Sugar
Sweetness in soft drinks is traditionally provided by sugar
(sucrose) extracted from beet or cane. Cane grows in tropical areas
and beet in temperate areas; in either case the sugar is obtained
by water extraction from the crushed plant followed by
re-crystallisation. In the UK, sugar is received in the soft drink
factory either as a granulated solid or as a ready-made syrup.
In the presence of acid, sucrose will hydrolyse to form an equal
mixture of glusose and fructose. Therefore in soft drinks, you
expect to find a mixture of the three sugars. This also happens in
fruit and fruit juices.
Glucose and fructose can also be manufactured from starch (from
either maize or wheat). The starch is broken down into its
component glucose units, using acid and enzymes, to form glucose
syrup. Some of the glucose may be converted enzymically to fructose
producing High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). In the USA, HFCS has
almost completely replaced sugar in soft drinks but it is not
widely used in the UK, due to European Union restrictions in the
Common Agricultural Policy.
It is a fact that humans have a preference for products which
taste sweet, so sugar is normally added to soft drinks assist
taste. However, in an increasingly health conscious society, many
major product lines of soft drinks are now available as no-added
sugar, diet and sugar-free versions to give consumers the widest
choice possible.
Sugar is an excellent and natural source of energy and is
therefore particularly useful for active people with high energy
needs. When consumed, it is broken down by the body to form
glucose, an energy source. Energy drinks harness this natural
process by containing a blend of slow, medium and fast acting
sugars (such as dextrose, maltose, dextrin) to provide a sustained
energy boost to the body.