What is “sugar” in food nutrition?

The “sugar” in food nutrition is not what you think! DELICIOUS Drinks A drink called “Fatty Happy Water” is widely rumored in the market, and it is said that drinking it can bring happiness, and there is a kind of feeling of not being able to stop drinking it. Why is food associated with the feeling of happiness? It turns out that this happy feeling often comes from the “sugar” inside the food.
Sugar makes people “happy”
Humans have known for a long time to take in sweet foods from fresh fruits, honey, and plants. Later, caramel was made from grains, and it was discovered that more sugar could be made from sugar cane and sugar beets. When sugar enters your mouth, the taste buds on your tongue sense the sweetness and send a signal of sweetness through the nerves to the brain. Upon receiving this signal, the brain secretes a neurotransmitter, dopamine, which directly affects a person’s mood, transmitting feelings such as pleasure and excitement. When dopamine was first discovered, scientists named it the “pleasure molecule”. An increase in this substance would make people feel happy. However, as research progressed, scientists discovered that the pleasure that dopamine brings actually comes from unanticipated good news or anticipated surprises.
Dopamine doesn’t provide you with pleasure per se, but rather promises you pleasure for doing something, a kind of “reward circuit. But these rewards are often not right or wrong, which is why you can’t stop drinking “fat happy water” and why so many people are addicted to the Internet or overeat.
Sugar Makes You “Unhappy”
So, is it true that eating more sugar makes you happier? If you take in too much sugar and can’t consume it in time, your blood sugar will rise, and your body will need to secrete insulin to lower your blood sugar levels. High and low blood glucose levels can make people’s moods go up and down, and the brain can’t help but want to take in more sugar to maintain balance, resulting in an “addiction phenomenon”.
Increased insulin in the blood will make the body store fat more efficiently, leading to obesity and even diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and dental caries. Excessive intake of sugar also promotes the formation of melanin, and is prone to acne, oil, sagging skin, wrinkles, etc., accelerating the appearance of aging. For people who are concerned about health and love beauty, these consequences make people not happy at all!
0 Cane Sugar ≠ Sugar Free
What can you do if you want to eat sweets, but you are worried about sugar addiction and the impact on your health? In recent years, food manufacturers have seized on this consumer mentality and have launched a variety of products that claim to be free of sucrose, no added sugar, reduced sugar, low sugar or even “0 sugar”. These products create the gimmick of healthy diet, coupled with the marketing and promotion of enterprises, has greatly enhanced the public’s enthusiasm for consumption. So, can these sucrose-free and 0-sugar food products be eaten freely?
Case: On April 10, 2021, a net red beverage business released a public statement: “A belated upgrade”, saying that in the labeling and publicity of its milk tea products, there is no indication of the difference between “0 sucrose” and “0 sugar”, which easily triggers the public’s enthusiasm for healthy eating. The difference between “0 sucrose” and “0 sugar” was not stated in the labeling and publicity of its milk tea products, which could easily lead to misunderstanding.
Sucrose is only one kind of double sugar, and it does not represent all sugars. Consumers generally interpret “0 sucrose” as “no sugar”, and businessmen create some kind of “sugar-free” hints through “rubbish ball” marketing, so that consumers feel that there is no sugar. Sugar-free hints, so that consumers feel that its products have health functions. In fact, the reason why the labeling of the business is prone to misunderstandings is that the “sugar” mentioned in food nutrition and the public’s subconscious understanding of “sugar” are not exactly the same.
The essence of sugar is carbohydrate
According to GB/Z 21922-2008 “Basic Terminology of Food Nutritional Composition”, the sugar in the nutritional composition table refers to all monosaccharides and disaccharides. Monosaccharides are the basic unit of sugar and cannot be hydrolyzed anymore, such as glucose, galactose and fructose. Disaccharides are sugars formed by the combination of two monosaccharides, mainly maltose, sucrose and lactose.
In addition to monosaccharides and disaccharides, there are also oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Oligosaccharides, also known as oligosaccharides, generally refer to sugars made from the combination of three to nine monosaccharides, such as maltodextrin and oligofructose. More than 10 monosaccharides combined with sugar is polysaccharide, it is a class of polymer compounds, such as starch, cellulose, pectin, etc.. These various “sugars” are composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, they are carbohydrates. The above table shows the classification of total carbohydrates. By the above definition, we know that carbohydrates are not a single substance, but a general term that includes sugars, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. Therefore, carbohydrates are not like other nutrients have a special test method, the carbohydrate content in the nutrition facts table is generally calculated. Calculation method can be “addition” or “subtraction”. Addition: Carbohydrates = sum of mono- and disaccharides + starch
Subtraction: Available Carbohydrate = 100 – Moisture – Ash – Protein – Fat – Dietary Fiber Total Carbohydrate = 100 – Water -Ash-Protein-FatComparing the two subtraction formulas above, you can see that the difference between total carbohydrates and available carbohydrates is dietary fiber. Or rather, the available carbohydrates are the carbohydrates after removing the dietary fiber that cannot be absorbed by the body.
What is sugar-free food
According to GB28050 “Food Safety National Standards General Principles for Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods”, food with sugar content ≤ 0.5g/100g or 100ml can be labeled as sugar-free food. From the national food safety standards can be found, sugar-free food single and double sugar content as long as the content of ≤ 0.5g/100g (ml) can be, but not completely sugar-free. Sometimes a separate package of food is often not more than 100g or 100ml. such as a bottle of 500ml of “sugar-free” drinks, if its sugar content is 0.4g/100ml, then you drink it, but also ingested 2g of sugar.
It is important to note that sugar-free foods may simply be free of monosaccharides and disaccharides, but do not limit polysaccharides. The breakdown of polysaccharides in foods can also have an impact on blood sugar, and too much of it can cause blood sugar overload.
What is sugar substitute
The sweetness in sugar-free foods comes mainly from its secret weapon – sugar substitute. Sugar substitutes, also known as sweeteners, can be divided into two categories: nutritive sweeteners (calorie-producing) and non-nutritive sweeteners (non-calorie-producing), depending on whether they produce calories or not.

Nutritive sweeteners, which are products derived from the fermentation or hydrogenation of sugar, have fewer calories than sugar and do not cause significant changes in blood sugar or insulin. These sweeteners themselves are derived from plant products, which are safer, more stable, and have a better taste, but the sweetness is only comparable to or slightly less than sucrose, and the unit cost is higher, so they are now mainly used in high-end sugar-free products.
Non-nutritive sweeteners do not contain carbohydrates, do not stimulate blood sugar, and are suitable for diabetics. Non-nutritive sweeteners can be subdivided into natural and artificial sweeteners. Most natural sweeteners are extracted from plants, and artificial sweeteners are man-made sugars that are very high in sweetness, generally hundreds of times that of sucrose.
The big red hot erythritol drink to a sweet sugar-free drinks, its nutritional composition table carbohydrate has 3.8 g / 100g, but the energy is surprisingly 0kJ/100g? This is not your eyes bad taste failure, but “martial arts master” erythritol credit.
Erythritol and sugar nutritional value comparison product ingredients list of sugar carbohydrate value (g/100ml) energy value (kJ/100ml) erythritol 3.80 sugar 3.864.6
Erythritol it is a widely available in nature, sweetness appropriate, high stability, good taste, and does not produce heat, will not be used by oral bacteria sugar substitute. Because erythritol only provides sweetness, but does not produce calories, not to mention the breeding of tooth decay, it is in the promotion of nutrition and health today become a big hit food ingredients. However, erythritol in weight loss or other aspects of the function is yet to be studied, the impact on the human body has also been controversial.
Scientific eating sugar to be happy
Humans are addicted to “sweet”, but also worried about more intake of sugar is not healthy enough, so the use of sugar-free food substitutes to take advantage of the booming trend. Sugar-free food is obese, diabetic patients just need, many dieters also “0 sugar” drinks as a kind of gospel.
However, sugar is not a beast. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy required by all living organisms to maintain life activities, and about 60% of the energy required by the body is provided by carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are also important substances that make up the body’s tissues, are necessary to maintain the brain function of energy, and participate in the composition of cells and a variety of activities. In addition, carbohydrates also regulate fat metabolism, provide dietary fiber and enhance intestinal function. Therefore, health conditions permitting, we do not recommend the deliberate use of sugar substitutes.