Now that Holiday season is around the corner, we are all excited to celebrate the holidays, yet apprehensive of what we should be eating and what we should avoid. One of the main concerns most of us have are about SUGAR: which form is the right one to eat. With so many options in the market, it is always puzzling as to which is the right choice of sweetness.
Well here’s a lowdown on sugars and trust me there is no sugar coating here (pun intended). Here’s what is present in some of the sugar forms that are on the market.
Let’s start with table sugar which is the white crystalline structure that can be found in our beverages and food. Sugar (known in scientific community as SUCROSE): is a molecule made up of two components namely, Glucose and Fructose. Fructose is a basic form of carbohydrate seen primarily in fruits. Glucose is the basic molecule of any carbohydrate you eat (Rice, Wheat, Potatoes etc.). Glucose as most of you know is the primary source of our energy. The same energy that we need to get up from bed and get going, to divulge into rigorous activities and even to BREATHE! Every time you breathe, glucose is broken down and energy is released. This energy is used up for metabolic activities conducted by your body such as digestion and other activities.
Brown Sugar: Why does this form of sugar look brown? Well the answer is sugarcane molasses is added to sucrose crystals to get the brown coating. Molasses is added in different amounts to get either a light brown color or a dark brown color as one desires. There have been serious debates about nutritional benefits of brown sugar over regular sugar. After all, it is natural sugar along with molasses that might have very little amounts of minerals. It is still our friend Sucrose and our body recognizes and assimilates it similar to regular sugar.
Jaggery/Panella: This is a very dark version of brown sugar. Once again this is our regular sugar with a higher amount of molasses. These are produced in a similar way as brown sugar except that brown sugar is centrifuged to get rid of excess molasses whereas here molasses is retained as much as possible. Again, this is sucrose with more amount of molasses. Hence as far as metabolism is concerned, body recognizes all the above three as same form of sugar. Only difference is when you compare one teaspoon of pure sugar vs. jaggery, you are comparing one teaspoon of just Sucrose vs. almost ½ to ¾ spoon of sucrose since the rest is molasses.
Honey: Honey is shown to have more amount of fructose than sucrose. In addition to sweetness, some honey have anti-oxidative properties. Ever heard doctors saying ‘Do not Give Honey to Infants’? It’s not Glucose-Fructose they are worried about. It is because, honey may contain dormant spores of bacteria which can be dangerous to infants. These toxin-producing bacteria can damage infants’ immature intestinal tracts, leading to severe illness. Infants do not have a developed immune system that can fight these bacteria. Honey has a lot of pollen from various flowers trapped into it and hence many with allergy problems go on a ‘local honey’ consumption regimen to strengthen their immune responses. Advantage of this regimen might be a stretch because studies have shown that allergens in honey get digested by stomach acids and hence do not trigger an immune response as desired. Morever, most of the people that are allergic to grass pollen and ragweed will not benefit from Local Honey since these pollen are not carried by bees and hence won’t be present in honey.
These are some of the most basic definitions and examples of sugar. In our next post, let’s go over the other popular forms of SUGAR on market shelves: Stevia, Splenda, agave nectar and of course High Fructose Corn Syrup.