What is so bad about sugar?

Consuming too much sugar can lead to health issues such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and tooth decay. This vicious cycle is then likely to compound other health problems. Weight gain: which can in turn increase your risk of health conditions like diabetes and heart disease.

Why is sugar good for you?

Sugar is a carbohydrate that occurs naturally in many foods, such as fruits and vegetables. The body breaks down carbohydrates to make glucose, which it requires for energy and healthy functioning.

What is sugar made of?

The common ‘sugar’ (sucrose) used is made up from glucose and fructose and is extracted from sugar cane or sugar beet. Sugar cane is grown in tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, including South Africa, Brazil, India, Mauritius and the West Indies.

Which sugar is bad?

Another study found that while all added sugars can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity, fructose may be the most harmful ( 17 ). What’s more, fructose has been shown to increase the hunger hormone ghrelin and may make you feel less full after eating ( 18 , 19 ).

Which sugar is best?

White sugar, composed of 50% glucose and 50% fructose, has slightly lower GI. Based on available values in the GI database, agave syrup has the lowest GI value. Therefore, it’s a better option than other sugars in terms of blood sugar management.

How is sugar made white?

Regular white sugar is made from sugar cane or sugar beets. To produce granulated sugar, the cane syrup is boiled until crystals form. The mixture of crystals and syrup is spun in a centrifuge to separate the two. Then the crystals of raw sugar are dried with hot air.

What is sugar exactly?

The white stuff we know as sugar is sucrose, a molecule composed of 12 atoms of carbon, 22 atoms of hydrogen, and 11 atoms of oxygen (C12H22O11). Like all compounds made from these three elements, sugar is a carbohydrate. Sucrose is actually two simpler sugars stuck together: fructose and glucose.