Sucrose is table sugar, known chemically as a disaccharide. Sucrose is a disaccharide because it is a combination of two monosaccharides, glucose and fructose. A saccharide is a carbohydrate that tastes sweet. Sucrose is naturally occurring in sugar cane and sugar beets, and added routinely to foods as a sweetener. On food labels you will find sucrose referred to as sugar. A sugar free product will not have sucrose in it, unless it is a naturally occurring form of sucrose.
Differences Between Sugars
White table sugar is almost 100 percent pure sucrose. Brown sugar is about 95 percent sucrose. There are chemical differences between sucrose, glucose and fructose. The chemical formula for sucrose is C12H22O11. As a molecule, sucrose has a 12 carbon atom ring. The chemical composition of glucose and fructose are the same, C6H12O6, each having 6 carbon atoms. However, glucose and fructose differ in the number of carbon atoms in their rings. Candy and chocolate contain sucrose, often combined with corn syrup. Any food product that has table sugar added will contain sucrose.
Other Sweeteners
Maple syrup is about 56 percent sucrose. Honey, on the other hand, contains less than 1 percent sucrose. The sugar in honey consists of about 35 percent glucose, and about 40 percent fructose. Dates have a trace of sucrose, but the sugar in dates is also fructose. The sugar in sugar beets however, is sucrose and they contain about 7 percent total sugar. Molasses is about 35 percent sucrose, and 7 percent fructose. Corn syrup consists of glucose, but high fructose corn syrup is both glucose and fructose.
Dairy and Soy
Dairy foods can have added sucrose. Various types of yogurt contain sucrose, including some Dannon yogurt varieties. An ingredient in most ice creams is sucrose. Breyer's and Haagen Dazs ice cream both contain sucrose. Sucrose is an ingredient in condensed milk. Silk soy milk has cane juice, which is mostly sucrose. Sucrose does not occur naturally in dairy milk. Milk's natural sweetness comes from lactose, which is a chemical combination of galactose and glucose.
Cereals, Fruits and Vegetables
Some cereals have added sucrose. For example, sucrose is a sweetener in both Kellog's Special K and Froot Loops. Sucrose is a sweetener in crackers and cookies. Nabisco Honey Grahams and Oreo cookies contain sucrose. Sweetened juices usually have fructose and glucose as ingredients, rather than sucrose. Fructose and glucose are present in fruit and vegetables in almost equal amounts. The exception is red beets in which sucrose is the main sugar. Carrots and sweet potatoes also contain high amounts of sucrose.
Member Comments