Food and nutrition.pdf

226 Sugarbut this remains a controversial topic. Some recent studies lend supportto this theory. However no major medical or nutritional organizationcurrently recommends reducing sugar consumption to prevent cancer.ProductionTable sugar (sucrose) comes from plant sources. Two important sugarcrops predominate: sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) and sugar beets (Betavulgaris), in which sugar can account for 12% to 20% of the plant's dryweight. Some minor commercial sugar crops include the date palm(Phoenix dactylifera), sorghum (Sorghum vulgare), and the sugar maple (Acersaccharum). In the financial year 2001/2002, worldwide production of sugaramounted to 134.1 million tonnes.The first production of sugar from sugarcane took place in India.Alexander the Great's companions reported seeing "honey producedwithout the intervention of bees" and it remained exotic in Europe untilthe Arabs started cultivating it in Sicily and Spain. Only after the Crusadesdid it begin to rival honey as a sweetener in Europe. The Spanish begancultivating sugarcane in the West Indies in 1506 (and in Cuba in 1523).The Portuguese first cultivated sugarcane in Brazil in 1532.Most cane sugar comes from countries with warm climates, such asBrazil, India, China, Thailand, Mexico and Australia, the top sugarproducingcountries in the world. Rrazil overshadows most countries, withroughly 30 million tonnes of cane sugar produced in 2006, while Indiaproduced 21 million, China 11 million, and Thailand and Mexico roughly5 million each. Viewed by region, Asia predominates in cane sugarproduction, with large contributions from China, India and Thailand andother countries combining to account for 40% of global production in 2006.South America comes in seco!1d place with 32% of global production;Africa and Central America each produce 8% and Australia 5%. TheUnited States, the Caribbean and Europe make up the remainder, withroughly 3% each.Beet sugar comes from regions with cooler climates: northwest andeastern Europe, northern Japan, plus some areas in the United States(including California). In the northern hemisphere, the beet-growingseason ends with the start of harvesting around September. Harvestingand processing continues until March in some cases. The availability ofprocessing plant capacity, and the weather both influence the duration ofharvesting and processing - the industry can lay up harvested beet untilprocessed, but a frost-damaged beet becomes effectively unprocessable.The European Union (EU) has become the world's second-largestsugar exporter. The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU sets maximumquotas for members' production to match supply and demand, and a price.