The importance of sugar in a healthy diet is a topic which is being taken up by many people across the world, as a result of rising health costs, and awareness among people of the nutritional value of a healthy diet, and its benefits. As you may not know, sugar is one of the main factors responsible for food processing and the creation of cakes, biscuits, and other snacks. Its use as a main ingredient greatly affects the taste of a dish and the general popularity of a dish.
Therefore, it is important to choose the right foods in order to be able to enjoy a healthy diet; the right amount of food is a must in order to be able to have a balanced diet, and also to be able to achieve weight loss. It is essential to pay a lot of attention to sugar’s effects on the human body before engaging in any kind of healthy diet; sugar affects a healthy diet in a way that it increases your urge to eat and decreases the energy you have in your body as you begin to consume more food, thus increasing the risk of gaining weight and developing diseases such as obesity.
So sure, you might be thinking, “Sugar is bad for me.” And while sugar can cause health problems if consumed in excess, it’s actually an important part of a healthy diet. It provides quick energy and helps keep you from feeling hungry.1
The Two Types of Sugar You Should Know About
There are two types of sugar – as you probably know – and each one can wreak havoc on your body if you ingest too much. Otherwise, however, the differences between these two are largely insignificant; both contain the potential to negatively impact your health if you overindulge.2
One of the two main types of sugar found in processed foods is the glucose (glucose) type; this sugar is also often used as a sweetener in many desserts, although its consumption as a food product is usually much less common than its use as a sweetener. The glucose in your diet comes from fruit, vegetables, and sometimes even some meats and dairy products, but all sources of glucose contain carbs.
Simple sugars are not processed like regular sugar because they are not extracted from plants (instead, they are created in a lab), so they are more easily absorbed by the body and have a slower release of calories into the bloodstream. These types of sugars also have a higher glycemic index than regular sugar, so eating them more often can raise your blood sugar levels quickly.3
What Is Glucose?
Glucose is one of the sugars that are produced by the breakdown of glucose in the liver. Glucose can also be called a universal sugar because it is found in all cells of the body, except when they are damaged, and in some instances, is synthesized by the liver from another sugar, called glycogen.4 It is produced by the breakdown of glucose in the blood. When the blood has enough glucose it pumps to the muscles where it is used for energy. Glucose is secreted in the breath and in the urine, and it is transported to the muscles where it is converted into energy.5
In some cases, when the kidneys are overproducing or underproducing glycogen, it can cause a high blood glucose level, which can result in serious medical problems, including organ failure. There are several types of medications that can cause hyperglycemia, including certain anticoagulants, anti-platelet, anti-seizure, and other types of medications used to treat diabetes. Recently, there have been reports of sudden death, heart attacks, and strokes occurring when patients were taking high doses of glucosamine, a sugar that is commonly added to popular painkillers such as Aspirin, OxyContin and other common painkillers. This medication is commonly called glucosamine sulfate, and it increases the activity of the liver.6
Glucose, a simple sugar found in table sugar can cause hyperglycemia in people with diabetes. The symptoms are similar to those of Hyperinsulinism, a disease that occurs when the pancreas is unable to release enough insulin to fulfill the needs of the body. The treatments for both conditions are the same, which is, lower the amount of glucose in the blood through diet and exercise. There are, however, newer medications available that could potentially prevent serious side effects of long-term use.
What is Sucrose?
Sucrose is a sugar that is derived from the sugar cane plant, commonly known as sugar cane or sugar beets. Sucrose is made from one molecule of sugar and one molecule of glucose joined together. It’s a monosaccharide, meaning a sugar with no double bonds, and a polymer, which means that it has large numbers of repeating units, or molecules.7
It’s one of the twenty-four naturally occurring sugars in the human body, along with glucose, galactose, lactose, mannose sugar, dextrose, pectin, fiber, trehalose, and many others.8 Sucrose occurs naturally in plants, where it is refined into table sugar. It has the carbohydrate form C; however, it also has the polymer form C 3 H, and three types of sugar residue within it: fructooligosaccharide (FOS), lactose, and maltose. FOS and Lactose are both disaccharides, meaning they have two different units within them, and the rest of the sugar is a polysaccharide. The difference between a sugar molecule and a disacarabic sugar is that a sugar molecule has a single bond, while a diacidic sugar molecule has multiple bonds.
Is Glucose Or Sucrose Healthier?
Glucose has a number of benefits for our health and well-being. It is metabolized in the liver, used as energy, stored as glycogen, and in some cases, it is stored as fat. However, sugar is also very harmful to our health when consumed in excessive amounts. The question then becomes what is better, sugar or glucose?9
This is an important topic that scientists spend a lot of time studying. The conclusion of the research is not so cut and dried, but there is a general consensus that while both play a role in how we feel, they are very different fuels for the body and are therefore very different options when choosing between sugar and glucose.10
For instance, when looking at the debate over whether or not sugar is better than glucose, the consensus seems to point to the fact that in general, it is better to have glucose, however, this is not always the case. For instance, one study indicated that children who did not consume any glucose were able to sustain their lives for longer than those who ate a great deal of sugar.11 This proves that there are situations where the absence of glucose is better than the present.
The better choice when it comes to sugar is probably glucose because it is absorbed into the bloodstream more quickly and does not undergo a rapid decline once it reaches the intestines. Therefore, your blood sugar level stays relatively constant throughout the day. However, if you suffer from hypoglycemia, a condition that causes extremely low levels of blood sugar, you may need to use glucose as the healthier sugar rather than something like sucrose. This is because the former is absorbed into the bloodstream more quickly and the latter does not stay in the bloodstream long enough to allow your body to replenish it.
Image Credits
Advanced Biotech / Google Stock Images
Cultural Health Solutions / Google Stock Images
BioProcess International / Google Stock Images
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1 “Importance of Sugar in the Human Body | Livestrong.com.” https://www.livestrong.com/article/409694-importance-of-sugar-in-the-human-body/ Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
2 “Everything You Need to Know About the Different Types of Sugar.” 29 Oct. 2020, https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/healthy/a18910/types-of-sugar-0921/ Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
3 “Chart of Normal Blood Sugar Levels for Adults with Diabetes – WebMD.” 15 Jan. 2020, https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/guide/normal-blood-sugar-levels-chart-adults Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
4 “What Is Glucose and What Does It Do? – Healthline.” 24 Mar. 2017, https://www.healthline.com/health/glucose Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
5 “What Is Glucose? – WebMD.” 13 Jun. 2020, https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/glucose-diabetes Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
6 “What are Normal Blood Glucose Levels? | Virginia Mason Diabetes.” https://www.virginiamason.org/whatarenormalbloodglucoselevels Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
7 “Sucrose vs Glucose vs Fructose: What’s the Difference? – Healthline.” 8 Jun. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucrose-glucose-fructose Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
8 “What is Sucrose? – Food Insight.” 22 Sep. 2020, https://foodinsight.org/what-is-sucrose/ Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
9 “Sucrose vs Glucose vs Fructose: What’s the Difference? – Healthline.” 8 Jun. 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucrose-glucose-fructose Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
10 “All Sugars Aren’t the Same: Glucose Is Better, Study Says – TIME.” 21 Apr. 2009, http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1892841,00.html Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.
11 “Are certain types of sugars healthier than others? – Harvard Health.” 30 May. 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/are-certain-types-of-sugars-healthier-than-others-2019052916699 Accessed 25 Aug. 2021.