Talk:Table sugar

Why is this 'table sugar' rather than just 'sugar'? Bugler 08:13, 30 November 2008 (EST)

I can guess why. The substance known as "table sugar" is specifically sucrose, and more specifically refined sucrose. "Sugar" is a generic term that can include any mono- or disaccharide. (A polysaccharide is one of three things: "starch", "cellulose", or glycogen.)

I would also surmise that the editor is trying to make a point that refined sugar added at table, or even used in cooking, is deleterious to a person's health in ways that only recently anyone has thought of.

And while I'm on the subject, I am inclined to agree.--TerryH^Talk 08:19, 30 November 2008 (EST)

Thanks Terry. The term was new to me. Bugler 08:21, 30 November 2008 (EST)

Contents vs. composition

• Sugar is sweet because it contains sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁)

Does it "contain" sucrose? I mean, is sucrose one of several ingredients in table sugar just as iodide is an ingredient in table salt?

Or is sugar nothing more or less than sucrose?

Think of Aspirin. What does it contain? A tablet of aspirin "contains" a trace of other ingredients to keep it in tablet form and so on. But aspirin does not "contain" acetylsalicylic acid. It "is" acetylsalicylic acid. This should be in the Guidelines. --Ed Poor ^Talk 10:39, 4 February 2009 (EST)