Sucrose is common sugar, white sugar or table sugar. This quickly absorbed sugar due to the short length of its molecule, results from the combination of two monosaccharides, which are the smallest components within the group of carbohydrates , and are a molecule of glucose and another of fructose. Containing two molecules of saccharides or sugars, sucrose is a disaccharide.
Sucrose intolerance consists of an alteration that occurs at the digestive level, specifically in the intestinal area, due to the absence or poor presence of the enzyme or protein responsible for separating the two molecules of sucrose and which is called ‘sucrose’. or ‘sucrase’. Without the action of this enzyme, sucrose cannot be digested and therefore absorbed. Unable to cross the intestinal wall, the sucrose molecules continue their way to the large intestine until they are eliminated anally.
It is a properly digestive pathology that has little to do with food allergy , since no immunological involvement occurs, one of the defining characteristics of allergic reactions.
Sometimes, a complete absence of sucrase can be found in those affected, so minimal amounts of sucrose can trigger the symptoms of intolerance; But some people contain minimal amounts of the enzyme, so they tolerate certain small amounts of sucrose that can be digested. In these cases, it is important to discover the threshold limit of the amount of sucrose that these people can take until saturating enzyme levels. When this level is exceeded, it is likely that the amount of sucrose that remains undigested causes the symptoms.
Fortunately, the prevalence of this intolerance is very low in the world in general, being somewhat higher among the inhabitants of Canada and Greenland.
In many cases, sucrose intolerance is associated with a deficiency of other digestive enzymes that digest other sugars such as lactose , milk sugar, or fructose , fruit sugar . In these cases, the alteration affects the sugars that cannot be digested normally due to the enzyme deficiency.
