The document discusses different types of sugars and their ability to act as reducing agents. It states that monosaccharides are reducing sugars because of their simple structure. The disaccharides maltose and lactose can also act as reducing agents because they have open chemical structures that allow them to be broken down. However, sucrose and polysaccharides are non-reducing sugars. Sucrose has a closed structure that bonds its rings together, while polysaccharides like starches have multiple bonded rings. Both of these structures prevent them from being easily broken down.