Facts about Sugar

Image Credit: Pinterest 

By Christopher Peculiar 

Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates. You stir it into your coffee, bake it into cakes, and use it to sweeten countless recipes. Beyond its role as a simple sweetener, how much do you really know about that glistening white substance? Let's look at some fact about sugar:

1. The word "sugar" comes from the Sanskrit word śarkarā, meaning "gravel" or "sand," and the process of crystallizing sugar was first developed in ancient India around 500 CE. 

2. For centuries, sugar was so rare and expensive that it was known as "white gold," reserved only for royalty and the most elite tables. Its arrival in Europe, once carried across the Silk Road as a treasured spice, sparked a global obsession that reshaped trade, politics, and diets around the world.

3. Sugar has many names: The food industry tricks you into thinking the sugar content in food products are lower than they really are. You might see maltodextrin, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, rice syrup, cane sugar or cane juice, and sorbitol on the same label, not realizing it's all sugar. Wow!Let's not ignore the informations written on a product's label.

4. Real sugar is made from sugar cane and sugar beets grown on farms. 

5. Many foods label as "low fat" or "non fat" tastes bland and starchy. Sugar is added to give these foods a more palatable flavor.

6. "Sugar-free" means a food product contains less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving. While it doesn't mean the product is entirely devoid of sugar, it indicates the amount is insignificant and unlikely to impact blood sugar levels significantly. Sugar-free products are often sweetened with sugar substitutes, such as artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols, to provide sweetness without added sugar. 

7. Sugar can be used as a preservative because its dry crystals bind with water, preventing the growth of bacteria and other microbes that cause spoilage.

8. Sugar's ability to draw moisture from cells can be used in medicine to dry out and heal wounds, making it a treatment that can save lives in parts of the world where antibiotics are not readily available.