What Is Sugar?
While talking about sugar, we usually refer to “table sugar” or sucrose, which comes primarily from sugar cane or sugar beet. Other than this, there are various other kinds of sugar available, including the sugars made by plants during photosynthesis, milk sugars, and honey. Basically, our bodies utilize all sugars in the same way, irrespective of the source, to provide us energy for life.
Various forms in which sugar is usually found include:-
- Glucose - honey, fruits, and vegetables
- Sucrose - sugar cane, beet and in some fruits and vegetables
- Lactose - milk sugar
- Maltose (malt sugar) - malted drinks and beer
- Fructose - fruits and honey
It can be found in the forms of:-
- Table sugar – the usual, granulated or cubed ones found in kitchens
- Preserving sugar - coarser than granulated sugar used for jams
- Caster sugar - finer than granulated sugar used for baking
- Brown sugar - for color and flavor
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A complete understanding of sugars and how it affects our body is critical to the study of how sugar influences our body.
For example, table sugar (sucrose) is nutritive on the basis of calories, although it does not have minerals, vitamins, or fiber. Another sugar type, glucose, has the ability to break down quickly in the stomach and later is pumped directly into the bloodstream through intestinal wall. This process raises the blood - glucose levels, which spikes the blood sugar level instantly. Fructose, the sugar derived from fruits and vegetables gets into the body and is slowly absorbed through the gut (intestines). It is then converted into glucose in the liver. That’s why fructose is a "time-release food" as it delivers calories at a gradual rate.
