Is Sucrose Bad for the Body?

December 18, 2020byrizco

Sucrose, or table sugar, gets a bad rap in our society. Used to sweeten a wide variety of processed foods, it has been linked to everything from dental cavities to obesity and heart disease.

But sucrose also occurs naturally in a wide variety of healthy foods. It helps makes fruits like apples and oranges taste sweet and puts the “sweet” in sweet potatoes. Good-for-you foods like these provide valuable vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

Most health experts believe that all foods can have a place in a healthy diet. In the case of sucrose, foods containing the naturally occurring kind (produce, such as vegetables, beans and legumes, and more) are a staple of a nutritious lifestyle, while items containing the added variety (candy, cakes, and other sweets) are recommended in limited quantities as a special treat.

But for people with a condition called Sucrose Intolerance caused by Congenital Sucrase-Isomaltase Deficiency (CSID), sucrose in any form can cause an array of unpleasant symptoms.

Sucrose Intolerance is a disorder of the small intestine that limits a person’s ability to break down sucrose. People with the condition lack or have low levels of the functioning form of digestive enzymes, sucrase or isomaltase, which are needed to digest sucrose. The result: gastrointestinal symptoms, such as stomach pain, bloating, gas, and diarrhea.

It can be challenging to avoid sucrose, considering it is found in so many items, whether they’re nutrition-packed whole foods or indulgent, once-in-a-while treats. Below are several examples of a list of high-sucrose foods.

Fruits are one of the main types of foods containing sucrose. The following fruits tend to contain the most sucrose:

Apples

Bananas

Grapefruit, oranges, and other citrus fruits

Honeydew

Tropical fruits, such as pineapple, mangos, and guava

The following vegetables are high in sucrose:

Carrots

Corn

Green peas

Onions

Sweet potatoes

Many beans and legumes are high in sucrose, including:

Black beans

Garbanzo beans (chickpeas)

Kidney beans

Lima beans

Navy beans

In terms of added ingredients, sucrose is found in many processed foods. If you spot the following words on an ingredient label, the food contains sucrose:

Sugar

Brown sugar

Cane juice, caramel

Coconut sugar

Corn syrup solids

Sucrose

Maltodextrin

Maltose

Maple syrup

Modified tapioca starch

Molasses

In addition to bloating and gas after meals, symptoms of Sucrose Intolerance include watery diarrhea, stomach pain, frequent bowel movements, and sometimes vomiting. Besides being extremely unpleasant and causing those affected to feel self-conscious, these symptoms can lead to weight loss and vitamin deficiency. If this is you, you may likely answer, “Yes!” when people ask, “Is sucrose bad for the body?”

But with some strategic dietary swaps and changes, people with Sucrose Intolerance can avoid foods that are high in sucrose.

If consuming sucrose causes you to experience bloating, gas, diarrhea, or stomach pain on a regular basis, you may have Sucrose Intolerance. Take the CSID quiz* and share your results with your physician. You may be asked to record your dietary intake and symptoms before your appointment, enabling your physician to recommend further testing that may be needed. *This quiz is not a diagnostic.

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