eli5: Sugars are carbs. What is different about sugar that requires it to be listed separately on a nutritionql label?
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**ELI5**: Carbs are a family that contains sugar but also complex carbs and fiber. Sugar content is the most important carb when making decisions about what is ‘healthy’ as it is linked to many diseases which is why its singled out.
**More in-depth**: Carbohydrates can be broadly divided into three groups: simple carbohydrates, complex carbohydrates, and fiber.
*Simple carbs* are mono- and disaccharides such as table sugar (sucrose which is glucose + fructose). These are absorbed quickly by your GI system and cause a rapid spike in your blood sugar which is accompanied by a rapid spike in your insulin levels to compensate. Regularly consuming foods high in simple carbs has been shown to lead to obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other diseases. Having sugars listed on the labels (theoretically) allows consumers to make more informed choices on what they are putting in their bodies as sugar has been shown to have these negative effects.
*Complex carbs* are longer chain polysaccharides (literally many glucoses chained together) which take longer for your body to digest. This leads to a slow and steady increase in blood sugar and a slow and steady increase in insulin levels which can be well managed by your body. Foods high in complex carbs have actually been shown to be beneficial for people with type-2 diabetes (second link at the bottom).
*Fiber* is an insoluble form of carbohydrates that our bodies cannot process. Since it cannot be processed, it will never be absorbed or used as energy and will pass through our GI system. But it does play an important role in your GI health as it helps keep things moving and contributes to the feeling of being full.
There is a ton of misinformation about sugar including in this thread already so be vigilant about the information your read. One of my current pet peeves is defining sugars as “natural” or “added”/”refined”. The source of the sugar doesn’t make a difference in the chemical make up of it. Glucose is glucose is glucose. Orange juice that contains 100% natural sugars doesn’t make it any healthier than orange juice that contains 100% added sugars. Harvard med wrote a great article about it here: [https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/natural-and-added-sugars-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/](https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2015/natural-and-added-sugars-two-sides-of-the-same-coin/)
However, how the sugar is packaged is important: fruit mainly has intracellular sugar with vitamins, minerals, and fiber which limit the spike in blood sugar. Compare that to apple juice which has freely dissolved sugar (natural though!) and removed the fiber allowing for rapid absorption and spiking blood sugar.
**AHA recommendations on carbs:** [https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/carbohydrates](https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/nutrition-basics/carbohydrates)
**Harvard School of Public Health article on simple vs complex carbs:** [https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/carbohydrates-and-blood-sugar/](https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates/carbohydrates-and-blood-sugar/)
**STATpearls article on carbohydrates**: [https://europepmc.org/article/NBK/nbk459280](https://europepmc.org/article/NBK/nbk459280)
Sugars are generally called simple because of their molecular structure (they digest rapidly) and enter the blood stream faster. This in turn causes a rapid rise in blood glucose, which can be harmful to the body sp you get a rapid spike in insulin. Insulin causes your cells to absorb the sugars super fast. This leads to weight gain as often the sugar is converted to fat. There’s a lot more to that, but that’s simple sugars.
Complex carbs, or the ones not listed as simple, are much larger molecules that take a long time to digest. Therefore, the rate of glucose rise in your body is slower which results in less of an insulin spike.
TL:DR:
Sugar = simple carb = small molecule = fast digesting.
Other carbs = complex carbs = larger molecules = slower digesting.
there are basically two kinds of carbs:
* Sugars: which are small, don’t need to be digested, and are absorbed into your bloodstream very quickly.
* complex carbs (mostly starch): which are long chains of sugars. They need to be digested to break the sugars apart, and that means they are absorbed gradually.
So if you eat sugars, your blood sugar levels will rise very fast, and if you eat starch, it will rise more gradually.
sugars are carbs in the same way that bricks are houses. Simple sugars combine with other things to make carbohydrates. We talk about them in the same way sometimes because our bodies break carbs down into simple sugars to use them, so they work through many of the same processes in the body. But if someone asked you to look at a subdivision under construction and tell them how many houses were there, you wouldn’t count a pallet of bricks. It’s part of a house, but it’s not similar enough at this stage to count.
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