Tag: Sugar formula

The average American consumes over 60 pounds of added sugar per year, often without knowing its true chemical nature. The question of what is the formula for sugar in food is complex because 'sugar' isn't just one compound but a family of carbohydrates, with the most common being sucrose ($C_{12}H_{22}O_{11}$).

While most people associate 'sugar' with common table sugar, the term actually refers to a broad class of carbohydrates. The specific chemical formula for sugar varies depending on the type, from the single-unit monosaccharides to the double-unit disaccharides. Table sugar, known as sucrose, is a disaccharide with the chemical formula $C_{12}H_{22}O_{11}$.

While many carbohydrates are known for the general formula $C_x(H_2O)_y$, certain natural compounds like rhamnose challenge this rule. This unique methyl-pentose sugar, found in plants and bacteria, is a prime example of a carbohydrate that defies its textbook definition by being a deoxy sugar.