Sugar is the basic ingredient of many recipes and desserts. This is a type of carbohydrate. Do you know that all carbohydrates are not created equally? Sugar is also categorized in different forms. For example, the table sugar which you use commonly is actually sucrose, a compound made up of glucose and fructose. If you use the three kinds of sugar i.e Sucrose, Fructose and Glucose separately, you may know that their taste is almost similar on the tongue but the three are processed differently in your body. The three types of sugar impacts your appetite, blood sugar level, metabolic activities and hormones in vastly different ways. So, you should learn that Sucrose, Fructose and Glucose are the three different types of sugar that are assimilated in your body differently and have different impacts on your health. These types of sugar are often found naturally in your food but they are also added as sweetener. Anyways, whatever the nature of the sugar whether natural or added they always make difference while affecting your body.
Now, you are wondering why you have to learn about the three common types of sugar as different subjects. It is necessary, if you are interested in losing your weight or involving in some extra workout procedures to lose weight, you should know the type of sugar masters when it comes to cutting back on sugar from your diet.
Studies show that three types of sugar, sucrose, fructose and glucose have the same number of calories. They all are found naturally in grains, vegetables, and fruits. But you can also add them to processed foods.
Similar calories? Then what’s the difference between sucrose, fructose and glucose?
The chemical structure of the three sugars is different. Due to different chemical composition and structure, your digestive system acts on them in different ways
Keep on reading because the article will clear the difference between sucrose, fructose, and glucose in a broader way.
What is Sucrose?
First of all, sucrose is composed of a combination of fructose and glucose. This is also known as “table sugar” that is derived directly from sugar beet or sugarcane. It has equal proportion of fructose and glucose. This means one molecule of fructose combines with a molecule of glucose to make one molecule of sucrose. Thus it is a disaccharide and can be easily divided to its basic structural parts by means of enzyme activity. But sometimes it also acts as monosaccharides. Division of sucrose in parts makes it easily digestible so that your body cells and tissues may use it. Its primary digestion occurs in your small intestine. The twist appears when your body produces insulin in response to digestion of glucose, along with a little bit of uptake in fructose level. This means when your digestive system completes sugar digestion and extracts energy from the procedure as much as it can, the extra fructose is absorbed into your bloodstream and gets stirred in your fat deposits leading to great increase in weight gain and several health conditions.
Since sucrose is found in many fruits, grains and vegetables, it is called a naturally occurring form of sugar. However, many processed foods have its added form, including sweetened beverages, ice-cream, sodas, breakfast cereals, and candies. It is basically extracted from sugarcane or sugar beet. According to analytical studies, sucrose is sweeter than glucose but less sweet than fructose alone.
What is Fructose?
Fructose is a monosaccharide that’s why it’s known as simple sugar. It is also known as “fruit sugar”. Its formula is (C6H12O6) that represents it as a carbohydrate. It is naturally found in many plants and plant products. For human health, fructose is considered harmful. But in combination with glucose it can be healthy if eaten in the right proportions. Some fruits like cherries, berries, apples and figs contain a large quantity of fructose. These fruits are rich source of fiber and water content. That’s why eating these fruits you don’t need any added sugar. They release enough sugar into your bloodstream.
However, some studies do not support eating such fruits along with a fat like peanut butter because fructose or added sugar in a combination with fat can cause health complications in some cases. Researchers claimed that the fructose consumption along with fat molecules increases the risk of obesity and metabolic health crisis.
A few years ago, sugar export was subjected to higher tax rates. This thing encourages people to replace fructose with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). This syrup is made by the excessive processing of corn syrup. It is composed of 100% glucose. Studies show that still it contains 40% of glucose and 60% of fructose. This compound replaces the table sugar as a cheap alternative with a good taste and high quality.
In addition, this syrup is several thousand times sweeter than sucrose. This typing makes a great economic difference between drinking a sweetened beverage and eating a fruit. Fructose is used as an added sugar in beverages and other processed foods but it is used in the form of HFCS. but the most important thing to keep in mind, the excess consumption of fructose or HFCS is not good for your overall health as it can lead to severe health complications, including, accumulation of uric acid, weight gain, and fatty liver disease. From all of these, the uric acid accumulation is the most dangerous illness as in this condition the excess fructose that is not processed by your body is not excreted as waste by product in the form of urine, but it gets accumulated in your joints leading to gout and ends up lingering in your body.
Moreover, high-fructose corn syrup is made from cornstarch and contains more fructose than glucose. Fructose is sweeter than all other types of sugar and also has the least affect on your blood sugar level.
According to studies, the metabolism of food provides energy to your body. Fructose is one of the great sources of energy for your body. Fructose acts similar to glucose while its digestion progresses. It gets absorbed into your bloodstream during digestion. It is metabolized in your liver and converted into glucose so that your body can use it directly for energy purposes.
Analytical studies revealed that in the initial days of fructose discovery, nutritionists considered it as a healthy alternative to table sugar because it doesn’t spike your blood sugar level and also doesn’t affect your insulin level;s. However, afterwards modern research explored that unchecked consumption of fructose is harmful for the human body. It promotes weight gain and increases insulin resistance as well. T also overwhelms your liver that leads to fatty liver disease. It also raises the LDL level in your body that may lead to heart diseases. Studies also confirmed the worse appetite suppressant property of fructose that actually enhances the desire for more intake of food.
What is Glucose?
C6h12o6 is a simple sugar known as glucose. This is also known as blood sugar. It can’t be broken down into the simplest form as it is already a single saccharide (monosaccharide sugar). They are building blocks of carbohydrates. This is not only essential for life activities but also a major component of your body composition. Your body needs it to survive, which means you can’t live without glucose.
How is it used in your body?
Let’s see!
Your body uses glucose molecules to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is also known as energy currency for your body cells. It plays a role in tiny rechargeable batteries in your cells.
Secondly, your body breeds glucose to maintain the specific structures of body cells and tissues. Intact cell structure is essential to continue several life-sustaining chemical reactions smoothly.
Glucose is found in a number of food items that means you can get it from simple food like whole grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts. In foods the glucose often gets attached to other sugar molecules to convert itself into polysaccharide starches or disaccharides, such as lactose and sucrose. It is often added to processed foods in the form of dextrose which is found in wheat and corn. Certain starchy options like potatoes, white breakfast and rice also provide you a lot of glucose. Eating these foods will provide you immediate energy. It is less sweet than sucrose and fructose. The breakdown of food provides you enough that can also be stirred for late use. But if the level of glucose increases beyond the optimum level, your pancreas starts producing a hormone insulin that controls the amount of glucose in the bloodstream. Insulin makes you able to absorb more glucose and convert that into energy to perform the essential body functions and biochemical reactions.
However, the increased level of glucose if not controlled, becomes the cause of serious health issues, such as heart diseases and diabetes. Insulin resistance is another health problem caused when your cells stop responding to insulin properly. As a result glucose level increases to a dangerous limit and enters your bloodstream.
Difference between Digestion and Absorption of the Three Types of Sugar
Your body digests and absorbs the monosaccharides and polysaccharides in different ways. As monosaccharides can’t be broken down into a more simple form, your body doesn’t break it and digest it as it is. They are absorbed directly into your bloodstream while disaccharides are in compound form, your body breaks them into simpler ones and then lets them enter your bloodstream. Metabolism of different forms of sugar is also different.
Absorption and Use of Sucrose
Sucrose is broken down into fructose and glucose. Obviously the enzymes present in your oral cavity do this. But most of the sugar molecules are absorbed in your small intestine. A specific enzyme suitcase, found in your small intestine, breaks down sucrose into simple molecules, i.e. fructose and glucose. Then the two simple forms of sugar get absorbed into your blood stream. The absorbed glucose increases the level of fructose in your blood that triggers the pancreas to produce insulin. The increased level of fructose also promotes the storage of fat in your liver. This thing makes sure that eating fructose and glucose in a combined firm is injurious to your health. It also explains how added sugars like fructose corn syrups raise several health conditions.
Absorption and Use of Fructose
Fructose is a simple sugar, monosaccharide. That’s why your body can directly digest it. It easily enters your bloodstream and raises blood sugar level more speedily than glucose does. It also affects insulin production easily.
However, your liver has to convert the fructose into glucose before your body uses it, that;s why eating high calorie food and fructose together can increase the risk of higher levels of triglycerides. Excessive intake of fructose is also associated with higher risk of developing nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome, As well.
Absorption and Use of Glucose
The lining of the small intestine can directly absorb glucose as it is a single saccharide. From here glucose enters your bloodstream and then reaches your cells. This is the quickest way of raising blood sugar levels in your body. This stimulates insulin production which is essential for easy entrance of glucose into your body cells. On entering cells, glucose can be used for energy or stored for later use. It is studied in the form of collagen in your muscles and liver. When the glucose keel drops your body, these collagen molecules are broken down to release energy in large amounts. The released energy is used to fulfill the body’s energy demands. In case, your body didn’t have stored collagen. Your liver starts from such sugar from other fuel sources.
Conclusion
Last but not least, added sugar is not good for your health. This article has complete information about how added sugar damages your health. But this doesn’t mean that you start holding yourself back from enjoying vegetables, fruits and whole grains which are rich sources of carbohydrates, in other words energy. Because your body needs this energy to carry out several metabolic reactions.
Therefore, prefer consuming simple sugars or monosaccharides. Your body can absorb simple sugars more feasibly and they don’t need to be broken down before absorption. Added fructose may have some health disadvantages but you can use it in limited amounts, according to your healthcare professional’s recommendation. However, the safest way to consume sugars is eating fruits.
