Sugar, Sugars And Corn Syrup, What’s The Difference?

The boundaries of the three swallowed dietary substances sugar, fructose and glucose appear to have blurred, blending together, so it’s easy to see why people have a problem with sugar, fructose or corn syrup occurring in the same food item. Let’s look at the technical details of these three substances, going from harmful to healthful, and see how each one is actually digested and absorbed into the body.

Sugarsucroseis a carbohydrate that dissolves in water to form a clear syrup, best known as sugar. You get sucrose from the sugar cane, or corn, stalk, or sap. Fructoseis a combination of fructose and glucose. Glucoseis a sugar found naturally in fruit. It is taken up by the muscles and used to fuel them, and sucrose is the other type of blood glucose. The problem with fructose is that it doesn’t go through the same metabolic processes as glucose does, and because of that it doesn’t provide the same energy rush as a glucose molecule does. Fructose is used to produce something called “fructose syrup,” which is a inexpensive sweetener made by adding an extra molecule of fructose, resulting in the same caloric value as sucrose. Because it’s cheaper than glucose, corn farmers are now using more of it in their feed for cattle.

Sucroseare the bodies most commonly used energy sources, but they are only required in small amounts. In addition, they can be produced from complex carbohydrates, although that produced sugar is more refined than the simple sugars used for the session.

Complex carbohydratesare foods that, yes, the body already uses them for energy — the carbohydrates from processed foods, or from your own body that is converted into glucose during digestion. Your body does not digest these types of carbohydrates, but microbes in your small intestine do. Since this is the only food the body can use as energy, microbes have been using them for millions of years.

They are “sugar atomic structures” as they occur naturally, and they are Ground provisions, just like sugars. They are formed by plants in unique combinations of oxygen and hydrogen, like the sugars. Sugars are just chemical elements with an exact number of electrons.

Natural sugars and fructose are the only sugars that the body can use as fuel immediately, readily and without storing what “spillover” it has from the glucose into the next level. That fuel is the sugar that makes fruit savory and juicy.

Fibers are the most complex types of molecule. Fiber is the indigestible un-carbohydrate portion of plant foods. It can be difficult to digest, and many fibers are metabolized in the GI tract.

Other examples of fuel types are proteins and fats. Proteins are composed of single or double sugars, such as lactose, sucrose, glucose, etc.

Fatsare the most energy-dense foods, more “micronutrients” or small quantities of energy. If you want to use them for energy, digestion has to happen and it does in the liver. Heating fats changes their chemical structures, making them toxic and placing them in the danger zone for damage.

Olive oil is the best olive oil as it is the least processed and highest in flavor.

Fiberwilde vegetables have more fiber than vegetables from a plant source. Fiber promotes Nature’s persistence as it traces back decades to the parts of plants where it came from. On the other hand, the vegetables coming from domesticated plants, in the grocery store you will find a big chunk of pulp and maybe a couple of vegetables with a disguised, unpronounceable ingredient.

Most people consume too much sugar and fructose. The result is your Known predisposition toward things like overweight, Type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease and other chronic disorders.

Fructose reduces your bodies ability to control blood sugar levels. For people who have diabetes, fructose helps their systems threshold blood sugar at a level sufficient to control their insulin production. On the other hand, lots of people eat too much sugar, and that is the stuff that dissolves into their bloodstream and causes a problem.

Last month I told you about cutting out sugar, and so in addition to sugar you now know how to feel sugar and carbohydrate cravings in general, and cravings for the wrong kinds of sugar.

This means that some people can eat three squares of rye bread, with a bowl of oatmeal and no dessert between them, and feel sated and have no problem.

Now imagine if you do the same three-squares-of- rye bread-and-oatmeal combination but replace the oatmeal with a high-sugar cereal, instead of the plain oatmeal.