbohydrates: consisting of glucides (33.5g) and dietary fiber (1.4g)."


geogeek1, I believe that the word you are referring to would be 糖度 or 糖分.

Thank you for your replies.

So, 糖質 is not necessarily sugar, ah ok.
That's what I was confused about.

AK,
So if 糖質 is similar to the French glucides or carbohydrates, where do I find the real sugar in the description? If it's not mentioned does that mean that there is no sugar included? I know that for 100g of cornflakes in Europe, there's probably a little less than 10g of sugar or 砂糖, but I can't find that mention on the Japanese box.

Oh, perhaps I forgot to mention why I posted this question in the first place. It's to watch what the sugar I consume here. In Europe I could easily read the contents off the packages (because it was in my language), but I have some trouble understanding all the labels in Japanese, in particular the 糖質 part that I didn't know the meaning of.

If you worry about sugar... you can safely assume that brand name US cereals have way too much sugar. The exception being some health food type cereals, dry oats that need cooking ( just add a bit of boiled water to dry instant oats and stir, wait for a while, add milk or yogurt) etc.
You could also eat plain rice mixed with milk or /and yogurt and fruits.

If you are only staying in Japan for a short while and don't have a medical reason to limit your sugar intake, a bit too much sugar will not hurt you.

AK, I believe you are correct. Glucides are basically are any carbohydrate that can be digested and absorbed by the human body. These include all those listed by tokyonet above and also starches. That may be the reason for such a high percentage of glucides in the cereal, mainly starch.