Sugar

Enlargement of sugar grains, showing its crystalline monoclinic hemihedral structure.

Sugar (Arabic: السكر, as-sukar, Persian: شکرšakar, Sanskrit: शर्करा śárkarā «grit») is called sucrose, whose chemical formula is C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, also called "common sugar", or "table sugar".

Sucrose is a disaccharide made up of a glucose molecule and a fructose molecule, which is obtained mainly from sugar cane or beets. 27% of the total world production is made from beets and 73% from sugar cane. In Thailand they also usually get coconut sugar.

Sucrose is found in all plants, and in appreciable amounts in plants other than sugar cane or beets, such as sorghum, coconut, and sugar maple.

In industrial settings, the word sugar or sugars is used to designate the different monosaccharides and disaccharides, which generally have a sweet taste, although by extension it refers to all carbohydrates.

Coconut sugar is a product derived from extracting the sap from the coconut blossom and heating it so that most of the water evaporates. This procedure achieves that part of the flower's nutrients are retained and a sweetener is obtained that can have a crystalline texture similar to that of brown sugar, with a slight color and toasted aroma.

It melts at 160 °C and when heated to 210 °C it becomes a brown mass called caramel, used in the preparation of sweets and cakes, as well as for flavoring and coloring liquids.

If it is heated above 145 °C in the presence of amino compounds (NH₂), derived for example from proteins, the complex Maillard reaction system takes place, which generates colours, odors and generally palatable flavors, and also small amounts of undesirable compounds.

Sugar is an important source of calories in the modern diet, but it is frequently associated with empty calories, due to the complete absence of vitamins, minerals and salts.

In industrialized foods the percentage of sugar can reach 80%. The World Health Organization recommends that sugar not exceed 10% of the daily calories consumed. Scientific research and medical practice have associated excess of sugar consumption with the following effects on human health, such as: arterial hypertension, osteoporosis, hyperactivity, avitaminosis, obesity, cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's, caries, among others.

History

Ancient and Middle Ages

Sugar has been produced on the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. It was not abundant or cheap in early times, and honey was more commonly used for sweetening almost everywhere in the world. Originally, people chewed raw sugarcane to extract its sweetness. Sugarcane was a species native to the tropics, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Different species of cane appear to have originated in different places, with Saccharum barberi native to India and S. edule and S. officinarum from New Guinea. One of the earliest historical references to sugarcane is in Chinese manuscripts from the century. VIII a. C. who claim that the use of sugar cane originated in India.^{[citation needed]}

Sugar was of little importance until Indians discovered methods of converting sugarcane juice into granular crystals that were easier to store and transport. Sugar crystals from the Imperial Gupta era were discovered, circa V century d. In the local indigenous language, these crystals are called khanda (खण्ड, khaṇḍa).

Indian sailors, who carried butter and sugar as supplies, introduced the knowledge of sugar to the various trade routes they traveled. Buddhist monks, in their travels, brought sugar crystallization methods to China. During the reign of Harsha (606-647) in North India, Indian envoys in Tang China taught sugarcane cultivation methods after the reign of Li Shimin (reigned 626-649), who expressed his interest in sugar. China subsequently established its first sugarcane plantations in the VII century. Chinese documents confirm at least two expeditions to India, beginning in 647, to obtain the technology for refining sugar. In South Asia, the Middle East, and China, sugar became a staple of cooking and desserts.

Alexander the Great's conquests were halted on the banks of the Indus River by his troops' refusal to go further east. There they saw people in the Indian subcontinent growing cane and making a granulated confection, locally called sharkara (शर्करा, sarkara), pronounced as saccharum (ζάκχαρι). On their return journey, the Macedonian soldiers took "honey canes" with them. Sugarcane remained a little-known crop in Europe for more than a millennium. Sugar was a rare commodity and sugar merchants were wealthy.

The Crusaders brought sugar with them to Europe after their campaigns in the Holy Land, where they encountered caravans carrying the 'sweet salt'. In the early 12th century, Venice acquired some villages near Tire and established estates to produce sugar for export to Europe, where it was it supplemented with honey, which had previously been the only available sweetener. >XII, described sugar as a product "very necessary for the use and health of humanity". In the XV, Venice was Europe's main sugar refining and distribution center.

Modern Age

In August 1492, Christopher Columbus stopped at La Gomera in the Canary Islands to load up with wine and water, intending to stay for just four days. However, he had a sentimental relationship with Beatriz de Bobadilla and stayed for a month. When he was finally going to leave, she gave him some sugar canes, which were the first to arrive in America.

The Portuguese brought sugar to Brazil. Around 1540 there were 800 cane sugar factories on the island of Santa Catarina and another 2,000 on the north coast of Brazil, in Demarara and Suriname. The first harvest took place on the island of Hispaniola in 1501; and many sugar mills (factories) were built in Cuba and Jamaica in the 1520s.

Sugar was a luxury in Europe until the 18th century, when it became more affordable. Then it became popular and in the 19th century sugar came to be considered a necessity. This evolution of taste and demand for sugar as an essential food ingredient sparked major economic changes. During the 18th and 19th centuries many Europeans prospered from the sugar industry in the West Indies and other parts of the Americas. The demand for cheap labor to do the hard work required for their cultivation and processing increased the demand for the slave trade from sub-Saharan Africa. There was also a great demand for semi-slave indentured laborers in Asia. The modern ethnic mix of many regions has been influenced by the demand for sugar.

Sugar also led to some industrialization in the former colonies. For example, Lieutenant J. Paterson of the Bengal Establishment convinced the British government that sugarcane could be grown in British India with many advantages and at less cost than in the West Indies. As a result, sugar factories were established in Bihar, eastern India.

In the 18th century, a way to extract sugar from a variant of beetroot was discovered. During the Napoleonic Wars, sugar beet production increased in continental Europe due to the difficulty of importing sugar when the shipment was blocked. In 1880, sugar beets were the main source of sugar in Europe. It was grown in Lincolnshire and other parts of England, although the United Kingdom continued to import the main part of its sugar from its colonies.

Until the late 19th century, sugar was bought in sugarloafs, meaning loaves of sugar), which had to be cut up. In later years, sugar was usually sold granulated and in bags.

Sugar cubes were produced in the 19th century. The first inventor of a process for arranging sugar in the form of a cube was the Moravian Jakub Kryštof Rad, director of a sugar company in Dačice. He began the production of sugar cubes after having acquired a five-year patent, on January 23, 1843. Henry Tate, of Tate & Lyle, was another early maker of sugar cubes at his refineries in Liverpool and London. Tate acquired a patent for the manufacture of sugar cubes from the German Eugen Langen, who in 1872 had invented a different method of processing sugar cubes.

Origin

Sugar quality

Sugar is a sweetener of natural origin, solid, crystallized, consisting essentially of loose crystals of sucrose, obtained from sugar cane (saccharum officinarum L) or sugar beet (beta vulgaris L) by appropriate industrial procedures. A grain of sugar is between 30 and 70% smaller than a grain of rice.

The white sugar undergoes a chemical purification process —called sulfitation— by passing the SO2 gas obtained by burning sulfur through the cane juice.

The film of honey that surrounds the brown or blond sugar crystal contains substances such as minerals and vitamins. In sugar jargon, these substances are called impurities. It should be noted that, during the refining process, all substances that are not sucrose are considered impurities, but they are harmless to health. And it is these that give it its particular color and flavor.

Every day it is much more frequent in prepared dishes and sweets to find other different sugars; glucose, fructose —basically from the corn plant, preferred for its slower assimilation^{[citation needed]}— or combined with artificial sweeteners.

Etymology

Hormiga feeding sugar crystals

The word sugar comes from the Sanskrit sharkara, which the Persians transformed into sakar. The Greeks would take the Persian term and call it sakjar. Classical Arabic took the Greek term and called it sukkar, and later Hispanic Arabic called it assúkar. Sanskrit took the word sharkara from çarkara, which means grit, as they called the whitish powder of sugar cane that way.

According to the Royal Spanish Academy, sugar has an ambiguous gender, but when it goes without a specification, it is mostly used in the masculine.

Although it does not start with a stressed a letter, its article is always used in the masculine form.

Types of sugar

From left to right and from top to bottom: refined white sugar, unrefined sugar, brown sugar and ground panel.

Sugar crystals under the polarizing microscope

Sugar crystals under the optical microscope

Sugar can be classified by its origin (sugar cane or beet), but also by its degree of refining or its characteristics. Normally, the refinement is expressed visually through the color (brown sugar, blond sugar, white), which is mainly given by the percentage of sucrose that the crystals contain.

The types of sugar that are commonly marketed are the following:

• White sugar: It is the most purity-grade sugar with more than 99 percent sausage. It is the result of a modern refinement process. Also called refined sugar or sugar soda (in Cuba).
• Glace sugar: Also known as glas, glasé, powder or "light". It's finely ground white sugar.
• Brunette sugar (also called "prieto sugar", "black sugar" or " raw sugar"): it is obtained from sugarcane juice and is not subjected to refinement, only crystallized and centrifugal. This integral product owes its color to a melace film that wraps each crystal. It's usually between 96 and 98 degrees of sucrose. Its mineral content is slightly higher than white sugar, but much lower than that of melaza.
• Liquid sugars: You get dissolved sugar in demineralized water.
• Sugar leaves: They are white or brown sugar and are given that form by water vapor and pressure.
• Organic sugar cane integral: it is obtained from crops where ecological methods have been used.
• Brunette candy sugar: It is brown sugar that is presented in large crystals. This is obtained by lengthening the crystallization process during production.
• Extrafine sugar: it is a white sugar whose crystals have passed through a series of tamics to have a smaller size than normal. It is sometimes used in pastries or in drinks to dissolve better.
• White sugar pearls: common in northern Europe. It is white sugar that occurs in hard pearls with oval shape. They are used for baking since in the oven they do not melt completely and leave a crunchy texture.

Stages of production from sugar cane

Sugar processing can be divided into the following stages:

• Harvest. Cut and harvest sugar cane.
• Storage. It determines the quality, the content of sucrose, fiber and impurity level. The rod is heavy and washed. (not all wits carry it out)
• Picado de la cane. The rod is chopped in machines specially designed to obtain fibers from the rod
• Molienda. Pressure extracts the juice from the cane. It adds hot water (80° to 95°) to extract the maximum sucrose containing the fibrous material.
• Clarification and refinement. In the clarification the temperature of the juice is raised, a clear juice is separated. It is also possible to refine it and for this it adds bones or lime that helps to separate insoluble compounds. It is also usually treated with gaseous sulfur dioxide to whiten it. Not all white sugar comes from a refined process.
• Evaporation. The juice water is evaporated and a melature or syrup is obtained with an approximate concentration of soluble solids from 55% to 60%. Melature is purified in a clarifier. The operation is similar to the previous one to clarify the filtered juice.
• Crystal. From crystallization you get the crystals (sugar) and liquid.
• Centrifuged. Glasses are separated from the liquid.
• Drying and cooling. Wet sugar is dried in anti-current hot air dryers and then taken to countercurrent coolers.
• Packaging. Dry and cold sugar is packed in sacks and is ready for sale.

Sugar market

Sugar cane plantation in São Paulo, Brazil

In the sugar market there are two types of products, raw sugar and refined or white sugar. Within each type there are different categories according to their different qualities. Raw sugar is produced only from sugar cane, while refined sugar is produced from both sugar cane and sugar beets. In this sense, it is considered that the sugarcane industry has greater flexibility to respond to changes in relative prices between raw sugar and refined sugar.

The world sugar market is one of the most distorted in the world as a result of a broad set of protection and subsidy policies for production and exports by the main producing and consuming countries in the world. At a general level, basically two types of sugar markets can be distinguished: the protected market and the free market.

The protected market consists of preferential agreements and long-term contracts that include the United States quota system, European Union quotas, Cuban exports to China and Australian exports to Canada.

Volumes not covered by special agreements are traded on the free market. These transactions are carried out preferably in the different sugar exchanges, among which are those of New York, London, Paris and Hong Kong. In addition to spot transactions, instruments such as forwards, futures and derivatives are used in the free sugar market.

Annual world sugar production

The main sugar producers are:

In 2003, 16 countries accounted for 87.1% of world production.

Consumption

World consumption is presented as follows:

Influence on health

Blood Pressure

High sugar intake was shown to significantly increase systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure; people who consume 25% or more of calories from sugar have nearly three times the risk of death from cardiovascular disease.

Metabolism and osteoporosis

Removes calcium from the bone: The body removes calcium from the bone to neutralize the acidity caused by refined sugar, and this calcium is lost in the urine.

Hyperactivity

A meta-analysis revealed that sugar consumption does not improve mood, but it can reduce alertness and increase fatigue. Some studies report a cause-and-effect relationship between a high intake of refined sugar and hyperactivity, others studies suggest that the amount of sugar in the diet does not influence children's behavior, but that parents who are prejudiced towards the effects of sweets mistakenly perceive that their children are more restless and nervous when they eat sweets.

Nutritional displacement

Foods high in sugar are often lower in vitamins and minerals and may be replacing more nutritious foods. They also contain excess calories, which can lead to obesity. This is known as the empty calorie argument.

Cancer

Several research studies indicate that cancer cells consume more sugar (glucose) than normal cells. However, no study has shown that consuming sugar worsens cancer or that eliminating its consumption makes it decrease or disappear, and different studies show that there is no association between sugar consumption and cancer. There is only possible evidence of a relationship between the intake of monosaccharides (fructose and glucose) and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer, and between the glycemic index (GI) and colorectal cancer.

However, some authors point out that a diet with a high sugar content can cause excessive weight gain, and obesity is associated with an elevated risk of various types of cancer. Other authors point out that the evidence on the association between the intake of added sugar and the risk of developing cancer in adults or children is insufficient.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus

It is now known that diets high in sugar can cause excessive weight gain and insulin resistance, which predisposes people to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This disease has experienced a drastic increase in incidence in recent decades, mainly due to Western lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise and high-calorie diets.

Alzheimer's

T2DM has been consistently shown to be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, dietary changes can significantly reduce the risk of developing T2DM and Alzheimer's disease, thereby increasing quality of life and improving longevity.

Cavities

A diet high in sugar is the main cause of dental caries. A WHO report stated that "sugar is undoubtedly the most important dietary factor in the development of caries" A review of human studies showed that caries incidence is lower when sugar intake is less than 10% of total energy consumed.

Alternatives

As alternatives to regular sugar in its condition as a sweetener, trying to avoid its bad consequences, with minor or sometimes greater negative consequences, although diverse, since the controversy continues, substances such as acesulfame-K, aspartame, stevia, fructose, agave syrup, maltitol, mannitol, honey, sucralose, among others.