BioCoder #12

Chapter 4. Amazing, Super-Sweet Natural Proteins

Raj Nagarajan, PhD

Many of us have a sweet tooth and crave sweet treats throughout the day, like chocolate, candies, fudge, ice cream—you name it. Some of us consume these a little above the recommended amounts because sometimes sweet food just makes us feel better.

Sucrose is the major carbohydrate that is being consumed in every form of processed food such as confectionery, dairy products, or soft drinks. A food company may add honey (40% fructose and 35% glucose), date sugar (80% sucrose), rice syrup (100% glucose), corn syrup (98% glucose), coconut sugar (70%–80% glucose), or evaporated cane sugar (sucrose). But those are just sugar in different forms.

Many processed food products thus contain free sugar, which is concentrated form of sugar. The problem with free sugars is that they do not go through rigorous digestion because they are already released or stripped out of their original encasement (e.g., plant fiber). Free sugar rushes into the small intestine, where sugar metabolism occurs. If the sugar is sucrose, it undergoes hydrolysis into glucose and fructose. Freed-up glucose and fructose travel through the hepatic portal system (which contains the veins and its tributaries from the gastrointestinal tract to the rectum) and get into the bloodstream and flow through the liver for additional processing; fructose is processed into glucose-like compounds for ATP production (energy molecule), while glucose serves as a substrate ...