We all know that brown rice healthier than white rice, and whole wheat bread is better than white bread, but is brown sugar better than white sugar?
Raw sugar comes from sugar cane, and it is brown when it is formed due to the presence of molasses. In order to produce refined white sugar, manufacturers bleach the sugar to extract the molasses. By adding molasses back to the white sugar, brown sugar can be produced. Let’s take a look in how brown and white sugar are processed. First, sugar cane field is set on fire to remove dead leaves. Then the sugar canes are harvested and are chopped into miniscule pieces. Next, stalk pieces are crushed to release the sugar cane juice. The juice extract contains some impurities such as dirt, cane pulp, and tiny pieces of the stalk. In order to purify the juice, calcium hydroxide is added to the mixture creating insoluble calcium compounds. With the help of polyacrylamides, the juice is filtered. The purified fluid is simmered until the water evaporates. The remaining “juice” is warmed and once afresh, fine seed crystals are added to help the sugar crystallize. Through this process, the mother liquor, a remaining by-product that contains molasses, is removed. Finally, the sugar cane juice is centrifuged to separate the sugar crystals and form raw sugar.
The video below shows the processing of raw sugar from sugar canes:
Though many people believe that brown sugar is healthier than white sugar, the truth is that they only have marginally different nutritional values. White sugar contains 99.9% pure sucrose, whereas brown sugar contains 97% sucrose, 2% water, and 1% other substances. In 100g of white sugar, there is 387 calories, while brown sugar has 377 calories. Molasses in brown sugar contains a number of minerals, which include calcium, potassium, magnesium, and iron. However, since only very small amounts of these minerals are found in brown sugar, they do not bring any health advantages to the body. According to the Plant Physiology article, sugar contains very little nutrients, and the elements found in both white sugar and brown sugar does not promote health. Molasses are not healthy and do not contain any important nutrients for the body, in other words, brown sugar cannot be considered healthier than white sugar.
Therefore, the decision between consuming white sugar and brown sugar is a matter of personal preference. While some people favor to consume brown sugar because of its rich taste, others like the pure sweet taste of white sugar. Nonetheless, both types of sugar can be harmful to the body if they are consumed excessively.
– Rubina Lo
References:
http://commoditum.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=66
http://www.chempap.org/file_access.php?file=546aa375.pdf
http://practicalaction.org/docs/technical_information_service/sugar_production_from_cane.pdf
