Table sugar
Sugar is a sweet ingredient added to foods such as cookies, cakes, and pastries. Sugar comes from beets or sugarcane and is generally grown in tropical environments. Sugar plays an important role in the commerce of many countries, including Jamaica, Guatemala, and Bolivia.
Sugar is sweet because it contains sucrose, which is a solid white saccharide that alters the flavor of foods. Sucrose is a carbohydrate[1]. When digested, sugar provides approximately 4 calories per gram.[2]
Sucrose is broken down in the body is glucose and fructose.
When consumed in large quantities, sugar is unhealthy, may lead to tooth decay, obesity, or diabetes. Many processed food products such as Twinkies, children's breakfast cereals, and candy bars contain large amounts of sugar.