30 Amazing and Interesting Facts about Sugar | Amazing Facts 4U
- The word “sugar” originates from the Sanskrit word sharkara, which means “material in a granule form.” In Arabic, it is sakkar; Turkish is sheker; Italian is zucchero; and Yoruba speakers in Nigeria call it suga.
- Sugar is one of the world’s oldest ingredients. The people of New Guinea were most likely the first to domesticate sugar cane around 8000 B.C.
- Originally, people would chew sugar cane raw for its sweetness. Indians were the first to crystallize sugar during the Gupta dynasty around A.D. 350.
- Christopher Columbus introduced sugar cane seeds to the New World, on his second voyage in 1493.
- Until the late 1500s, sugar was called “White Gold,” and European nobility used it to display their social standing. After about 1600 on, technological improvements helped turn sugar into a bulk commodity.
- Sugar cane is usually grown in large plantations or cane fields. It can yield up to 20 kg of sugar for every square meter of land.
- More than half of the 8.4 million metric tons of sugar that is produced in the United States each year comes from sugar beets.
- In the 16th century, a teaspoon of sugar cost the equivalent of five dollars in London.
- The only taste humans are born craving is sugar.
- The American Heart Association recommends that adult women eat no more than 24 grams, or 6 teaspoons, of added sugar and men no more than 36 grams, or 9 teaspoons, per day. Amazingly the current average is over 30 teaspoons of sugar per day.
- In 1822, the average American ate 45 grams of sugar which is the amount in one of today’s 12 oz. sodas every five days. In 2012, Americans consumed 765 grams of sugar every five days.
- One teaspoon of white sugar has 15 calories and one teaspoon of corn syrup has 20 calories. Soft drinks are responsible for most of the added sugar in the average American diet.
- Worldwide, people consume 500 extra calories a day from sugar, which is roughly the amount of calories needed to gain a pound a week.
- Americans consume most sugar (33%) through regular soft drinks, followed by sugars and candy (16%); cakes, cookies, and pies (13%); fruit drinks (10%); dairy desserts and milk (8%); and other grains (6%) etc.
- The average American eats 3,550 pounds of sugar in a lifetime.
- Brazil is the world’s largest producer of sugar cane while India is the world’s largest consumer of sugar.
- Sugar is useful in cooking. It helps cakes and bread rise, prevents food from spoiling, keeps the color of fruit by holding water, and brings out the flavor in many different foods.
- While foods rich in fiber, fat, and protein help make a person feel full, sugar does not create feelings of satiety.
- Sugar can take several forms, including sucrose, fructose, and lactose. Sucrose is the most commonly used form of sugar and is usually called table sugar.
- When the body cannot clear glucose, or sugar, quickly enough due to inadequate insulin secretion from pancreas, sugar level in blood rises causing diabetis which damages tissues in multiple organs.
- Too much sugar can increase the overall risk for heart disease. In fact, sugar actually changes the muscle protein of the heart as well as the pumping mechanics of the heart.
- Excess sugar consumption has been linked to cancer production. Studies have found that high sugar intake negatively affects the survival rates in both breast cancer patients and colon cancer patients.
- Studies have found that glucose consumption accelerated the aging of cells in the body. Additionally, excess sugar consumption was tied to deficiencies in memory and overall cognitive processing.
- A study has found that at least 200,000 deaths worldwide are linked to sweetened beverage consumption. The U.S. alone accounted for 25,000 deaths.
- One 20 oz. bottle of Coca Cola has 65 grams of sugar. A 15.2 oz. bottle of Minute Maid 100% Apple Juice contains 49 grams of sugar. A 23 oz. bottle of Arizona Green Tea has about 51 grams of sugar. A Grande Starbucks Iced Flavored drink has about 28 grams of sugar. Heinz ketchup contains 1 teaspoon of sugar in each 1 tablespoon serving.
- Lemons have more sugar than strawberries.
- The scientists who discovered sucralose (Splenda) were trying to make an insecticide. An assistant thought he had been instructed to “taste” a sample he had been asked to “test.”
- The sweetest compound known is called lugduname. It’s over 20,000 times sweeter than sugar.
- There are at least 115 names for sugar in its many forms and for other types of sweeteners. To avoid listing “sugar” as the first ingredient, food manufactures may use a different name.
- Sugar has been shown to cause wrinkles via glycation, which happens when excess blood sugar binds to collagen in the skin and makes it less elastic.
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