Many of us like sweet things like chocolate and soda. Like most of us know, this is thanks to sugar, but did you know that there are various types of sugar and that sugar isn’t the only thing to make foods sweet. Another name for sugar is carbohydrates that like the name mentions have carbons, hydrogens and oxygen. The majority of these taste sweet and that’s because of taste buds that recognize those carbohydrates as sweet. The most common form of sugar is sucrose but another form that is usually fund in soda is fructose and if you read the back label it usually says “high fructose corn syrup”.
Like mentioned above, that are other sweet things that aren’t sugar. One example is sugar alcohols. These are commonly found in mints and bubble gums. The sugar alcohol that is mostly found in these is sorbitol. Another common substitute that is found is stevioside which is found in the leaves of the stevia plant and is 100 times sweeter than sucrose ounce per ounce. So next time you’re going to eat or drink something sweet, check the label and you will see if you’re eating sugar or something else.
Bibliography Brooker, R. J., Widmaier, E. P., Graham, L. E., & Stiling, P. D. (2014). Biology. New York City: McGraw Hill.
Nelson, D. L., & Cox, M. M. (2013). Principles of Biochemistry. New York City: Freeman.
https://www.healthydietadvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bigstock-Heap-Of-Sugar-57649838.jpg
Author: Kristos I. Negrón
Like mentioned above, that are other sweet things that aren’t sugar. One example is sugar alcohols. These are commonly found in mints and bubble gums. The sugar alcohol that is mostly found in these is sorbitol. Another common substitute that is found is stevioside which is found in the leaves of the stevia plant and is 100 times sweeter than sucrose ounce per ounce. So next time you’re going to eat or drink something sweet, check the label and you will see if you’re eating sugar or something else.
Bibliography Brooker, R. J., Widmaier, E. P., Graham, L. E., & Stiling, P. D. (2014). Biology. New York City: McGraw Hill.
Nelson, D. L., & Cox, M. M. (2013). Principles of Biochemistry. New York City: Freeman.
https://www.healthydietadvisor.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bigstock-Heap-Of-Sugar-57649838.jpg
Author: Kristos I. Negrón