5 facts about sugar

Here at UKVending we love a sweet treat every so often. So, we decided to trawl through the history and science books to discover some fascinating facts about sugar.  

1. SUGAR CANE WAS FIRST DOMESTICATED IN NEW GUINEA AROUND 8000 BCE.

It was later carried to the Philippines and India—in fact, the first written mention of sugar may be in The Mahabhashya of Patanjali, a study of Sanskrit written around 400-350 BCE.

2. EATING SUGAR CAN GIVE YOU WRINKLES.

It’s common knowledge that eating too much sugar can cause weight gain, but few people know it can also affect the elasticity of your skin. It turns out, overconsumption of sugar causes glycation—a process in which the sugar in your bloodstream binds to proteins, forming molecules that make the collagen in your skin more brittle—which, in turn, causes wrinkles.

3. IT CAN BE USED AS A FOOD PRESERVATIVE.

Sugar has been used as a preservative for hundreds of years, and now scientists understand why: high sugar concentrations cause bacteria to lose water through a process called osmosis—and without water, bacteria can’t grow or divide. 

4. DOGS HAVE A SWEET TOOTH, BUT CATS DON’T. 

Scientists are still studying why some animals have a preference for sweet foods and others don’t. They’ve found, for example, that dogs enjoy sweet foods while cats and other felines don’t have sweetness receptors in their brains. They’ve hypothesized that sweetness receptors are unnecessary for carnivorous animals, as well as for animals that tend not to chew their food at all, such as dolphins and sea lions. 

5. THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CONSUMES 76.7 POUNDS OF SUGAR A YEAR. 

According to a 2019 study by the U.S. Agriculture Department, we’re each eating about 22 teaspoons of sugar a day.