Does sugar found in fruits such as strawberries differentiate from sugar found in soft drinks? Do they have the same effect on the body healthwise?
In: Biology
The sugar from fruits is naturally occurring (fructose), while the sugar in soft drinks is manufactured refined sugar (sucrose) that is usually processed from sugarcane or corn syrup.
Once your body metabolizes it, there’s no real difference between them.
However they are very different in some important ways:
– refined sugar breaks down quicker, causing blood sugar levels to spike.
– fruits contain fiber and other nutrients that help your body with the sugar, breaking down fructose slower, and making you feel full so you don’t eat too much.
– soft drinks have far more sugar than fruits, typically around 40 grams per can. A strawberry has 0.6 grams. So you’d need to eat more than 50 strawberries to get the same amount of sugar in a single can of cola.
– the recommended maximum sugar intake per day is 25-35 grams, so a single can of soda is more sugar than you should eat in an entire day.
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