What Are the Dangers of Sucrose and Dextrose?

Many people around the world are craving for sugary foods. It is probably because they want to feel a ‘sugar rush”. Sugar is a good source of caloric energy. Sugar is present in most processed foods, confections and baked goodies. Most sugar has four calories per gram. Sweet foods are everywhere and it is loaded with too much sugar. And we all know that anything in excess is bad for our health.

Sucrose is a compound composed of two sugars, fructose and glucose. Dextrose is commonly known as glucose or blood sugar. Dextrose is naturally found in food. These sugars are commonly used in the production of almost all processed foods and beverages. We already know that there are dangerous consequences when consuming sugar beyond the normal level. We just need to identify these dangers in order to be aware and take precaution in consuming sugar in general.

The dangers of sucrose and dextrose:

• Obesity- eating too much food with high caloric value such as sugar will result to excessive weight gain. Our body will convert the excess calories into stored fats. With the sweet taste of sucrose and dextrose it makes them easier and likeable to consume thus contributing to excessive caloric intake. Processed foods are very high in both sucrose and dextrose and we may have a hard time monitoring the calories within them.
• Malnutrition- since sugar food contains a lot of calories; people tend to eat more processed foods than opt to eat foods with high nutritional values. Most people nowadays are substituting a nutritious meal with foods that has a lot of sugar thus leading to poor nutrition.
• Diabetes- sugar as it is will not cause diabetes but too much intake of sugar will greatly affects the normal production of insulin thus will aggravate the diabetes condition.
• Hyperactivity- since sugar will cause a quick surge of energy or what they called “sugar rush” it will then cause hyperactivity in people who consumed a large amount of sugar. The temporary effect of having quick energy surges will later be replace with sluggish feeling which in turn will cause decrease mental alertness.
• Dental cavities- sugar can cause dental cavities by robbing our bones and our teeth of calcium. Acid will build up around the teeth which make them brittle and more prone to bacteria.