Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double sugars, are molecules made of two bonded monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose), and maltose (two molecules of glucose). White sugar is a refined form of sucrose. In the body, compound sugars are into simple sugars.
Longer chains of monosaccharides (>2) are not regarded as sugars, and are called oligosaccharides or polysaccharides. Starch is a glucose polymer found in plants, and is the most abundant source of energy in human food. Some other chemical substances, such as glycerol and sugar alcohols, may have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugar.
Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants. Honey and fruit are abundant natural sources of simple sugars. Sucrose is especially concentrated in sugarcane and sugar beet, making them ideal for efficient commercial extraction to make refined sugar. In 2016, the combined world production of those two crops was about two billion tonnes. Maltose may be produced by malting grain. Lactose is the only sugar that cannot be extracted from plants. It can only be found in milk, including human breast milk, and in some dairy products. A cheap source of sugar is corn syrup, industrially produced by converting corn starch into sugars, such as maltose, fructose and glucose.
Sucrose is used in prepared foods (e.g. cookies and cakes), is sometimes added to commercially available processed food and beverages, and may be used by people as a sweetener for foods (e.g. toast and cereal) and beverages (e.g. coffee and tea). The average person consumes about 24 kilograms (53 pounds) of sugar each year, with North and South Americans consuming up to 50 kg (110 lb) and Africans consuming under 20 kg (44 lb).[1]
As sugar consumption grew in the latter part of the 20th century, researchers began to examine whether a diet high in sugar, especially refined sugar, was damaging to human health. Excessive consumption of sugar has been implicated in the onset of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and tooth decay. Numerous studies have tried to clarify those implications, but with varying results, mainly because of the difficulty of finding populations as controls that consume little or no sugar. In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended that adults and children reduce their intake of free sugars to less than 10%, and encouraged a reduction to below 5%, of their total energy intake.[2]
Asia
Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent[5] since ancient times and its cultivation spread from there into modern-day Afghanistan through the Khyber Pass.[6] It was not plentiful or cheap in early times, and in most parts of the world, honey was more often used for sweetening. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness. Even after refined sugarcane became more widely available during the colonial era [7] palm sugar was preferred in Java and other sugar producing parts along with coconut sugar, is still used locally to make today.[8][9]
Sugarcane is native such as the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) and Southeast Asia.[5][10] species seem to have originated from with originating in India coming from New Guinea.[10][11] One of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts dating to 8th century BCE, which state that the use of sugarcane originated in India.[12]
In the tradition of Indian medicine the sugarcane is known by the name and the sugarcane juice is known as Its varieties, synonyms and characteristics are defined in such as the 1.6.23, group of [13] Sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store and to transport.[14] Crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial around the 5th century CE.[14] In the local Indian language, these crystals were called (Devanagari: खण्ड), which is the source of the word candy.[15] Indian sailors, who carried clarified butter and sugar as supplies, introduced knowledge of sugar along the various trade routes they travelled.[14] Traveling Buddhist monks took sugar crystallization methods to China.[16] During the reign of (r. 606–647) in North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught methods of cultivating sugarcane after Emperor of Tang (r. 626–649) made known his interest in sugar. China established its first sugarcane plantations in the seventh century.[17] Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 CE, to obtain technology for sugar refining.[18] In the Indian subcontinent[5] the Middle East and China, sugar became a staple of cooking
Types
Monosaccharides
Fructose, galactose, and glucose are all simple sugars, monosaccharides, with the general formula C6H12O6. They have five hydroxyl groups and a carbonyl group (C=O) and are cyclic when dissolved in water. They each exist as with and forms that cause polarized light to diverge to the right or the left.[69]
Disaccharides
Lactose, maltose, and sucrose are all compound sugars, disaccharides, with the general formula C12H22O11. They are formed by the combination of two monosaccharide molecules with the exclusion of a molecule of water.[69]
You must be logged in to post a comment.