[Creative Cultivation Program] Sweetness is good, but too much of it can become a "burden"

When you lazily lean back in your chair, staring at the hustle and bustle of people outside the window, and savoring the good afternoon brought by coffee, have you ever thought about where the sweetness you taste in coffee comes from?

Almost everyone likes sweetness, some like thicker, and some like slightly sweet. If you think that sweetness is exclusive to human happiness, you are wrong. In fact, many animals love to eat sugar. Take the cute giant panda for example. Although its staple food every day is bamboo, a bland food, it also loves sweets. Scientists have done such an experiment. They put two bowls of water in front of the pandas, one bowl with sugar and the other bowl of plain water. All pandas will choose the water with sugar. This is not a coincidence. No matter whether the source of sweetness in the sugar water is fructose, glucose, sucrose, lactose, maltose and galactose, as long as there is sweetness, pandas will not drink plain water. In fact, in addition to pandas, cats, dogs, cows, horses and other animals like sweets. Even ants will pursue the taste of sweetness. This is actually a kind of obsession that is almost natural.

Sugar is the main substance that brings a sweet taste, so how was it discovered?

The earliest record of "sugarcane juice" can be found in Qu Yuan's "Chu Ci·Zhao Hun", which means that at the end of the 4th century AD, people knew how to obtain sweet substances from sugarcane, but not as pure as modern sugar. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was recorded in "Continued Han Shu" that "Tianzhu produces rock honey", and the rock honey here is granulated sugar, which is purer than sugarcane juice. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, he found that granulated sugar was easy to preserve and convenient to eat, so he made up his mind to learn the sugar-making technology. In 648 AD, the Tang Dynasty learned the sugar-making technology from Magadha and planted a large number of sugarcane in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, the quality of the granulated sugar was not good at the beginning, so in 661 AD, Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty sent envoys to India again. After intensive research by Chinese sugar-making experts, they not only broke through the technical difficulties, but also the quality was even better than that of India. Because of this, there is a saying in "Book of Tang": "Fanhu produces rock honey, and China values ​​it. ", which shows that our ancestors also put a lot of thought into this "sweet" taste.

Why do people like sugar so much?

The most intuitive feeling is that sugar brings pleasure to people. After entering the human body, sugar will induce chemical reactions and activate the pleasure and reward system in the brain. At this time, the body will secrete dopamine, which will bring people a sense of happiness. People will be very excited and very energetic. Therefore, many people will choose to eat sweets when they are unhappy, so that their troubles will be thrown aside. In addition, sugar is the main source of energy for the human body. 50%-70% of the body's energy comes from the oxidation reaction of sugar. Therefore, eating sugar should be regarded as an instinctive reaction to maintain life activities, especially when blood sugar is too low, the body will instinctively want to eat sugary sweets. In addition, when blood sugar is unstable and too low, supplementing sugar can also achieve the effect of soothing and stabilizing emotions. These are the main reasons why people like sugar.

How does sugar replenish energy and stabilize blood sugar? There are two main ways for sugar to provide energy after entering the body, but both require oxidative decomposition. One is aerobic oxidation, and the other is anaerobic glycolysis, of which the former is the main way. In terms of aerobic oxidation, it is pure sugar or glucose decomposed from food, absorbed into the blood through the intestines, and then enters the tricarboxylic acid cycle in the cells. With the participation of oxygen, glucose will decompose into water and carbon dioxide and excrete it from the body, while generating heat. Anaerobic glycolysis, as the name implies, when the oxygen supply is insufficient, glucose will decompose into lactic acid and produce a small amount of heat. For example, when you are jogging, you will feel muscle soreness, which is actually anaerobic glycolysis, and the sour feeling is the result of lactic acid accumulation. Generally speaking, 1 gram of sugar can produce 4 kilocalories of calories. Although it is not the most among the three major energy sources, it is indeed the cheapest and most economical source of energy. This is also the reason why the 2022 version of the Chinese Residents' Dietary Guidelines advocates that everyone should focus on cereals and eat staple foods in a fixed amount.

Since sugar is so important, does it mean that eating more is better for the body? Of course not.

Sugar is actually a type of carbohydrate. All types of carbohydrates should be consumed in moderation, and the total amount of refined sugar should be controlled. There is ample evidence that excessive intake of refined sugar increases the risk of obesity and metabolic diseases. In addition, excessive sugar reacts with protein in the body to produce advanced glycation end products, which break down collagen in your body. The degree of decomposition is very significant, which means that when you consume a lot of sugar, your complexion will deteriorate, wrinkles will appear more easily, and joint aging will accelerate. According to the Chinese Dietary Guidelines, it is best to control the amount of added sugar[1] to less than 25 grams per day, and not more than 50 grams.

So, is it all good to replace sugar with sweeteners? Of course not. Although artificial sweeteners are sweeter and have lower calories, they should not be consumed in excess, otherwise there will be health risks. First, it may cause you to eat more and be at risk of obesity. Second, it may create a feeling of sugar addiction. Although artificial sweeteners can give you a sweet taste, they cannot satisfy your craving for sweets. Long-term consumption of highly sweet foods will lead to dependence. In addition, it may disrupt the regulation of appetite and taste. Higher sweetness and very low energy will confuse the body and disrupt appetite and taste regulation.

Sugar is a condiment, neither an angel nor a devil. Proper use can bring more flavor to our lives, otherwise it will become a sweet burden.

Author: Zhang Yu