Sugar, the Sweet Villain

People all around the world eat sugar as part of a healthy, nutritious and balanced diet. Many people worry that eating sugar may be bad for their health. During the festival days, marriages, birthdays sweets made with sugar play their important role in our life.

Sugars belong to the class of carbohydrates and it is a source of instant energy.

Sugar is a chemical compound. It is a soluble form of carbohydrate. The elements present in sugar are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Simple sugars are called monosaccharaides and include glucose, fructose and galactose.

The table sugar which we use in our kitchens is a Disaccharide called sucrose. In our body sucrose hydrolyses into glucose and fructose. Maltose and Lactose are other disaccharides.

Longer chain of sugars are called oligosaccharides. Sugar is obtained from almost all the plants. Sugarcane and sugar beet are the plants from which we extract sugar.  The formula for Glucose is C₆ H₁₂O₆. The formula for sucrose is C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁.

Fructose, galactose, and glucose are all simple sugars, monosaccharides, with the general formula C₆H₁₂O₆. 

All types of sugars are found in food products.

Fructose are the sugars present in all fruits. It is the sweetest of all the sugars. Fructose also occurs naturally in all root vegetables, cane sugar and honey.

Galactose is found in milk products. But occurs in the antigen of the RBCs that determines the blood groups. Galactose is less sweet than glucose.

Glucose is grape sugar. It occurs naturally in plant juices and fruit juices. It is the primary product of photosynthesis. All types of carbohydrates are converted into glucose during digestion and it is the form of sugar that is transported around the bodies of animals in the bloodstream.

The three disaccharides compounds of sugar are Lactose, Maltose and Sucrose.  Their general formula disaccharide is C12H22O11.

Lactose is naturally occurring sugar and is found in milk.  A molecule of lactose is formed by the combination of a molecule of galactose with a molecule of glucose. It is broken down when consumed into its constituent parts by the enzyme lactase during digestion. 

Maltose is formed during the germination of grain like barley which is converted into malt.  A molecule of maltose is formed by the combination of two molecules of glucose. It is less sweet than glucose, fructose or sucrose.

Sucrose is found in the stems of sugarcane and the roots of sugar beet. It also occurs naturally along with fructose and glucose in other plants and in all fruits. It is also found in the roots of carrots. A molecule of sucrose is formed by the combination of a molecule of glucose with a molecule of fructose. The table sugar that we add to our hot beverages contain sucrose. Honey also contain sucrose.

Function of sugar in foods:

Sugars have a number of functions in the preparation of foods, such as improving taste and texture. Following are few important functions of sugar:

• Provide sweetness
• Serve as preservatives in jams and jellies
• Increase the boiling point or reduce the freezing point of foods
• Allow fermentation of yeast
• React with amino acids to produce colour and flavour compounds important to the taste and golden brown colour of baked goods
• Make foods that have limited moisture content crisp

Uses of Sugar:

Metabolic use:

Sugar is an important source of food energy. During digestion, all food carbohydrates (starches and sugars) break down into single molecule sugars. These sugars are absorbed from the intestine into the blood stream and transported to the cells, where they are used to provide energy for cellular functions.

Medical uses:

Table sugar can be used to make oral rehydration solution (ORS), which can help prevent dehydration in children who have infantile diarrhoea or vomiting. The recipe of ORS is 1 litre of water, 8 teaspoons sugar and ½ teaspoon of salt.

Table sugar is an instantaneous remedy for patients suffering from low blood pressure. Take 2 teaspoons of sugar, ¼ teaspoon of salt in a glass of water, and squeeze half a lemon. Stir and let the patient drink it. Immediately, the falling BP rate will get stabilized.

All bitter medicines are mixed with sugar and administered to children and infants when they have to be given medicines.

Sugars in our diet can be naturally occurring or added. Naturally occurring sugars are found naturally in foods such as fruits (fructose) and milk (lactose). Added sugars are sugars and syrups put in foods during preparation or processing, or added just before eating.

Eating too much of sweet is not good for our health as many people consume more sugar than they require. It is important to be aware of how much sugar we can consume because our body does not need sugar to function properly. Added sugars contribute zero nutrients   and add calories to our diet. Therefore it leads to extra pounds or even obesity, thereby reducing heart health.

We have to limit our consumption of foods with high amounts of added sugars like packaged foods, processed foods and sugar sweetened beverages. So according to the American Heart Association (AHA), the maximum amount of added sugars that we can eat in a day are:

Men: 150 calories per day (37.5 grams or 9 teaspoons).

Women: 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons).

Children aged between 2 to 18 years can take 100 calories per day (25 grams or 6 teaspoons).

Sugar is a sweet villain because if we do not control the intake of sugar in our diet, we will fall prey to several health disorders. So, limit  sugar intake.