Sucrose in the solid state - AKA Sugar
("Blasting For Blood Sugar Control" screen 1).
Sucrose is one of the more widely used readily available compounds that are knowingly consumed in virtually everyones daily. As sucrose is the same as table sugar, upon examination of the ingredients of any meal or food that is prepared, chances are that sucrose/sugar are among the ingredients listed (supposing it is not a special dietary sugar free food). Sucrose is so widely used in the food industry, mainly as either a sweetening agent to make foods taste enjoyable and palatable, but also to serve as a preservative in many foods that have a longer than appeared shelf life/expiry date. Sucrose is the compound behind the sweet enjoyable taste of countless beverages including many juices, nearly all sodas (excluding diet soda), many coffees (dependant on drinker’s preference), and many alcoholic drinks. Sucrose also serves an identical purpose in many foods, with sucrose one of the most essential ingredients in most, “snack foods,” causing the irresistible taste, as well as in many pre-made meals including most cereals or baked goods ("Sugar vs Artificial Flavour" screen 1). The previous listed foods are merely a start to the list of foods sucrose is used in, and to list all would be virtually impossible, with table sugar alone having an approximate 168 million tonnes produced in 2011, with Canadians consuming an estimated 23kg of sugar a year ("Descriptions" screen 1).
The second largest market for sucrose is the medical industry. An outcome surprising to myself, many pharmaceutical drugs both prescription and over the counter drugs utilize sucrose for either medicinal purposes, or the more widespread use in drugs as a sweetener for drugs that would otherwise not be palatable based on the taste of other chemicals in them ("What Is Sucrose" screen 2). Sucrose is so important to aiding in the intake of medications that, “[it] can be found in many medical dosage forms such as chewable tablets, syrups, lozenges, or gums” (“The Canadian Sugar Institute” screen 1).
Based upon the previous stated alone, it can be established that sucrose is integral to the food industry as well as the pharmaceutical industry, but a fact often over looked is that sugar or sucrose is actually a necessary component in a healthy diet. Without sucrose, the body would not function at its maximum potential as not only would it not receive that type of carbohydrate, but the body would not have an adequate energy supply. As sugar is a complex carbohydrate, it serves as a storage of energy that can either be immediately released or released later ("Sucrose vs Artificial Flavour" screen 1). As sucrose is so heavily utilized in food, medicine, and a necessary component of the human body, it can be accurately established that sucrose is needed in human society.
Sugar is used in a variety of different drinks as well as foods
("Oh Happy Bray" screen 3).
Sucrose is often used as a sweetener in medications (