Sugar

The white hidden drug or just sweetness?

Written by Magnus Abrahamsson

English B 2005 ht.

1
SUGAR
The white hidden drug or just sweetness?

INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................... 3
HISTORY ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
WHAT IS SUGAR? ................................................................................................................................................. 3
SPEAKING OF CARBOHYDRATES AND SUGARS ........................................................................................................ 3
Monosaccharide ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Fructose ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Glucose.......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Galactose ....................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Disaccharides ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Sucrose .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Lactose .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Maltose .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4
Polysaccharides................................................................................................................................................ 5
Starches ......................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Glycogen ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Cellulose........................................................................................................................................................................ 5
IS EVERYTHING THAT TASTE SWEET SUGAR? ......................................................................................... 5
NUTRITIVE ............................................................................................................................................................. 5
NON-NUTRITIVE .................................................................................................................................................... 5
Cyclamate...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Acesulfam...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Aspartame...................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Saccharine ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6
WHAT ABOUT THE CONSUMING OF SUGAR? ............................................................................................. 6
ARE WE CONSUMING MORE AND MORE SUGAR? ..................................................................................................... 6
DO WE EAT MORE SUGAR THEN ARE RECOMMENDED? ........................................................................................... 7
HOW MUCH SUGAR DO DIFFERENT PRODUCTS CONTAIN? ................................................................. 7
IS THE SUGAR IN FRUIT BETTER THAN ORDINARY SUGAR? ............................................................... 7
WHAT ABOUT THE SUGAR IN CHOCOLATE? ............................................................................................................ 7
IS IT BETTER TO EAT HONEY INSTEAD OF REGULAR SUGAR?................................................................................... 7
DOES SUGAR CAUSE OVERWEIGHT? ............................................................................................................ 8
DOES SUGAR CAUSE DIABETES? .................................................................................................................... 8
DOES SUGAR CAUSE TOOTH DECAY?........................................................................................................... 8
WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR BODY WHEN WE EAT? ...................................................................................... 8
GLYCEMIC INDEX( (GI).......................................................................................................................................... 9
CONCLUSIONS - SUMMERY .............................................................................................................................. 9
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................................... 10

2
 general public sugar remained as rare goods on the

Sugar
- The white hidden drug or just sweetness?
kitchen table.

Written by Magnus Abrahamsson

Introduction
People in the west world are getting fatter and
fatter. The sale of sugar based soft drinks has
increased with almost 50% the last 10 years in
Sweden and the bottles get bigger and bigger.
But the consumption of sugar has been constant
In the 18th century (1747), another plant was
since the 1950th, how is that possible? Is it as
found to contain sugar: the sugar beet. But I
dangerous as they tell us in the media to drink
wasn’t until Napoleonic wars at the start of the
light/diet Coke? People talk about sugar as the
19th century that sugar beet became really
big scapegoat and responsible for numerous
attractive. The trigger for the attraction was when
health issues: diabetes, heart disease, obesity,
England blocked the imports of there Caribbean
hyperactivity and dental caries series. So what is
sugar to continental Europe. By 1880 the sugar
really the truth and what are myths about sugar?
beet had replaced sugar cane as the main source of
I hope to give you an objective review based on
sugar on continental Europe. 2
scientific facts in this treatise. Hopefully it will
enlighten your common sense a bit ☺
In the beginning of the 18th century we consumed
0.1 kilo of sugar per person and year in Sweden
and 1750 had it increased to 0.4 kilo. Hundred
years later the consumption had reached the
History height of 4 kilo per person and year. And since
then the sugar consumption has increased
The story begins about 20 000 BC on the Pacific gradually. Today the figure is ten times as lager,
Islands where the people discovered the i.e.40 kilo. 3
sweetness of cane sugar. But it took until 500 BC
until the people in India had found out how to
make the first crude sugar, which they called What is sugar?
“gur” (loosely translated as "tasting sweet"). The
knowledge of how to make sugar spread from
Sugar is the naturally occurring nutrient that
India to Europe bye the Arabs and the crusades.
makes food taste sweet. It is a carbohydrate along
Since then the rumour about the new enjoyable
with starch. Carbohydrates are our main source of
pleasurable taste and important content of
energy. Starch-rich foods include bread, rice,
energy spread more and more around the world.
pasta, and potatoes, whereas sugars are found in
Sugar considers even to have medical effects and
fruit and vegetables, honey, jam and many soft
become therefore even an ingredient in
drinks. 4
medicine. But because the manufacture of sugar
was so complicated sugar became for the coming
centuries only to exist as an exclusive desirable Speaking of carbohydrates and sugars
luxury for the upper class authorities. It is
recorded, for instance, that sugar was available in
London at "two shillings a pound" in 1319 AD. When people hear the word “sugar” they often
This equates to about US$100 per kilo at today's think of sugar in a bowl on the breakfast table.
prices so it was very much a luxury. 1 But to fully understand what sugar really is we
have to steep in to a chemist’s world.
The first time sugar is mentioned in Swedish
history is in 1328 at the funeral of chief judge As mentioned above sugar is a part of a family
Birger Persson, St. Birgitta’s father. For the called carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are one of

3
the three main classes of food (the other two are Disaccharides
fat and proteins). As the name implies
carbohydrates contains of carbon and hydrogen The word disaccharides mean "two sugars".
plus oxygen in the same ratio as in water. It is Disaccharides are formed by a condensation
the main energy source for our body and the reaction where one molecule of water condenses
only direct energy source for our brain. or is released during the joining of two
Carbohydrates are, depending on there molecule monosaccharides. The most commonly found
size, broken down into five major classifications. disaccharides in nature are:
We will take a look at the three most common
classifications in our nourishment:
Sucrose - made up of glucose and fructose.
monosaccharide, disaccharides and
Sucrose is something called ‘table sugar’ or simply
polysaccharides. 5
‘sugar’. The sucrose that we add to tea and coffee
is exactly the same as the sucrose found in fruit
and vegetables, and is used by the body in exactly
Monosaccharide the same ways.

Table sugar is commercially extracted from either

The word monosaccharide is derived from sugar cane or sugar beet and then purified and
mono, meaning "one", and saccharide, meaning crystallized. Other minor commercial sources to
"sugar" i.e. one sugar molecule. Here are the make sucrose are sorghum and sugar maples. 6
most common monosaccharides:

Fructose - has the same chemical formula as

glucose but a different molecular structure.
Sometimes called fruit sugar, fructose is found in
fruit, some vegetables, honey, and other plants.

Glucose - also called dextrose. In nature, it

combines with fructose to form sucrose. It can
also combine with glucose to form maltose, and
with galactose to form lactose. However, the
Sucrose
only sugar our body is able to burn is called
glucose. Therefore all other sugars that enter our
Lactose - made up of glucose and galactose.
system have to be converted by the liver into
Lactose, also called milk sugar, is simply the sugar
glucose. Glucose is slightly less sweet than
find in milk. A fine white powder much less sweet
sucrose.
than sucrose. The pharmaceutical industry is the
primary user of prepared lactose.
Galactose - is hard to find in large quantities in
nature. If you combine it with glucose you form Maltose - made up two single glucose molecules.
lactose, which is found in milk. It’s least sweet It could be find in wheat and oats (starch).
among other natural sugars. Maltose is one of the important ingredients in
alcohol production.

Monosaccharide

4
Polysaccharides
Polysaccharides are polymers of simple sugar i.e.
it consists of thousands of repeating glucose
units. Some of the most common
polysaccharides are: starches, glycogen and
cellulose. 7
Starches - is the most valuable polysaccharide
because it plays a vital role in the biochemistry
of both plants and animals. When there is an
excess of glucose in green-plants a process called
photosynthesis takes care of the storage and
production of starch. Starches contains of 10-
20% amylose and 80-90% amylopectin. The
major sources of starch in the human diet are
potato, rice, wheat, and corn.
Glycogen - is stored in the animal’s liver and
muscles where it is synthesized and degraded
depending upon the energy requirements of the
body. If glucose can’t be stored as glycogen or
used immediately for energy it is converted to
fat. Glycogen is easily converted back to glucose
to provide energy.
Cellulose - is the chief constituent of all plant
tissues and fibres. Wood consists mainly of
cellulose while cotton and paper are almost pure
cellulose. Cellulose is not digestible by humans,
so don’t try to eat it ☺
Is everything that taste
sweet sugar?
No, often different sweeteners are used. A
sweetener is food additive which adds the basic
taste of sweetness for food. Sweeteners are
usually divided in to two groups: nutritive and
non-nutritive.
Nutritive
To the nutritive sweeteners belong partly the
natural sugars such as sucrose, fructose, glucose
and partly the sugar alcohols such as sorbitol,
mannitol and xylitol. The sugar alcohols are in
most cases half as sweet or as sweet as regular
sugar. They are converted in the body to sucrose
and give almost the same energy.
Sugar alcohols occur naturally in small amounts
in foods. For example mannitol which is a sugar
5
alcohol that naturally is found in pineapples,
olives, asparagus, sweet potatoes and carrots. If
one use in large amounts, such as the
concentration if you eat too many sugar-free
candies, will causes GI cramps and diarrheic.
Sugar alcohols do not contain ethanol, which is
found in alcoholic beverages. In other words, you
won't get drunk from your sugar-free chocolates. 8
Non-Nutritive
Non-nutritive sweeteners are above all used to
reduce the amount of energy in products and/or
to produce an alterative product for special
consumers, ex. diabetics. In this group belong a
number of sweeteners that are non artificial and
produced by isolation of the sweet components in
plants, for example taumatin and neohesperidin
DC. These sweeteners are not commercial
profitably to produce and therefore the usages of
them are very small.
Even the artificially produced sweeteners,
acesulfame, aspartame, cyclamate and saccharin,
are a part of the non-nutritive sweeteners group.
They are the most common on the Swedish
market. The sweetness effects in all of them are so
high that you only need to add very small amounts
to the provisions to achieve the sweetness you
want. Light and Diet products are big user of the
non-nutritive artificially sweeteners. 9
All of the non-nutritive sweeteners have a very
strong sweetening effect comparing to ordinary
sugar and are above all used to minimise the
energy content in different provisions and as a
sweetener for diabetics. These are the most
common in Sweden:
Cyclamate (E952) was start being used during
the 1950th. It has a sweetening effect that is about
30 times as strong as regular sugar. To day
Cyclamate is only accepted as sweetener in bread
and is no longer allowed in any prepared
provisions that are offered for sale.
Acesulfam K (E950) is about 150 times stronger
then regular sugar. It is used in soft drinks, sweets
and ice cream.
Aspartame (E951) has been used since 1982. It is
approximately 180 times as sweet as regular sugar
and has been the subject of a many controversy
publications regarding its safety and the
circumstances around its approval. It is a join of
two amino acids: phenylalanine and asparigine
acid. That’s way it’s a health hazard to the few
people born with phenylketonuria (PKU), i.e. a
genetic intolerance of phenylalanine. A few
studies have also recommended further
investigation into possible connections between
aspartame and diseases such as brain tumours,
brain lesions and lymphoma, but no large-scale
studies have been conducted. These relatively
unexplored possibilities, combined with notable
conflicts of interest in the approval process, have
engendered vocal activism regarding the
legitimate risks of aspartame as well as some less
credible conspiracy theories. Aspartame is used
in low-cal-drinks, sugar free showing-gums,
lozenge, jam, ice cream and among other things.
NUTRITIVE SWEETENERS
Sugar types Sugar alcohol
Sucrose Sorbitol
Fructose Mannitol
Glucose Xylitol
Lactose Isomalt
Maltose Laktitol
Maltitol
10
Aspartame
Saccharine (E954) was discovered over
hundred years ago and is estimated to be 300-
700 times as sweet as sugar. Saccharin has a
metallic aftertaste and has to be combined with
other sweeteners. In 1977 FDA (Food and Drug
Administration) proposed removing saccharin
from public after a Canadian study had found it
caused bladder cancer in rats. But the public
opposition led Congress to stop the actions to
take saccharin off the market because they felt
that the studies were inconclusive. Instead all the
products that contained saccharin were required
to be labelled with the following statement: “Use
of this product may be hazardous to your health. This
product contains saccharin which has been determined to
cause cancer in laboratory animals.”
On May 15, 2000 the U.S. government released a
report on things known to cause cancer. Saccharin
was then “de-listed” from the list of suspected
carcinogens. On of the reasons for the removal
were studies were they had following diabetics
who had used saccharin for years and yet not
shown an increase in the incidence of bladder
cancer. In Sweden we use saccharine with
aspartame, for example in different light soft
drinks. 11
NON-NUTRITIVE
SWEETENERS
Artificial Non artificially
Acesulfame K Taumatin
Aspartame Neohesperidin DC
Cyclamate
Saccharin
Summery of sweeteners in Sweden
What about the
consumption of sugar?
Are we consuming more and more sugar?
No, that’s not true. The consumption of sugar has
been stable since 1950th. But the source to the
consumed sugar has changed over time: the intake
of candy, soft drinks and ice cream has increased,
but we buy less pure sugar, example for baking
and sweetening at home.
Total consumption of sugar per year in Sweden 12
6
Do we eat more sugar then are
recommended?
Is the sugar in fruit better
than ordinary sugar?
Yes, some children, teenagers does, but if you
look at how much sugar adult’s consume it’s The sugar in your sugar bowl is the same
within the recommendation. Both WHO and the substance (sucrose) found naturally in apples,
Swedish National Food Administration oranges, carrots and every other fruit and
recommendation is that maximum 10% of their vegetable we eat. The body uses sugar from sugar
calories we eat should come from sugar. But that cane and sugar beets in the same way as the sugars
is a figure that has been debated since the report in fruit and vegetables. The sugars found in all
was published by WHO in June 2000. One of carbohydrate foods all become glucose, fuel for
the reasons to WHO’s recommendation was the body. But when we eat a fruit we also have
their conclusion that soft drinks contributed to vitamins, protecting substances and fibre. Sugar in
the obesity pandemic. The sugar industry didn’t soft drinks and candy are empty calories and
accept the WHO report's conclusion. The wouldn’t give you any healthy substances. So it’s
Washington-based National Soft Drink better to eat sugar from a natural source such as
Association said the report's "recommendation fruit and juice. 15
on added sugars is too restrictive". The
association backs a 25% limit. The WHO
strongly rejected the sugar lobby's criticisms. An What about the sugar in chocolate?
official said that a team of 30 independent
experts had considered the scientific evidence Briefly I can say that there is a big difference how
and its conclusions were in line with the findings much sugar and fat different chocolates contain. I
of 23 national reports which have, on average, want go any deeper in to that in this text, but to
set targets of 10% for added sugars. 13 give you a feeling for how big the differences are I
That equates 45 gram of sugar each day for a will give you an example:
woman with a still sit job. For a man the
maximum is 70 gram a day. Quality chocolate
56 - 70 % cocoa substance of which 31% is cocoa
butter
How much sugar do 29 - 43 % sugar
different products contain? Mass produced milk chocolate:
11 % cocoa substance
Below can you se a table how much sugar 3% vegetable fat
different products contain converted into sugar 20 % milk substance
cubes. One sugar cube is equivalent to 4 gram of 65 % sugar
sugar. 14
There have been many studies linking cocoa with
health benefits. The darker chocolate with the
Product Volume Sugar cubes most concentrated cocoa will of course be the
Ketchup 1 kilo 52 ea. most beneficial.16
"Boston-gurka" 560 g 27 ea.
Coke 1,5 l 38 ea.
Fruit yoghurt 1l 42 ea. Is it better to eat honey instead of regular
Creamed cod roe 100 g 9 ea. sugar?
Chewy rat (candy) 100 g 16 ea.
Nutritionally honey and sugar doesn’t differentiate
Loaf 900 g 31 ea.
that much. Honey almost exclusively consists of
Chocolate (drink) 500 g 125 ea. sugar and water. But it also contains small
Fruit muesli 725 g 57 ea. amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants,
Beetroot 570 g 38 ea. protecting substances for the body cells, from the
Black pudding 425 g 16 ea. flowers/plants that the bees collect there honey.17
Juice 1l 30 ea.

7
 Does sugar cause tooth
decay?
Yes, that’s true. Dental caries are the main
problem associated with a high sugar intake. We
have all heard the dentists' warnings about
cavities—“brush your teeth after meals and after
eating sweets”. Both sugar and other
carbohydrates that are easily broken down in to
different types of sugars, for example starch in
white bread, will increase the risk for caries. But
most important is the number of meals. Limit
your intake of sweets or eat them with meals,
instead of in between meals or by themselves.
This way, other foods help to dilute and neutralize
the acid that is produced by bacteria on your
Does sugar cause teeth. 20

overweight?
At the moment there are no proof for a “direct
link” between the intake of sugar and obesity, or
that sugar should make us fatter then what is
explained by the energy (caloric) content. But
when it comes to soft drinks there is a
connection to obesity. A study shows that soft
drinks don’t satisfy hunger as good as sugar in
solid form does, such as gummy candy. A side
effect of that could be that we don’t cut down
the same amount on the other food. The most
important reason for excess body fat is that we
eat too much, of sugar or other stuff. And it’s
easier to eat a lot of unhealthy food that contains
sugar and / or fat. Also a lack of physical activity Mouth germ
plays a significant role in promoting body fat
accumulation and development of obesity.18
WHO recommend us not to eat food with added
sugar, honey, syrup or fruit juice more then four
times a day. And to use toothpaste with fluoride
Does sugar cause two times a day. 21
diabetes?
In the past people believed so. But today many
modern studies have shown that’s not the case. What happens to our body
The last confirmation on that was a large study
on made on 39 000 women published last year. when we eat?
It showed no connection between the intake of
sugar and adult diabetes.19
If our body should work you need to give it fuel
The exact reason why diabetes occurs is so far in form of energy. Carbohydrates are considered
not known. But besides the possibility of to be the body's "preferred" source of energy and
heredity could you lifestyle induce the risk of are the brain's essential source of energy because
suffer from diabetes. it’s more easily converted into glucose than
protein or fat. So after a meal, glucose molecules
are absorbed into your bloodstream by the small
8
intestine and carried to the cells, where they are
used for energy. The hormone insulin is
produced by your pancreas, and helps glucose
enter cells. If you take in more glucose than your
body needs at the time, your body stores the
extra glucose in your liver and muscles in a form
called glycogen. Your body can use the stored
glucose whenever it is needed for energy
between meals. Extra glucose can also be
converted to fat and stored in fat cells.
A little bit about blood-glucose
We can compeer our brains need of blood-
glucose to its need of oxygen. If you hold your
breath long enough a feeling of panic will attend
and you will nimbly catch your breath. The brain
sends the same impulse when the blood-glucose
level runs low, i.e. it gets almost as irresistible to
eat something as it is to start breathing. In fact
it’s the same primitive parts of our brain that is
activated when there is a lack of oxygen as when
the blood-glucose level runs low. If you don’t
learn what to eat to keep the blood-glucose on
the right level it will be impossible to have good
eating habits. It’s here the glycemic index enters
the arena. 22
Glycemic Index( (GI)
For a quick and convenient way to find out how
fast your blood-glucose levels rise after you eat
different carbohydrate-containing foods, use the
glycemic index. This index classifies foods into
high, intermediate or low GI foods according to
how fast their carbohydrate is converted into
glucose and thus how quickly the particular food
raises our blood-glucose levels.
Fructose has a GI of 27 comparing to regular
sugar which have 97. 23
9
Conclusions - Summery
Is sugar “the white hidden drug or just
sweetness?” that is a question I asked in the
beginning of the text. So what’s the answer? Is
sugar a dangerous drug? No I don’t think so. You
shouldn't be afraid of all the scary headlines in the
news papers and you should not be afraid of
eating candy or drinking diet soft drinks now and
then. It’s all about proportions and common
sense.
During my research I have also been perceptive
the commercial aspects in the sugar industry. It
has been interesting and intimidating to see how
the multinational global sugar companies put in
millions of dollars in advertising, lobbing and
propaganda to protect there own needs. For
example when WHO released a report on
recommended sugar intake one big American soft
drink association where very quick to call it “too
restrictive”, which later lead to a higher max sugar
intake recommendation in the States then in the
rest of the world.
I also hit me that we, the consumers, are in the
middle of a battlefield. On side the natural sugar
manufacturers and on the other side the
companies which make synthetic and artificial
sweeteners. As one side are lobbing for how
dangerous natural sugar is and trying to defend
the rumours about synthetic making you stupid
and gives you cancer the other side tries to do the
opposite. The consumer stands in the middle
looking for answers.
Because of these different forces it has been
difficult to find a objective information, but it
have also been fun. I have tried to stick to global
organizations, government sources and scientific
reports.
In the end it is up to you to decide whether sugar
is the devils creation or god’s gift to the humans
☺ I hope this text has given you some inputs to
the subject and a deeper knowledge in the
ongoing battle around how sugar affects us all.
Thank you for your attention.
Magnus Abrahamsson
2005-11-14
References
1Canadian Sugar Institute,
www.sugar.ca/faqGen.htm (2005-08-19)
2 “How Sugar is Made - the History“,
www.sucrose.com/lhist.html (2005-08-28)
3 Swedish National food administration,
www.slv.se (2005-08-28)
4 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ,
20
IFIC(International Food Information Council),
www.ific.org/publications/qa/sugarqa.cfm (2005-09-
07)
21
WHO,
http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/
trs916/en/gsfao_dental.pdf (2005-09-07)
22 The Franklin Institute,
www.fi.edu/brain/carbs.htm (2005-09-06)
23 "Blodsockerblues", Fitnessförlaget by Fredrik Paulún

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar (2005-08-15)
5 “Types of Carbohydrates”

www.sparknotes.com/health/carbohydrates
(2005-08-15)
6 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucrose (2005-08-15)
7 Answers.com, www.answers.com (starch)

(2005-09-07)
8 “Use of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners”,

American Dietetic Association (ADA

www.eatright.org/Public/GovernmentAffairs/9
2_adap0598.cfm (2005-08-17)
9 “Use of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners”,

American Dietetic Association (ADA

www.eatright.org/Public/GovernmentAffairs/9
2_adap0598.cfm (2005-08-17)
10 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspartame (2005-08-17)
11 Calorie Control Council, www.saccharin.org

(2005-08-17)
12 Swedish Board of Agriculture, sjv.se (2005-08-

17)
13 The Guardian, ,”Sugar industry threatens to

scupper WHO” by Sarah Boseley, health editor

(April 21, 2003), www.guardian.co.uk (2005-08-
17)
14 SVT Toppform,

svt.se/svt/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=31222&a=34668
2 (2005-09-05)
15 Canadian Sugar Institute,

www.sugar.ca/faqGen.htm (2005-08-19)
16 California Academy of Sciences,

www.calacademy.org/naturalhistory/chocolate_
health.cfm (2005-08-25)
17 National Honey Board, Carbohydrates and

sweetness of honey,
www.nhb.org/download/factsht/carb.pdf
(2005-09-02)
18 IFIC(International Food Information Council) Q&A

publication (from April 2005),

ific.org/publications/qa/fructoseqa.cfm (2005-
09-03)
19 “AProspective Study of Sugar Intake and Risk
of Type 2 Diabetes in Women “ (Diabetes Care,
2003, vol. 26, no. 4), care.diabetesjournals.org
(2005-09-05)
10