Information on Sugar

To discuss sugar, you first have to talk about carbohydrates. Carbohydrates fall into two categories: simple and complex. Also called sugars, simple carbohydrates occur naturally in foods, such as fructose in fruit, glucose in honey and lactose in milk. Complex carbohydrates include starch and fiber. Knowing how your body uses sugar will help you to manage the amount that you consume on a daily basis.

Energy

Carbohydrates are the primary source of your body's energy, with glucose being the number-one source of quick energy, because it can be readily digested and available. Most of the carbohydrates you eat convert to glucose in your body. Cells can also burn protein and fat for energy, but your body uses glucose first, in part because glucose is the most efficient source of energy.

Monosaccharides

Simple carbohydrates include monosaccharides and disaccharides. Monosaccharides include glucose, fructose and galactose. According to MedlinePlus, these simple sugars are the building blocks for other carbohydrates. Glucose is the most abundant sugar found in nature; also called dextrose, glucose is the sugar referred to when you hear the term, "blood glucose level." This concentration of glucose in the blood is vital to the proper functioning of your body.

Disaccharides

Most naturally occurring carbohydrates contain two or more monosaccharide units linked together. According to MedlinePlus, disaccharides, the double sugars, include sucrose, maltose and lactose, and each contains glucose. Sucrose -- commonly called white sugar, table sugar, granulated sugar or just sugar -- comes from sugar cane and sugar beets. Often referred to as having "empty calories," table sugar is more than 99 percent pure sugar and provides virtually no nutritional value. Maltose, another disaccharide, is abundant in germinating or sprouting seeds. Lactose, commonly called milk sugar, naturally occurs in milk but has the lowest level of sweetness of all the simple carbohydrates.

Considerations

White table sugar is a major carbohydrate source in the American diet, but it does not contain the proteins, vitamins and minerals that are necessary for its own metabolism. Therefore, B vitamins have to be drawn from other parts of the body. According to John D. Kirschmann, author of the "Nutrition Almanac," consuming too much sugar is thought to lead to other mineral imbalances within the body and may be a contributing factor in obesity, diabetes, Crohn's disease, arthritis, tooth decay, asthma and other disorders.