eli5: Sugars are carbs. What is different about sugar that requires it to be listed separately on a nutritionql label?
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Not all carbs are equal. The two act very differently when consumed.
There are some carbohydrates humans cannot even digest because we lack the enzymes, don’t chew our cud, and lack the hind-gut fermenting microbes horses and pigs possess.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0q4XMzuzV4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0q4XMzuzV4)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWWTpe86ja](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWWTpe86ja4)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yg5_SmLCps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yg5_SmLCps)
If you eat an amount of refined sugar equal to what is in an apple, it’s absorbed in the stomach in minutes, but if you eat an apple, those intra-cellular carbohydrates are still being absorbed in the distal small bowel hours later. The gut bacteria treat it differently, the liver treats it differently, the pancreas treats it differently, and on top of that, you get vitamins, other anti-oxidents, and fiber.
It’s true there is little practical difference between refined sugar and something like refined white flour, which is too prevalent in the Western diet, but between, say, sugar and a yam, there is a whole cascade of enzymes, hormones, and time that make a difference.
Sugar is made up of glucose and fructose. Fructose can only be processed by the liver, while the whole body can utilize glucose.
Carbs are long chains of glucose only and when digested, they are only converted to glucose.
The idea is that we need to have sugar called out specifically because its the type of carb that we most often consume too much of. The callout is for awareness, education, and tracking your intake of sugar. “50 carbs, but 45 of them are sugar” versus “50 carbs, 5 of which are sugar”. Very important to be able to see the difference, hence the callout.
i think it’s more accurate to say that carbs are broken down into sugars in your stomach that your body can use for energy. foods that are high in sugar give you energy too, but the human body isn’t meant to digest these processed, already broken down sugars, which is why it messes with people’s insulin levels and pancreas. in other words, they list sugar separately because it’s so harmful to the body
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