Could someone please explain sugar to me?
Discussion
Hi All
I have a quick question about sugar.
What is the difference between the sugar in a piece of fruit and the sugar in a can of energy drink?
What happens to the sugar once you consume it?
Say a piece of fruit has X calories, would the sugar in it mean it actually has more calories? Same question for the energy drink.
Is it true that if you're trying to lose weight that too much sugar will slow down your weight loss?
I have a quick question about sugar.
What is the difference between the sugar in a piece of fruit and the sugar in a can of energy drink?
What happens to the sugar once you consume it?
Say a piece of fruit has X calories, would the sugar in it mean it actually has more calories? Same question for the energy drink.
Is it true that if you're trying to lose weight that too much sugar will slow down your weight loss?
Looking forward to some informative answers to this as I'm trying to cut out sugar as everyone says it makes you fat. I'm not fat but I have a little more around my middle than I'd like to. I have a generally good diet and go to the gym three times a week with a plan that a trainer made for me, as well as having floor exercises to do at home and walking (rather than driving) whenever I can. I think ym body fat is currently about 18% - I want to get it down to about 10%.
I was looking into sugar and trying to work out if unrefined sugar is better, but all it does is go on about it having less nasties in it, not that switching to it will actually help you to slim down.
I was looking into sugar and trying to work out if unrefined sugar is better, but all it does is go on about it having less nasties in it, not that switching to it will actually help you to slim down.
This is covered in GCSE science these days. Rather than type it all up, I'm sure you could find the answers you're looking up some keywords like glucose, glycogen and insulin.
In the ultimate simple terms, sugars and staches you eat are broken down into glucose (by enzymes like amaylase and carbohydrase) so the body can use them for respiration. Insulin levels in the blood change with the glucose levels present. Too much glucose in the blood causes the formation of glycogen, which is a long-term storage molecule of the glucose. High insulin and glycogen lead to the formation of additional body fat.
The body will do what it can to convert complex sugars into glucose (as glucose is a simple molecule which is easy to deconstruct for respiration), the more complex a sugar you eat, the slower it gets broken down and the slower it absorbs into your blood. The slower it goes into the blood, the less extreme the insulin response and the less likely you are to get the formation of glycogen.
In the ultimate simple terms, sugars and staches you eat are broken down into glucose (by enzymes like amaylase and carbohydrase) so the body can use them for respiration. Insulin levels in the blood change with the glucose levels present. Too much glucose in the blood causes the formation of glycogen, which is a long-term storage molecule of the glucose. High insulin and glycogen lead to the formation of additional body fat.
The body will do what it can to convert complex sugars into glucose (as glucose is a simple molecule which is easy to deconstruct for respiration), the more complex a sugar you eat, the slower it gets broken down and the slower it absorbs into your blood. The slower it goes into the blood, the less extreme the insulin response and the less likely you are to get the formation of glycogen.
TREMAiNE said:
Hi All
I have a quick question about sugar.
What is the difference between the sugar in a piece of fruit and the sugar in a can of energy drink?
What happens to the sugar once you consume it?
Say a piece of fruit has X calories, would the sugar in it mean it actually has more calories? Same question for the energy drink.
Is it true that if you're trying to lose weight that too much sugar will slow down your weight loss?
Sugar as in sucrose is a combination of fructose and glucose (in a 50/50 ratio). Glucose is what most of you cells run on (particularly the brain which lacks the ability to run on anything else). Starches also break down into glucose in the gut. Fructose is a different sugar than can't be used directly; it is broken down in the liver to provide energy. There is some evidence that fructose is stored as fat preferentially, so avoiding fructose is a good idea if you're trying to lose weight (or keep it off).I have a quick question about sugar.
What is the difference between the sugar in a piece of fruit and the sugar in a can of energy drink?
What happens to the sugar once you consume it?
Say a piece of fruit has X calories, would the sugar in it mean it actually has more calories? Same question for the energy drink.
Is it true that if you're trying to lose weight that too much sugar will slow down your weight loss?
The sugar in fruit and in a can of energy drink (or even normal sugared soft drinks) is the same stuff largely. However if you eat a piece of fruit you are eating some fibre with the sugar which affects how it is digested. This is one reason why fruit is better for you than coke.
Once you consume sugar it enters your bloodstream, how fast depends on what else you eat with it. When your blood sugar level rises your body secretes insulin which causes cells to take up sugar from the blood stream to reduce blood sugar levels. Many of these cells are fat cells which take up sugar and convert it into fat, causing weight gain. So eating a lot of sugary stuff tends to make you gain weight. Eating sugar with other foods or as part of fruit slows absorption which means less of an insulin spike and less sugar stored as fat. Persistently high insulin levels are also associated with in increased risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes (both very bad).
If a piece of fruit or energy drink has X calories, this is including the sugars in it (hence why sugar free drinks have no calories, while a sugared drink will have a couple of hundred). Calories are quoted for the entire foodstuff.
Yes eating a lot of sugary foods will slow weight loss or even promote weight gain.
Mastodon2 said:
The body will do what it can to convert complex sugars into glucose (as glucose is a simple molecule which is easy to deconstruct for respiration), the more complex a sugar you eat, the slower it gets broken down and the slower it absorbs into your blood. The slower it goes into the blood, the less extreme the insulin response and the less likely you are to get the formation of glycogen.
Glycogen is a short term energy storage molecule used extensively by muscles and in the liver. High glycogen levels are not a concern in general as your liver will regulate production, in fact high glycogen levels are a good thing if you want to exercise. High blood glucose when glycogen stores are high will cause the liver to prefer triglyceride synthesis over glycogen, which is then stored as fat.Edited by Flibble on Friday 31st October 01:02
Cheers for the responses, that YouTube video was long, but very informative.
Flibble said:
....
Cheers, best answer I could have possibly received. I've mostly cut sugar out my diet aside from Fruit and the 500ml can of Monster I have every day - which I'll stop drinking as of Monday.TREMAiNE said:
Cheers for the responses, that YouTube video was long, but very informative.
Yeah, the vid is a proper 1h30h documentary really, but it certainly opened my eyes.Flibble said:
....
Cheers, best answer I could have possibly received. I've mostly cut sugar out my diet aside from Fruit and the 500ml can of Monster I have every day - which I'll stop drinking as of Monday.If you want a pick me up drink a cup of black coffee (without sugar) is a much better bet. You're getting the caffeine which is the main active ingredient in energy drinks without a load of calories. Coffee is pretty good for you as well (there's some evidence that a couple of cups a day is associated with lower mortality).
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