Sugar is the generalized name for sweet, short-chain, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. They are carbohydrates, composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose – also known as dextrose, fructose and galactose. The table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide. In the body, sucrose hydrolyses into fructose and glucose. Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose.
Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants, but are only present in sufficient concentrations for efficient extraction in sugarcane and sugar beet. Sugarcane is any of several species of giant grass in the genus Saccharum that have been cultivated in tropical climates in South Asia and Southeast Asia since ancient times.
The world produced about 168 million tonnes of sugar in 2011. The average person consumes Read more No Sugga’ ›