Sucrose intolerance

Sucrose is a type of sugar that is found in many foods, like candy, soda, and desserts. Some people have trouble digesting sucrose, which means their bodies can’t break it down and use it for energy like most people can.

Imagine the food you eat is like a puzzle. Your body has puzzle pieces (called enzymes) that help break the food puzzle apart so your body can use the pieces for energy. But people who have sucrose intolerance are missing an important puzzle piece (called sucrase), which means their bodies can’t break apart the sucrose puzzle.

When someone with sucrose intolerance eats foods with sucrose in them, it can make them feel sick. They might get a stomach ache, feel bloated, or have diarrhea. But their body still needs energy to work, just like everyone else’s body. So they have to find other foods that don’t have sucrose in them to eat instead.

Some people might think that sugar-free foods are a good solution for someone with sucrose intolerance. But many sugar-free foods have other types of sugar in them that can be just as hard to digest as sucrose. So people with sucrose intolerance have to be very careful about what they eat and make sure to read food labels carefully.