SUGAR

Basic Facts on Sugar: 

Sugar is essential to life and is used as energy in living organisms. Cells process sugar to receive the energy they need. Plants make sugar to store energy they don't need right away. People like sugar because it is sweet, therefore some plants are grown for extracting sugar from them to use in foods. Plants use the process of photosynthesis to make this sugar. The process of photosynthesis takes  place in the chlorophyll which is located in the chloroplasts of the plant.

What is it made of? 

It is made of particles consisting of sucrose, lactose, and fructose.

Where is sugar found? 

Sugar is also found in nearly any edible food that grows from a plant, bush, or tree, such as rice, grains, and many different fruits. These sugars are consumed by people and animals, and are natural so it is better than artificial sugar. A certain amount of these sugars are very important towards health but are not good if too much is consumed.

Sugar can be bad for you!

This kind of essential sugar should be used sparingly and only a small portion is needed by the human body. Scientific research has proven that overly comsumed portions of sugar can increase the risk of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, which is a fatal heart disease. These are all results of obesity and overeating. Each day, the food humans eat already contains natural sugar which is the sufficient amount they need , but eating excess snacks especially sweets are not healthful to a daily diet.

There are a countless number of reasons excess sugar is bad for your health, and these are just a few:

• weakens your immune system
• kidney and liver enlargement
• cavities
• hyperactivity (being unusually active)
• raises the insulin level, which restrains the release of growth hormones

Refined sugar (sugar that has impurities removed to make it have better quality and cleaner) also causes many negative factors towards health: 

• sleepiness not caused by being tired
• heartburn
• mucle fatigue
• bad breath
• flu-like symptoms (body ache, feeling run-down)
• lethargy (unenergetic)
• pallor (unusual paleness)

Where is sugar grown? 

Sugar is made in 121 countries all over the world and more than 120 million tons of sugar is produced each year. About 70% of this sugar is made from sugar canes which are a tall grass with large stems that is grown in tropical countries.  The 30% that is left is made from sugar beets. Sugar beets are biyearly root crops that look like large parsnips and grow mostly in the northern temperate zones of the world. Mature ones usually contain 17% of sugar content, but their contents vary from year to year and area to area. Only about seven tons of sugar are grown in every 10,000 square meters.

Crazy facts about sugar:

• Over the past twenty years,  citizens of the U.S. have increased sugar consumption from 26 to 135 pounds of sugar per person per year!
• The daily amount of sugar is already damaging towards the human body.
• Honey is a natural sweetner but still has a high caloric content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icjSbcw9V54

This is a picture of sugar cane plants.

     I borrowed this picture from here.

This is a picture of a sugar beet. Both sugar canes and  sugar beets are grown to make sugar.

           I borrowed this picture from here.

         I borrowed this picture from here.

Sugar is used throughout the world today in processing sweets which is contributing to obesity.

    I borrowed this picture from here.

These are the sources I used:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar 

http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm 

http://www.sucrose.com/learn.html 

http://www.rheumatic.org/sugar.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icjSbcw9V54