Difference between revisions of "Sugar"

Latest revision as of 09:14, 20 September 2010

For the common table sugar, see sucrose.

Sugar is an informal term for a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose^[1] characterized by a sweet flavor. In food, sugar almost exclusively refers to sucrose, which primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet. Other sugars are used in industrial food preparation, but are usually known by more specific names—glucose, fructose or fruit sugar, high fructose corn syrup, etc.

Currently, Brazil has the highest per capita production of sugar.^[2]

Sugar, because of its simpler chemical structure, was once assumed (without scientific research) to raise blood glucose levels more quickly than starch, but results from more than twenty studies demonstrate that sugar and starch cause blood glucose to rise at similar rates. This finding showed that controlling all carbohydrates is necessary for controlling blood glucose levels, the idea behind carbohydrate counting.^[3] Experts now agree that eating too much sugar does not cause diabetes.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9]} Excessive calories from sugar, however, can lead to obesity, which may increase the risk of diabetes.^[5][8] Sugars such as sucrose are known to contribute to tooth decay, and it is impossible to develop cavities in the absence of fermentable carbohydrates.^{[citation needed]} The role of starches is disputed. Lower rates of tooth decay have been seen in hereditary fructose intolerance.^[10]

History

Sugar has been produced in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. It was not plentiful or cheap in early times—honey was more often used for sweetening in most parts of the world. During his campaign in India, Alexander the Great was surprised to taste the sweetening agent that was different from honey.^{[citation needed]}

Originally, people chewed sugarcane raw to extract its sweetness. Sugarcane was a native of tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia.^[11] Different species likely originated in different locations with S. barberi originating in India and S. edule and S. officinarum coming from New Guinea.^[11]

However, sugar remained relatively unimportant until the Indians discovered methods of turning sugarcane juice into granulated crystals that were easier to store and to transport.^[12] Crystallized sugar was discovered by the time of the Imperial Guptas.^[12] Indian sailors, consumers of clarified butter and sugar, carried sugar by various trade routes.^[12] Traveling Buddhist monks brought sugar crystallization methods to China.^[13] During the reign of Harsha (r. 606–647) in North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught sugarcane cultivation methods after Emperor Taizong of Tang (r. 626–649) made his interest in sugar known, and China soon established its first sugarcane cultivation in the seventh century.^[14] Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 AD, for obtaining technology for sugar-refining.^[15] In South Asia, the Middle East and China, sugar became a staple of cooking and desserts.

During the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, Arab entrepreneurs adopted sugar production techniques from India and then refined and transformed them into a large-scale industry. Arabs set up the first cane sugar mills, refineries, factories and plantations. The Arabs and Berbers spread the cultivation of sugar throughout the Arab Empire and across much of the Old World, including Western Europe after they conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the eighth century AD.^[16] Ponting traces the spread of the cultivation of sugarcane from its introduction into Mesopotamia, then the Levant and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean, especially Cyprus, by the 10th century.^[17] He also notes that it spread along the coast of East Africa to reach Zanzibar.^[17]

Crusaders brought sugar home with them to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land, where they encountered caravans carrying "sweet salt". Early in the 12th century, Venice acquired some villages near Tyre and set up estates to produce sugar for export to Europe, where it supplemented honey as the only other available sweetener.^[18] Crusade chronicler William of Tyre, writing in the late 12th century, described sugar as "very necessary for the use and health of mankind".^[19]

In August 1492 Christopher Columbus stopped at La Gomera in the Canary Islands, for wine and water, intending to stay only four days. He became romantically involved with the Governor of the island, Beatriz de Bobadilla y Ossorio, and stayed a month. When he finally sailed she gave him cuttings of sugarcane, which became the first to reach the New World.

More recently it is manufactured in very large quantities in many countries, largely from sugar cane and sugar beet. In processed foods it has increasingly been supplanted by corn syrup.

Etymology

The etymology reflects the spread of the commodity. The English word "sugar"^[20] originates from the Arabic word سكر sukkar,^[21] itself derived from Sanskrit शर्करा sharkara.^[16] It most probably came to England by way of Italian merchants. The contemporary Italian word is zucchero, whereas the Spanish and Portuguese words, azúcar and açúcar respectively, have kept a trace of the Arabic definite article. The Old French word is zuchre - contemporary French sucre. The earliest Greek word attested is σάκχαρη [sákχari].^[22] A satisfactory pedigree explaining the spread of the word has yet to be done. Note that the English word jaggery (meaning "coarse brown Indian sugar") has similar ultimate etymological origins (presumably in Sanskrit).

Terminology

Popular

The term sugar usually refers to sucrose, which is also called "table sugar" or "saccharose." Sucrose is a white crystalline disaccharide. It is often obtained from sugar cane or sugar beet.^[23] Sucrose is the most popular of the various sugars for flavoring, as well as properties (such as mouthfeel, preservation, and texture) of beverages and food.

Chemical

"Sugar" can also be used to refer to water-soluble crystalline carbohydrates with varying sweetness. Sugars include monosaccharides (e.g., glucose, fructose, galactose), disaccharides (e.g., sucrose, lactose, maltose), trisaccharides, and oligosaccharides,^[24] in contrast to complex carbohydrates such as polysaccharides. Corn syrup, dextrose, crystalline fructose, and maltose, for example, are used in manufacturing and preparing food.

Baking weight/mass volume relationship

Different culinary sugars have different densities due to differences in particle size and inclusion of moisture.

The Domino Sugar Company has established the following volume to weight conversions:

• Brown sugar 1 cup = 48 teaspoons ~ 195 g = 6.88 oz
• Granular sugar 1 cup = 48 teaspoons ~ 200 g = 7.06 oz
• Powdered sugar 1 cup = 48 teaspoons ~ 120 g = 4.23 oz

Bulk density^[25]

• Dextrose sugar 0.62 g/mL
• Granulated sugar 0.70 g/mL
• Powdered sugar 0.56 g/mL
• Beet sugar 0.80 g/mL

Purity standards

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.^[26]

Chemistry

Scientifically, sugar loosely refers to a number of carbohydrates, such as monosaccharides, disaccharides, or oligosaccharides. Monosaccharides are also called "simple sugars," the most important being glucose. Almost all sugars have the formula C_nH_2nO_n (n is between 3 and 7). Glucose has the molecular formula C₆H₁₂O₆. The names of typical sugars end with "-ose," as in "glucose", "dextrose", and "fructose". Sometimes such words may also refer to any types of carbohydrates soluble in water. The acyclic mono- and disaccharides contain either aldehyde groups or ketone groups. These carbon-oxygen 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 glycosidic bonds with the resultant loss of a molecule of water (H₂O) per bond.

Monosaccharides in a closed-chain form can form glycosidic bonds with other monosaccharides, creating disaccharides (such as sucrose) and polysaccharides (such as starch). Enzymes must hydrolyse or otherwise break these glycosidic bonds before such compounds become metabolised. After digestion and absorption. the principal monosaccharides present in the blood and internal tissues include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Many pentoses and hexoses can form ring structures. In these closed-chain forms, the aldehyde or ketone group remains unfree, so many of the reactions typical of these groups cannot occur. Glucose in solution exists mostly in the ring form at equilibrium, with less than 0.1% of the molecules in the open-chain form.

Natural polymers of sugars

Biopolymers of sugars are common in nature. Through photosynthesis plants produce glucose, which has the formula C₆H₁₂O₆, and convert it for storage as an energy reserve in the form of other carbohydrates such as starch, or (as in cane and beet) as sucrose (table sugar). Sucrose has the chemical formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁. Starch, consisting of two different polymers of glucose, is a readily degradable chemical energy stored by cells, convertible to other types of energy.

Cellulose is a polymer of glucose used by plants as structural component.

DNA and RNA are built up of the sugars ribose and deoxyribose. The sugar in DNA, deoxyribose, has the formula C₅H₁₀O₄.

See also

References

Further reading

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• James, Glyn (2004). Sugarcane. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 063205476X. OCLC 51837990 84251137 Check |oclc= value (help). 
• A C Hannah, The International Sugar Trade, Cambridge: Woodhead, 1996. ISBN 1-85573-069-3

External links

• Cook's Thesaurus: Sugar
• Sugar at the Open Directory Projectaf:Suikers

ar:سكر an:Zucre as:চেনী gn:Eiratã bn:চিনি zh-min-nan:Thn̂g be:Цукар be-x-old:Цукар bs:Šećer bg:Захар ca:Sucre cv:Сахăр cy:Siwgr da:Sukker de:Zucker nv:Ashįįh łikan el:Ζάχαρη es:Azúcar eo:Sukero eu:Azukre fa:شکر fr:Sucre fy:Sûker gd:Siùcar gl:Azucre ko:설탕 hi:शर्करा hr:Šećeri io:Sukro id:Gula ia:Sucro iu:ᓱᑲᒃ/sukak is:Matarsykur it:Zucchero he:סוכר jv:Gula kn:ಸಕ್ಕರೆ ka:შაქარი sw:Sukari la:Saccharon lv:Cukurs lt:Cukrus jbo:sakta hu:Cukor mk:Шеќер ml:പഞ്ചസാര arz:سكر ms:Gula mn:Элсэн чихэр nl:Tafelsuiker cr:Kashiuasht ja:砂糖 ce:Шекар no:Sukker nn:Sukker nrm:Chucre oc:Sucre pnb:شکر pl:Cukier spożywczy pt:Açúcar ro:Zahăr qu:Asukar ru:Сахар sq:Sheqeri scn:Zùccaru simple:Sugar sk:Sacharid sl:Sladkor sh:Šećer sr:Шећер su:Gula fi:Sokeri sv:Socker tl:Asukal ta:சீனி te:చక్కెర th:น้ำตาล tr:Kristal şeker uk:Цукор ug:شېكەر vec:Sùcaro vi:Đường (chất) wa:Souke war:Asukar yi:צוקער zh-yue:糖 bat-smg:Sokros

1. ↑ "IUPAC Gold Book - sugars". Goldbook.iupac.org. 2009-09-07. Retrieved 2009-12-20. 
2. ↑ International sugar statistics http://www.illovosugar.com/World_of_sugar/Sugar_Statistics/International.aspx
3. ↑ Beaser, Richard S.; Campbell, Amy P. (2005). The Joslin guide to diabetes: a program for managing your treatment (2nd ed.). Simon and Schuster. p. 37. ISBN 9780743257848. 
4. ↑ American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. “Diabetes Quiz.” Last Modified 2007-07-11.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} American Dietetic Association. “Nutrition: Fact vs. Fiction.”
6. ↑ Joslin Diabetes Center. “Classroom Presentation on Diabetes for Elementary School Age Children.”
7. ↑ Marschilok, Catherine. “Ask a Medical Professional: Diabetes Myths and Misconceptions.” Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} American Diabetes Association. “Diabetes Myths.”
9. ↑ National Diabetes Education Program. “Tips for Teens with Diabetes.” Last Modified November 2007.
10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Citation/CS1/Suggestions' not found.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} "Sharpe, Peter (1998). Sugar Cane: Past and Present. Illinois: Southern Illinois University". 
12. ↑ ^{12.0 12.1 12.2} Adas, Michael (January 2001). Agricultural and Pastoral Societies in Ancient and Classical History. Temple University Press. ISBN 1566398320. Page 311.
13. ↑ Kieschnick, John (2003). The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691096767.
14. ↑ Sen, Tansen. (2003). Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Manoa: Asian Interactions and Comparisons, a joint publication of the University of Hawaii Press and the Association for Asian Studies. ISBN 0824825934. Pages 38–40.
15. ↑ Kieschnick, John (2003). The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture Princeton University Press. 258. ISBN 0691096767.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1} Hassan, Ahmad Y. Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part III: Technology Transfer in the Chemical Industries. History of Science and Technology in Islam. 
17. ↑ ^{17.0 17.1} Ponting, Clive (2000) [2000]. World history: a new perspective. London: Chatto & Windus. p. 353. ISBN 0-701-16834-X. 
18. ↑ Ponting, Clive (2000) [2000]. World history: a new perspective. London: Chatto & Windus. p. 481. ISBN 0-701-16834-X. 
19. ↑ Barber, Malcolm (2004). The two cities: medieval Europe, 1050-1320 (2nd ed.). Routledge. p. 14. ISBN 9780415174152. 
20. ↑ The -g- is unexplained, possibly reflecting a Venetian dialect.
21. ↑ Compare the OED and the Online Etymology Dictionary.
22. ↑ This form is not phonetically explained, but may reflect a mediation through a language en route from the Sanskrit original. Modern Greek ζάχαρη [sáχari] is due to cluster simplification [kχ] > [χ] and initial sandhi (acc. την σάχαρη [tin sáχari] > τη ζάχαρη [ti záχari]). The word has also changed its nominal class.
23. ↑ "Sugar" in Dictionary.com Unabridged.
24. ↑ "Sugar." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2010.
25. ↑ ""Engineering Resources - Bulk Density Chart," Powder and Bulk". 
26. ↑ Deulgaonkar, Atul (March 12–25, 2005). "A case for reform". Frontline. 22 (8).