What Are Simple Sugars?

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Video: What Are Simple Sugars?

Video: What Are Simple Sugars?
Video: Simple Sugars & Complex Carbs 2024, November
What Are Simple Sugars?
What Are Simple Sugars?
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Products containing simple sugars, include mainly pastries, fruits, fruit juices, honey. They are a good source of energy, but excessive consumption is harmful to health.

What are simple sugars?

Simple sugars contain from 3 to 7 carbon atoms (hence their names - triose, tetrose, pentose, hexose and heptose). They do not hydrolyze under the influence of dilute acids, but dissolve in water.

What are simple sugars?
What are simple sugars?

They are colorless and odorless, with a sweet taste. Simple sugars are a quick charge of energy, but it is short-term energy. Soon after consuming them, one feels hungry and tired. Simple sugars do not contain any vitamins and minerals. Their biggest advantage is that they improve the taste of the products.

Monosaccharides are absorbed directly from the gastrointestinal tract. After consumption of simple sugars, especially in high doses, there is a sharp rise in blood glucose. This means the intense work that the pancreas has to do to release the amount of insulin needed to regulate glucose levels.

Examples of simple sugars

The sources of monosaccharides are different. Products that contain simple sugars include both natural (fruit, honey) and artificial, artificial (pastries).

What are simple sugars?
What are simple sugars?

- Glucose is also called grape sugar mainly because it is found in large quantities in fruits, especially grapes (including fruit juices). Glucose is found in honey and many foods, including bread, cereals, yogurt, rice and pasta. The body uses it mainly in energy processes - from about 1 g of glucose you can get about 4 kcal. It plays an important role in the proper functioning of the brain;

- Fructose (fruit sugar) - found in fruits, fruit juices, honey, flower nectar, roots. It is an ingredient in sugar beet. Fructose is used to produce glycogen, especially after intense exercise or long sleep. It is much sweeter than glucose and slightly sweeter than sucrose;

- Galactose is one of the components of lactose. Examples of the appearance of galactose are flax seeds, corn stalks. Galactose is also an agar composition, the vegan equivalent of gelatin. It is converted to glucose in the liver.

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