Product Code Database
Sugar is the generic name for Sweetness, soluble , many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called , include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called or double sugars, are molecules made of two Glycosidic bond monosaccharides; common examples are sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose), and maltose (two molecules of glucose). White sugar is almost pure sucrose. During digestion, compound sugars are hydrolysed into simple sugars.
Longer chains of saccharides are not regarded as sugars, and are called or . Starch is a glucose polymer found in plants – the most abundant source of energy in human food. Some other chemical substances, such as ethylene glycol, glycerol and , may have a sweet taste, but are not classified as sugar.
Sugars are found in the tissues of most plants. Honey and fruits are abundant natural sources of simple sugars. Sucrose is especially concentrated in sugarcane and sugar beet, making them efficient for commercial extract to make refined sugar. In 2016, the combined world production of those two crops was about two billion . Maltose may be produced by malt grain. Lactose is the only sugar that cannot be extracted from plants, as it occurs only in milk, including human breast milk, and in some . A cheap source of sugar is corn syrup, industrially produced by converting corn starch into sugars, such as maltose, fructose and glucose.
Sucrose is used in prepared foods (e.g., cookies and cakes), is sometimes Added sugar to commercially available ultra-processed food and beverages, and is sometimes used as a sweetener for foods (e.g., toast and cereal) and beverages (e.g., coffee and tea). Globally on average a person consumes about of sugar each year. North and South Americans consume up to , and Africans consume under .
The use of added sugar in food and beverage manufacturing is a concern for elevated Calorie, which is associated with an increased risk of several diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disorders. In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended that adults and children reduce their intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake, encouraging a reduction to below 5%.
The English word jaggery, a coarse brown sugar made from date palm sap or sugarcane juice, has a similar etymological origin: Portuguese jágara from the Malayalam cakkarā, which is from the Sanskrit śarkarā.
Nearchus, admiral of Alexander the Great, the Greek physician Dioscorides and the Roman Pliny the Elder also described sugar. In the mid-15th century, sugar was introduced into Madeira and the Canary Islands, where it was mass produced. Christopher Columbus introduced it to the New World leading to sugar industries in Cuba and Spanish Jamaica by the 1520s. The Portuguese took sugar cane to Brazil.
Beet sugar, the starting point for the modern sugar industry, was a German invention. Beet sugar was first produced industrially in 1801 in Cunern, Prussia.
Sugar became a household item by the 19th century, and this evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient resulted in major economic and social changes. Demand drove, in part, the colonisation and industrialisation of previously under-developed lands. It was also intimately associated with slavery. World consumption increased more than 100 times from 1850 to 2000, led by the United Kingdom, where it increased from about 2 pounds per head per year in 1650 to 90 pounds by the early 20th century.
The acyclic monosaccharides (and disaccharides) contain either aldehyde groups or ketone groups. These carbonyl double bonds (C=O) are the reactive centers. All saccharides with more than one ring in their structure result from two or more monosaccharides joined by with the resultant loss of a molecule of water () per bond.
+Table 1. Sugar content of selected common plant foods (g/100g)Use
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> link to FoodData Central (USDA) and then search for the particular food, and click on "SR Legacy Foods". |
| 20 |
| 64 |
| 20 |
| 1.9 |
| 1 |
| 51 |
| 57 |
| 8 |
| 61 |
| 16 |
| 10 |
| 96 |
| 77 |
| 15 |
| 0 |
| 14 |
| 60 |
| tr |
| high |
| high |
| 724.4 | |
| 439.4 | |
| 103.4 | |
| 92.1 | |
| 1,922.1 | |
| Source: FAO | |
Sugar cane accounted for around 21% of the global crop production over the 2000–2021 period. The Americas was the leading region in the production of sugar cane (52% of the world total). Global production of sugarcane in 2022 was 1.9 billion tonnes, with Brazil producing 38% of the world total and India 23% (table).
Sugarcane is any of several species, or their hybrids, of giant grasses in the genus Saccharum in the family Poaceae. They have been cultivated in tropical climates in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia over centuries for the sucrose found in their stems.
Sugar cane requires a frost-free climate with sufficient rainfall during the growing season to make full use of the plant's substantial growth potential. The crop is harvested mechanically or by hand, chopped into lengths and conveyed rapidly to the processing plant (commonly known as a sugar mill) where it is either milled and the juice extracted with water or extracted by diffusion. The juice is clarified with lime and heated to destroy . The resulting thin syrup is concentrated in a series of evaporators, after which further water is removed. The resulting Supersaturation solution is seeded with sugar crystals, facilitating crystal formation and drying. Molasses is a by-product of the process and the fiber from the stems, known as bagasse, is burned to provide energy for the sugar extraction process. The crystals of raw sugar have a sticky brown coating and either can be used as they are, can be bleached by sulfur dioxide, or can be treated in a carbonatation process to produce a whiter product. About of irrigation water is needed for every of sugar produced.
In 2022, global production of sugar beets was 260 million , led by Russia with 18.8% of the world total (table).
Sugar beet became a major source of sugar in the 19th century when methods for extracting the sugar became available. It is a biennial plant, a cultivar of Beta vulgaris in the family Amaranthaceae, the tuberous root of which contains a high proportion of sucrose. It is cultivated as a root crop in temperate regions with adequate rainfall and requires a fertile soil. The crop is harvested mechanically in the autumn and the crown of leaves and excess soil removed. The roots do not deteriorate rapidly and may be left in the field for some weeks before being transported to the processing plant where the crop is washed and sliced, and the sugar extracted by diffusion. Milk of lime is added to the raw juice with calcium carbonate. After water is evaporated by boiling the syrup under a vacuum, the syrup is cooled and seeded with sugar crystals. The white sugar that crystallizes can be separated in a centrifuge and dried, requiring no further refining.
The sugar may be transported in bulk to the country where it will be used and the refining process often takes place there. The first stage is known as affination and involves immersing the sugar crystals in a concentrated syrup that softens and removes the sticky brown coating without dissolving them. The crystals are then separated from the liquor and dissolved in water. The resulting syrup is treated either by a carbonatation or by a phosphatation process. Both involve the precipitation of a fine solid in the syrup and when this is filtered out, many of the impurities are removed at the same time. Removal of color is achieved by using either a granular activated carbon or an ion-exchange resin. The sugar syrup is concentrated by boiling and then cooled and seeded with sugar crystals, causing the sugar to crystallize out. The liquor is spun off in a centrifuge and the white crystals are dried in hot air and ready to be packaged or used. The surplus liquor is made into refiners' molasses.
The International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis sets standards for the measurement of the purity of refined sugar, known as ICUMSA numbers; lower numbers indicate a higher level of purity in the refined sugar.
Refined sugar is widely used for industrial needs for higher quality. Refined sugar is purer (ICUMSA below 300) than raw sugar (ICUMSA over 1,500).
Because sugars burn easily when exposed to flame, the handling of sugar powders risks dust explosion. The 2008 Georgia sugar refinery explosion, which killed 14 people and injured 36, and destroyed most of the refinery, was caused by the ignition of sugar dust.
The American Institute for Cancer Research and World Cancer Research Fund recommend that people limit sugar consumption.
There is a popular misconception that cancer can be treated by reducing sugar and carbohydrate intake to supposedly "starve" tumours. In reality, the health of people with cancer is best served by maintaining a healthy diet.
A review of human studies showed that the incidence of caries is lower when sugar intake is less than 10% of total energy consumed. Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with an increased risk of tooth decay.
On 20 May 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced changes to the Nutrition Facts panel displayed on all foods, to be effective by July 2018. New to the panel is a requirement to list "added sugars" by weight and as a percent of Daily Value (DV). For vitamins and minerals, the intent of DVs is to indicate how much should be consumed. For added sugars, the guidance is that 100% DV should not be exceeded. 100% DV is defined as 50 grams. For a person consuming 2000 calories a day, 50 grams is equal to 200 calories and thus 10% of total calories—the same guidance as the WHO. To put this in context, most cans of soda contain 39 grams of sugar. In the United States, a government survey on food consumption in 2013–2014 reported that, for men and women aged 20 and older, the average total sugar intakes—naturally occurring in foods and added—were, respectively, 125 and 99 grams per day. What We Eat In America, NHANES 2013–2014 . The American Heart Association recommends even lower daily consumption of added sugars: 36 grams for men, and 25 grams for women.
Originally, no sugar was white; anthropologist Sidney Mintz writes that white likely became understood as the ideal after groups who associated the color white with purity transferred their value to sugar. In India, sugar frequently appears in religious observances. For ritual purity, such sugar cannot be white.
Sugar beet
48.9 31.5 29.6 28.2 260 Source: FAO
Refining
Refined sugar is made from raw sugar that has undergone a refining process to remove the molasses. Raw sugar is sucrose which is extracted from sugarcane or sugar beet. While raw sugar can be consumed, the refining process removes unwanted tastes and results in refined sugar or white sugar. (2025). 9789799931108, Sugar Observer. ISBN 9789799931108
(2025). 9789799931108, Sugar Observer. ISBN 9789799931108 The level of purity associated with the colors of sugar, expressed by standard number ICUMSA, the smaller ICUMSA numbers indicate the higher purity of sugar.
Forms and uses
Crystal size
Densities
The densities of culinary sugars varies owing to differences in particle size and inclusion of moisture:
Shapes
Brown sugars
Brown sugars are granulated sugars, either containing residual molasses, or with the grains deliberately coated with molasses to produce a light- or dark-colored sugar such as muscovado and turbinado. They are used in baked goods, confectionery, and . Their darkness is due to the amount of molasses they contain. They may be classified based on their darkness or country of origin.
Liquid sugars
Burnt sugars and caramels
Heating sugar to near 200 °C for several minutes yields a product called burnt sugar. Often additives are used to modify the resulting caramels, e.g. alkali or . Several volatile products evolve in the heating process including butanone, several (2-acetofuran, furanone, hydroxymethyl furfural), and levoglucosan and more. (2025). 9783527303854 ISBN 9783527303854
Other sweeteners
Consumption
Worldwide sugar provides 10% of the daily calories (based on a 2000 kcal diet). In 1750, the average Briton got 72 calories a day from sugar. In 1913, this had risen to 395. In 2015, sugar still provided around 14% of the calories in British diets. (2025). 9780226697109, University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226697109 According to one source, per capita consumption of sugar in 2016 was highest in the United States, followed by Germany and the Netherlands.
Nutrition and flavor
Brown and white granulated sugar are 97% to nearly 100% carbohydrates, respectively, with less than 2% water, and no dietary fiber, protein or fat (table). Because brown sugar contains 5–10% molasses reintroduced during processing, its value to some consumers is a richer flavor than white sugar.
Health effects
The World Health Organization and other clinical associations recommend that reducing the consumption of free sugar (sugar sources added during manufacturing) to less than 10% of total energy needs can help to lower disease risk. This amount of sugar consumption is equivalent to about or 12 of added sugar per day. , the American Heart Association recommends that free sugar intake be limited to 6% of total daily energy needs, or (9 teaspoons) for adult males, and (6 teaspoons) for women. In many countries, the source and amount of added sugars can be viewed among ingredients on the labels of packaged foods. Added sugars provide no nutritional benefit, but are a source of excess calories that can lead to overweight and increased disease risk.
Obesity and metabolic syndrome
A 2003 technical report by the World Health Organization provided evidence that high intake of sugary drinks (including fruit juice) increases the risk of obesity by adding to overall energy intake. By itself, sugar is not a factor causing obesity and metabolic syndrome, but rather its excessive consumption adds to caloric burden, which meta-analysis showed could increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome in adults and children.
Cancer
Sugar consumption does not directly cause cancer. Cancer Council Australia have stated that "there is no evidence that consuming sugar makes cancer cells grow faster or cause cancer". There is an indirect relationship between sugar consumption and obesity-related cancers through increased risk of excess body weight.
Cognition
Despite some studies suggesting that sugar consumption causes hyperactivity, the quality of evidence is low and it is generally accepted within the scientific community that the notion of children's 'sugar rush' is a myth. A 2019 meta-analysis found that sugar consumption does not improve mood, but can lower alertness and increase fatigue within an hour of consumption. One review of low-quality studies of children consuming high amounts of showed association with higher rates of unhealthy behaviors, including smoking and excessive alcohol use, and with hyperactivity and insomnia, although such effects could not be specifically attributed to sugar over other components of those drinks such as caffeine.
Tooth decay
The WHO, Action on Sugar and the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) state dental caries, also known as tooth decay/cavities, "can be prevented by avoiding dietary free sugars".
Nutritional displacement
The "empty calories" argument states that a diet high in Added sugar (or 'free') sugars will reduce consumption of foods that contain essential nutrients. This nutrient displacement occurs if sugar makes up more than 25% of daily energy intake, a proportion associated with poor diet quality and risk of obesity. Displacement may occur at lower levels of consumption.
Recommended dietary intake
The WHO recommends that both adults and children reduce the intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake. "Free sugars" include monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods, and sugars found in fruit juice and concentrates, as well as in honey and syrups.
Society and culture
Manufacturers of sugary products, such as soft drinks and candy, and the Sugar Research Foundation have been accused of trying to influence consumers and medical associations in the 1960s and 1970s by creating doubt about the potential health hazards of sucrose overconsumption, while promoting saturated fat as the main dietary risk factor in cardiovascular diseases. In 2016, the criticism led to recommendations that diet emphasize the need for high-quality research that accounts for multiple on development of cardiovascular diseases.
Gallery
See also
Sources
Further reading
(2025). 9780007448470, Collins. ISBN 9780007448470
External links
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