Sugars
V. Vemuri, Pleasanton, CA
An average American consumes more than TWO pounds of sugar each week. That is, more than hundred pounds a year. There is no reason to believe that an average Indian in India consumes any less. Besides its use in coffee, tea, cool drinks and sweets, we consume sugar through a variety of snacks, salad dressings, baby foods, breads, and vegetables. Some popular breakfast cereals, are more than half sugar! After water, sugar is the main ingredient in most soft drinks! In fact, an ordinary 12-ounce soft drink has nine teaspoons of sugar. Our bodies do need sugar, but not this much.
To the scientist, the word "sugar" means a whole family of substances, be they sweet or not. The scientific name for table sugar is sucrose. The sugar found in milk is lactose. The sugar in blood is glucose. The sugar that gives sweetness to fruits is fructose. In fact, table sugar -- that is, sucrose -- is a combination of the simpler sugars glucose and fructose. Dextrose, the so-called right-handed sugar, is the one that gives honey its sweetness. Many other kinds of sugars have scientific names with the telltale ending, "-ose." Some of these sugars are not known for their sweetness. Ribose, the backbone of the DNA and RNA molecules -- the molecules of life, is not known for its sweetness. I do not even know whether it has any sweetness at all. It must be sweet, because it is life!
There are other substances that are sweet, much sweeter than sugars, but are not sugars. Ethylene glycol is a substance that is used to cool automobile engines. It is two-and-a-half times as sweet as table sugar, but it is a poison. Glycerol, which belongs to the alcohol family, (also known as glycerine) is sweet and not a poison. We can actually eat it with no ill effects. All that tastes sweet need not be a sugar and a poison need not be bitter.
Not all sugars are created equal. By one measure, the queen of all sugars is glucose because it is the only form of sugar our body can use. It is glucose that is carried by blood to every body part. For this reason, glucose is also called blood sugar. It is glucose that gives us energy. All the sugars and starches we eat are eventually converted into glucose before they enter the blood stream and carry the nourishment to the cells of the body.
Of all the sugars, perhaps the most troublesome culprit is sucrose. It is a double edged sword. It is this sugar that is responsible for dental cavities. If the mouth is not thorougly washed after eating sweets, the sugar lingers on in the mouth and provides a woderful breeding ground for bacteria that can cause bad breath as well as dental cavities. After eating foods containing sucrose, blood sugar (that is, the concentration of glucose in blood) can rise quickly (a condition called hyperglycemia) and the body controls this by releasing insulin into the blood stream. If the body cannot produce insulin, for whatever reason, the level of glucose in blood increases and the patient is said to have diabetes.
Sucrose is really a combination of two simpler sugars - glucose and fructose. Fructose, the other sugar in sucrose, is the one that gives sweetness to fruits. This sugar is absorbed into the body slower than glucose; after eating foods rich in fructose the body has an easier time controlling the yo-yoing levels of blood sugar. The sugar in an apple is perhaps better than the sugar in coffee. A teaspoon of fructose gives as much sweetness as two and a quarter teaspoons of glucose or one and three quarter teaspoons of sucrose. Since fructose is sweeter than sucrose, calorie for calorie we get more sweetness from fructose. Since obesity is related to a number of health problems, any saving in calories is important. For this reason, perhaps fructose is better than sucrose.
Fake Sugars
Of late fake sweeteners captured the imagination of calorie concious connoisseurs. In the last decade alone, the use of artificial sweeteners in the U. S. has gone up from 6.2 to 17 pounds per year for each person. This is in addition to the consumption of regular sugar. After the controversy over the saccharin-cancer connection, many were worried about the detrimental effects of artificial sweeteners. Then came aspertame, the so-called safe sweetener. Spoon for spoon, aspertame and sugar have about the same calories; aspertame is 200 times sweeter.
Avoid the use of much sugar, wherever possible. Natural sweeteners like fruits and honey are better than the white table sugar, which is pure calories. Moderation is the hallmark of wisdom while eating. Moderation is the hallmark of wisdom, period. Good luck and good health!!