• Question: why do we need to eat sugar?

    Asked by Jimmy to Uday on 20 Nov 2015.
    • Photo: Uday Bangavadi

      Uday Bangavadi answered on 20 Nov 2015:

      Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that comes in many different forms. In its simplest form it is called a monosaccharide and includes:

      Glucose (occurs naturally in fruits and plant juices)
      Fructose (occurs naturally in fruits, some root vegetables, cane sugar and honey)
      Galactose (combines with glucose to form lactose)

      The “table sugar” sucrose is a disaccharide (contains two monosaccharaides) made up of glucose and fructose. All carbohydrates, once eaten, are converted into glucose during digestion, which is the form of sugar that is used in our bodies.

      It is the added sugar that gives no beneficial nutrients (just energy) and in excess can impact on our health. The World Health Organization guideline is that “added sugar” should make up no more than 10% of our daily intake. However, with sugar being used in many of our foods these days it is easy to lose track of how much “added” sugar you are eating in a day!

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