Sucrose, which is commonly known as table sugar or granulated sugar, breaks down into glucose during digestion. During digestion, nutrients are broken down into their simplest forms. The simplest form of carbohydrates – including sugars and starch – is glucose. There are six main types of sugar: sucrose, maltose, lactose, galactose, fructose and glucose.
Chemical Structure
Sugars are simple carbohydrates. All varieties of sugar are made up of either one or two units of the carbon-hydrogen-oxygen trio. Sugars with one unit of the carbon-hydrogen-oxygen trio are called single sugars, whereas sugars with two units of the carbon-hydrogen-oxygen trio are called double sugars. Sucrose is a type of double sugar. Because of their simple chemical structures, sugars break down quickly in your body and produce glucose, so they are often referred to as fast-acting carbohydrates.
Digestion and Blood Glucose
Sucrose is broken down in a single step. After you consume sucrose, it makes its way through your digestive tract and passes through your stomach and into your small intestine. Enzymes in the lining of your small intestine break down sucrose into individual molecules of glucose. The glucose molecules go through the lining of your small intestine and are absorbed into your bloodstream, causing your blood glucose levels to elevate.
Sources
Sucrose occurs naturally in some types of foods, including fruit. A medium apple, for instance, contains about 4 grams of sucrose. Sucrose is also commonly used as a sweetener and is added to processed foods and beverages including baked goods, desserts, pastries, ice cream, breakfast cereal, granola bars, condiments and dressings, candy, fruit spreads, soda, energy drinks and fruit juices.
Recommended Intake
Carbohydrates provide your body's main source of energy, and a healthy diet includes about 225 to 325 grams of total carbohydrate per day. Total carbohydrates include starch, fiber, and naturally occurring and added sugars, such as sucrose. You should obtain most of the sucrose in your diet from natural sources such as fresh fruit. Limit your consumption of added sucrose, a source of empty calories, to about 6 teaspoons daily if you're woman and to about 9 teaspoons a day if you're a man. Keep in mind that sucrose is just one of many types of added sugar, all of which will break down into glucose in your body.
References
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse – Your Digestive System and How it Works
- American Diabetes Association: Food and Fitness – Carbohydrates
- MayoClinic.com; Nutrition and Healthy Eating – Carbohydrates: How Carbs Fit Into a Healthy Diet; February 2011
- Medline Plus; Trusted Health Information for You – Carbohydrates
- United States Department of Agriculture Nutrient Database
- MayoClinic.com; Nutrition and Healthy Eating – Added Sugar: Don’t Get Sabotages by Sweeteners; April 2011
- MayoClinic.com; Nutrition and Healthy Eating – Healthy Diet: End the Guesswork with these Nutrition Guidelines; February 2011
- American Heart Association; Learn and Live – Sugars and Carbohydrates; October 2010
