Sugar

Normal Sugar

Sugar is a simplified form of a carbohydrate, they come in various forms, monosaccharide (e.g. glucose), disaccharide (e.g. fructose), and polysaccharide (e.g. cellulose).

Sugar is much more easily converted into energy, but this poses an important threat to health. It is acidic to a certain extent, this leads to tooth decay, sugar also contains a large amount of calories, and could result in obesity, the ease of which the sugar is converted into energy also poses the possibility of a “sugar rush”, or an “overload”.

Sugar can be found in many types of food and a moderate amount of sugar is necessary to support body functions such as respiration. When we consume sucrose (table sugar), our body converts it to glucose and this raises blood glucose levels. This in turn results in an insulin spike. Diabetes occurs when there is a high concentration of glucose in the bloodstream, this may lead to kidney failure, and is uncurable. It is thus important that sugar intake should be controlled. Diabetes happens because the levels of insulin are unable to cope with the large amount of glucose

It is a common misconception that sugar is always sweet, sugar, in fact, is usually not sweet. Sugar refers to any carbohydrate, not just “sweet” food, as in, any form of food that provides calories is likely to contain sugar.

Advanced Sugar

Over consumption of sugar is one of the leading causes of obesity in the world.

Sugar can be found in many types of food and a moderate amount of sugar is necessary to support body functions such as respiration. When we consume sucrose (table sugar), our body converts it to glucose and this raises blood glucose levels. This in turn results in an insulin spike. Sucrose is channeled to the muscles and is broken down to give energy.

Many fast foods now use High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a sweetener. This type of sugar is broken down differently by our body. HFCS is metabolized in our liver. . Glucose, on the other hand, is metabolized in all cells. Consumption of HFCS leads to fatty deposits developing in the liver. It also increases triglyceride levels and also slows down metabolism. This is linked to heart disease and diabetes. In addition HFCS does not give an insulin spike nor increase leptin, which are signals that decrease hunger, so we feel hungry even after consuming a lot of HFCS.

The main ingredients in HFCS are fructose and corn syrup (pure glucose). The fructose is much sweeter than glucose because of its stereomeric structure. Fructose is also known to chelate with minerals in our body such as magnesium. Scientific studies have formed various hypotheses that revolve around whether fructose’s ability to chelate with minerals causes abnormal effects in mineral absorption.

HFCS can be found in many types of soft drinks, ketchup and salad dressing. It is also found naturally in fruits

HFCS has rapidly replaced sugar because it is much cheaper, more useful, and also more stable than sugar.

Excess sugar also provides food for bacteria in our body. This causes tooth decay and yeast infections. It can also cause forming of gallstones and kidney stones.