Sugar

The effects of sugar

All plants make sugar using light from the sun. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert light energy into chemical energy, ultimately producing sugars like glucose from carbon dioxide and water. This process is essential for plant growth and energy storage with ‘Sugars’ serving as a crucial source.

The domestication of sugar cane is believed to have begun around 8000BC on the island of New Guinea. From there it spread to other regions including Southeast Asia and India where it was cultivated and refined into sugar. By the 6th century AD it had made its way to the Middle East and eventually to Europe and the Americas through trade and colonisation. The knowledge of sugar extraction and production involved over time leading to the widespread use of sugar in various cultures.

Through its cultivation sugar has shaped economies, influenced trade routes, and impacted social structures throughout history.

By 1813, Napoleon implemented policies on the import of sugar from the “British”, as part of a broader strategy to weaken Britain during the Napoleonic wars. As a result, European industry emerged to produce large amounts of its own sugar, mostly from sugar beets.

The industrial revolution insured that sugar became a food widely available to all, but the reliance on cane sugar from colonies limited supply and made sugar expensive.

Today it remains a crucial part of the global food industry, but its consumption has also raised concerns regarding health and sustainability.

More than 120 countries produce sugar. Approximately 80% of this sugar comes from sugar cane. Sugar cane is a giant grass that can grow as high as 13 feet [4 metres] tall. The top of the plant is green and fluffy, it’s narrow stem looks like a tube, about 12 to 16 months after planting, the sugar cane is cut down. Mills turn the stems into sugar crystals.

The second major source of table sugar comes from sugar beets. The small seeds grow into a green leafy plant with thick white roots storing lots of sugar.

In 1747 the chemist Andreas Marggraf discovered that sugar beets contain sucrose and isolated sugar from beet juice by heating it until it becomes a thick syrup. On cooling, the sugar crystals form. In 1801, the German chemist, Franz Karl Achard, developed a method for extracting sugar on a larger scale. He established the first sugar beet factory in Prussia (now known as Germany), which marked the start of beet sugar production.

Common names for sugar are: Acesulfame potassium, agave nectar, aspartame, confectioner’s sugar, coconut sugar, barley malt, brown rice syrup, cinnamon sugar, crystalline fructose, dehydrated cane juice, dextran, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, galactose, glucose, glucose solids, grape sugar, high fructose corn syrup, isomaltose, lactose, malt syrup, maltodextrin, maltol, maltose, malt sugar, mannose, monk fruit sweetener, molasses, natural sweeteners, neohespiridin dihydrochalcone, neotame, organic agave nectar, organic brown rice syrup, palm sugar, palmyra jaggery, panela, panocha, pear juice concentrate, piloncillo, refiner’s syrup, rice sugar, rice syrup, saccharose, sorghum syrup, stevia, sucanat, sucrose, steviol glycosides, sweet crystals, sweet essence, sweet sorghum, trehalose, turbinado sugar, wheat sugar and pea protein sweetener.

The double whammy

One of the most notorious sweeteners, High Fructose Corn Syrup, [HFCS] is synthesized through a multi-step process involving the conversion of corn starch into sugars. It is produced from corn; it is made-up off a higher proportion of fructose molecules, and glucose molecules and common in our food supply.

In 1971, Japanese scientists developed the enzymatic process to convert corn starch into HFCS. Unpredictability or availability of imported sugar in the 1970s, secured a market for high fructose corn syrup. Corn farmers were encouraged to grow larger quantities of corn, mostly not organic, turning vast quantities of land into wastelands with no biodiversity.

The environmental impacts of HFCS production are significant and multifaceted, ranging from agricultural practises and water usage to greenhouse gas emissions and habitat loss, addressing these issues requires sustainable agricultural practises, better resource management, and increased awareness of the ecological consequences of HFCS and corn production. Sustainable farming practices and regulations are essential for minimizing their respective environmental footprints.

A diet high in fructose can raise blood fats. These are known as triglycerides. They build up on the walls of blood vessels. Overtime this can cut off the blood flow and increase the risk of heart attacks, insulin resistance and obesity. Children with obesity are more likely to get type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not make enough insulin, or the cells do not use insulin as they should. Extra fat can reduce the effectiveness of insulin. When the body cannot move sugar into cells, it can suffer organ damage. Currently more than 5000 children develop diabetes each year.

High fructose corn syrup can bypass the insulin reaction to a degree because fructose is primarily metabolised in the liver without triggering a significant insulin response. This unique metabolic pathway can have implications for appetite regulation, energy storage, and overall metabolic health, particularly when consumed in large quantities.

The synthetic copy

Artificial sweeteners are produced through the hydrogenation of natural sugars, followed by purification processes to yield a product suitable for consumption. They have few or no carbohydrates or calories, they are much sweeter than table sugar and are also known as sugar alcohols.

When sugar is consumed it triggers a series of physiological responses in the brain, leading to the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and rewards. Sugar consumption activates dopamine pathways in the brain, leading to pleasure and reinforcing the desire to consume sugar. The interplay between sugar, dopamine release, and reward systems can significantly impact eating behaviour and cravings.

Sweet receptors are primarily located in taste buds on the tongue, but they are also found in the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, brain, and potentially other organs. Their presence in these various parts of the body underscores their role beyond just taste perception influencing digestion, metabolism, and behaviour related to food intake.

When LCS are consumed they can activate these receptors in the same way as if they were triggered by real sugar. For example, the body thinks it is sent sugar through these receptors, so it will produce insulin to make sure this sugar is taken up into different organs to be used for energy. This will then result in uptake of sugar from the bloodstream when it is not really needed and trigger hunger sensation, blood sugar falls and as a result we are driven to eat more food.

Some sugar alcohols, particularly xylitol, are highly toxic to animals, especially dogs, and can cause severe health issues, including hypoglycaemia [low blood sugar], seizures, and liver failure.

Here it is interesting that in studies of the gut microflora, LCS is only slowly absorbed and can lead to sifts in gut microbiota. The disaccharide alcohols are partially hydrolysed by the brush border enzymes, these are metabolised by the intestinal microflora to short chain fatty acids and gases. At high levels of intake this produces osmotic diarrhoea. The rational for the proportion of osmotic diarrhoea is that the absorbed sugars effectively result in more water being drawn into the terminal ileum and that the degradation of sugars to short chain fatty acids increases the osmolality of the contents in the large intestine. The production of carbon dioxide and hydrogen results in the characteristic frothy stools.

Due to the intensity of artificial sweeteners, amounts needed can be so small that it does not require to be listed as an ingredient.

Here's a list of common low-calorie sweetness categorised into artificial, natural, and sugar alcohols.

Artificial sweeteners: Aspartame, Sucralose, Acesulfame potassium

Natural sweeteners: Stevia, Monk fruit extract, Yacon syrup

Sugar alcohols: Erythritol, Xylitol, Sorbitol, Mannitol, Maltitol, Other low-calorie sweeteners: Allulose, Tagatose

As nature intended

There are also natural types of sugars in fruits and other natural sources such as dates, Maple syrup and honey. Sugar occurs naturally in vegetables and fruit, apples contain 25 grams of sugar, broccoli two grams, carrots 5 grams, grapes 20 grams, strawberries 8 grams and sweet corn 5 grams.

The fibber content of the fruit helps the body to digest the sugar slowly, when fruit is blended into a smoothy, or juiced, this effectively leaves only the sugar making it as bad for you as Coca Cola and other sugary drinks, as it is creating a sugar spike within your bloodstream.

One immediate difference between sugars added in diets and normal amounts of sugar is that it would amount to less than five grams per day. Normal amounts of sugar become available to the microflora due to the natural sugar content in an average meal.

A meal from foods that contains added sugar, such as a fizzy or soft drink, a doughnut, a muffin, or sugar-coated cornflakes would already exceed 85 to 90 grammes of sugar per meal.

The Maple tree SAP flows from its tree in spring. It takes more than 30 gallons [115L] of SAP to make one-gallon [4L] of syrup. Honey comes from nectar collected by honeybees. It takes more than 500 honeybees to gather 1 lb [ 0.45kg] of honey from flowers. An average honeybee produces one 12th of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime, living on average a few weeks for a worker bee and drones, to several years for a queen bee.

All should be consumed in moderation, as part of a balanced diet, nothing that is good is ever easy, so it seems.

Notes:

[monosaccharides and disaccharides]. Monosaccharides the most basic form of sugar consists of a single molecule, common examples include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Disaccharides are formed by a combination of two monosaccharides molecules, examples include sucrose [table sugar], lactose [milk sugar], and maltose [malt sugar]. Complex sugars are long chains of glucose molecules and include starches and fibres, they provide a slower release of energy, and are also important for overall health.