Sugar

What is Sugar?

Sugar, table sugar as we call it is chemically called Sucrose and is made up of two parts, namely Glucose and Fructose.

What happens to Sugar when we eat it?

The sugar we eat is broken down into Glucose and Fructose in our stomach.

Glucose is the good carbohydrate which our body can use to generate energy for its various activities. A majority of glucose we eat is used up by the muscles of our body and only a small amount is stored in the liver.

Metabolism of Glucose

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Problems associated with excess Sucrose (Glucose + Fructose) consumption.

We must remember that even though Glucose is the good carbohydrate but we must eat Glucose in moderation only. Excess consumption of Glucose is bad for the body.

Metabolism of Fructose and its effects on our body

Fructose is the bad carbohydrate for our body as it cannot be used by our body for generating energy. All the fructose we eat reaches the liver and gets converted into fat which is stored in the liver as well as the other fat cells in the body. This causes Obesity. The side products formed during this process are Uric Acid and VLDL (Fat in the blood).

What are the BAD EFFECTS OF EATING FRUCTOSE?

1. Weight Gain (Obesity)
2. Raised Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
3. Increased Blood Fat levels (Dyslipidemia)
4. Diabetes
5. Insulin Resistance
6. Raised Uric Acid (Gout)
7. Liver Damage
8. Addiction to Food
9. Hormonal Imbalance (Insulin & Ghrelin Imbalance)

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What are the Common sources of Fructose?

1. Fruits and Vegetables: [SAFE]
   Fructose is also called as Fruit sugar. It is found in almost all the fruits. But the most important fact worth noting here is that along with Fructose, fruits also have a large quantity of fibre in them. This fibre prevents absorption of fructose into the blood and so the fructose in the fruits does not cause harm.
2. Soft Drinks
3. Fruit Juices
4. Energy Drinks
5. Processed foods
6. Instant foods
7. Maple syrup
8. Potato Chips
9. Chocolates
10. Cakes
11. Chewing Gums

Hidden Sugars

Sugar is added to almost all processed foods. There have many names under which sugars have been marketed. In fact many products do not include the word Sugar in their list of ingredients, but use some alternate name for it.

Listed below are some of the different names for Sugar [sucrose].

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1. Barley malt
2. Barbados sugar
3. Beet sugar
4. Brown sugar
5. Buttered syrup
6. Cane juice
7. Cane sugar
8. Caramel
9. Corn syrup
10. Corn syrup solids
11. Confectioner’s sugar
12. Carob syrup
13. Castor sugar
14. Date sugar
15. Dehydrated cane juice
16. Demerara sugar
17. Dextran
18. Dextrose
19. Diastatic malt
20. Diatase
21. Ethyl maltol
22. Free Flowing Brown Sugars
23. Fructose
24. Fruit juice
25. Fruit juice concentrate
26. Galactose
27. Glucose
28. Glucose solids
29. Golden sugar
30. Golden syrup
31. Grape sugar
32. HFCS (High Frustose Corn Syrup... Very Bad!)
33. Honey
34. Icing sugar
35. Invert sugar
36. Lactose
37. Malt
38. Maltodextrin
39. Maltose
40. Malt syrup
41. Mannitol
42. Maple syrup
43. Molasses
44. Muscovado
45. Panocha
46. Powdered Sugar
47. Raw sugar
48. Refiner’s syrup
49. Rice syrup
50. Sorbitol
51. Sorghum syrup
52. Sucrose
53. Sugar (granulated)
54. Treacle
55. Turbinado sugar
56. Yellow sugar

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How Do we Avoid Sugar (Fructose) in our diet?