Speaking of sugar, people naturally think of sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar and candy. In fact, when nutritionists say sugar, they include a wider range. It is a large class of organic compounds produced by plants through photosynthesis. Sugar is widely distributed in the biological world, almost all plants, animals and microorganisms contain it, especially in the plant world, accounting for about 80% of the dry weight. People and animals can't "produce" sugar like plants, and the sugar in the human body is mainly provided by food. Sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen is similar to that of water, so sugar is also called carbohydrate.
The fruit candy, brown sugar, white sugar and rock sugar we usually eat are collectively called sucrose. Sucrose is just one kind of sugar, and others like starch, maltose, lactose and glucose are all sugars.
After a seminar, FAO and WHO published a consultation report on carbohydrates in human food. The report overturns all kinds of false accusations against sugar and "vindicates" it. The Dietary Guide for China Residents once advised people to "eat less sweets", but this article has been deleted from the newly revised guide.
For sugar, the main points of "rehabilitation" now are as follows:
Eating sugar won't make you fat.
According to the statistics of some countries, people who eat less sugar are more likely to suffer from obesity than those who eat more sugar. Because obese people tend to eat too much fat, do too little exercise and have too much nutrition, not too much sugar. In fact, sugar can reduce appetite and avoid eating too much.
Eating sugar will not cause diabetes.
The factors leading to diabetes are very complicated, which are caused by impaired islet function. Normal people eating sugar will not cause hyperglycemia and diabetes.
People in sugar areas in China eat more sugar. The Ministry of Health has organized experts to investigate the incidence of diabetes in sugar-producing areas of Guangxi. Among the investigated 1 1034 people, only 10 people were urine positive, and the incidence of diabetes was 7.07% through glucose tolerance test. Then 926 1 person was investigated in non-sugar producing areas, and 60 people were found to be positive for diabetes. After glucose tolerance test, the incidence of diabetes in these people is 65,438+00.47%. These surveys and experiments fully prove that there is no direct relationship between how much sugar you eat and diabetes.
Eating sugar will not cause cardiovascular disease.
In the past, people thought that sugar was easy to cause coronary heart disease. Now medical scientists have proved that this is just a misunderstanding, there is no causal relationship between the two, and eating sugar has no adverse effect on blood lipids. American surveys show that in the past 20 years, Americans' consumption of sugar has increased, while the number of people who died of myocardial infarction has decreased.
Eating sugar is only one of the causes of dental caries.
When it comes to dental caries, people naturally think of sugar. Italian dental researchers examined more than 55,000 people aged 7-64. The results show that the amount of sugar eaten every day has nothing to do with dental caries, but if you don't pay attention to oral hygiene, eating sugar through "sticking your teeth" will cause harm to your teeth.
In fact, there are many reasons for dental caries, and eating sugar is just one of them. Dental experts pointed out that the prevention and treatment of dental caries should focus on fluoride treatment and oral hygiene, rather than simply reducing sugar intake.
Eating sugar has nothing to do with cancer and trace element deficiency.
Medical research has proved that there is no connection between cancer and sugar. On the contrary, sugar is good for cancer prevention. Eating sugar has nothing to do with the lack of trace elements. In the diet with high sugar content, only the intake of fiber is reduced.
Sugar can be divided into monosaccharide, disaccharide and polysaccharide. Sugar that is no longer hydrolyzed is called monosaccharide; Disaccharide is a combination of two monosaccharide molecules pulled up and one water molecule removed; Polysaccharide consists of many monosaccharides. Monosaccharide is the basic unit of carbohydrate family. The most common monosaccharides are glucose and fructose, and human blood sugar is glucose, which plays an important role in the activities of the nervous system, especially the brain. Sucrose, maltose and lactose (present in milk and breast milk) are disaccharides, which can be converted into glucose in human body. Polysaccharides include starch, glycogen and cellulose, all of which are composed of glucose. Grain is rich in starch, glycogen exists in animal liver and muscle, and there is no enzyme to decompose cellulose in human body, so the glucose contained in cellulose cannot be decomposed and utilized. The human body can only absorb monosaccharides, and disaccharides and polysaccharides need to be digested and decomposed into monosaccharides before they can be absorbed by the human body. Cooked starch (rice, steamed bread) can also become glucose after digestion.
People have to consume heat and energy in all activities. Sugar reacts with oxygen in the human body to produce carbon dioxide and water, and can release energy, so people gain the ability to exercise. Without sugar, we can't move and work, and our hearts can't beat. The human body stores very little glycogen, about 300 grams, which is only enough for half a day, so people should supplement energy three times a day.
The latest research by scientists shows that sugar is an important information carrier of life. Nucleic acid is an important genetic material, which contains ribose. Protein, amino acids and fats are all connected by carbon atoms, and these carbon chains are all decomposed and transformed from sugar compounds.
Sugar is very important to the human body. Nutrition and food experts point out that people misunderstand sugar too deeply. In fact, sugar is not necessarily related to many "diseases of modern civilization". Eating sugar in moderation is beneficial to human health. Sugar is a brain-nourishing food. Eating sugar is good for improving memory, regardless of age. Eating sweets in moderation can improve mental state and improve study and work efficiency. For babies, eating sugar is not only conducive to growth and development, but also conducive to relieving pain and decompression.
Austrian researchers believe that drivers who run long distances should take some sugary food with them and eat some on the way to help them concentrate. Studies show that eating sweets can reduce the incidence of car accidents by 50%. Japanese scientists have found that calcium in milk and other foods cannot be directly absorbed by the small intestine. If sugar is added, it will help the absorption of calcium.
Scientists also found that eating sugar can prolong life.
Nordic people eat an average of 40 kilograms of sugar every year, which is one of the regions with the highest life expectancy in the world. This at least shows that eating more sugar will not affect life expectancy. Researchers at Harvard University reported that people who love candy live longer than those who don't. Among the 7800 men surveyed, the oldest is a 95-year-old man who loves candy. Rugao City, Jiangsu Province, China has more than 200 centenarians, which is a famous hometown of longevity. According to the survey, most centenarians have sugar jars beside their beds, and most of them are filled with rock sugar. Old people eat at will when they sleep. Tang Taitai of 107 said that the best snack she had in her life was candy, and even when she was eating, she often used sugar to bibimbap.
According to relevant data, the per capita annual sugar consumption of developed countries in Europe and America is 40-50kg, that of India is 14kg, and that of China is less than 6kg, so the sugar consumption is at a very low level in the world.
International nutritionists generally believe that it is more scientific for everyone to eat 60 grams of refined sugar every day, that is, to eat 22 kilograms of sugar all the year round, but at the same time, they believe that even if the average sugar intake of people increases by 1 times, it is harmless to health. China's per capita is only 6 kilograms, which is a huge gap. Food experts and nutritionists believe that in terms of the amount of sugar needed for human health, we in China eat too little sugar.
References:
http://www . Newssc . org/GB/Newssc/meiti/cdrb/ZK/user object 10ai 882272 . html