Just a Spoonful of Sugar…

It just so happens that I have a wretched sweet tooth, I love to bake, and I have to watch my blood sugar—a challenging combination on the best of days. Many people are in the same boat, and there’s a lot of confusion out there about the different types of sugar and sweeteners available today, how to use them, and whether they are healthy and safe to use if you have blood sugar issues. 

Caveat Emptor

Whether from soda, snacks, cereal, pasta or other packaged foods, Americans each eat the equivalent of 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, adding up to about 156 pounds of sugar per person, per year. And teens can eat as much as 34 teaspoons of sugar a day!

Imagine it: 31 five-pound bags for each of us, every year.

According to Rachel K. Johnson, lead author of a paper published in the American Heart Association (AHA) journal Circulation, too much sugar not only makes Americans fat but also is a key culprit in diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke. Sugar raises blood sugar, reduces HDL cholesterol (the “good” kind), skyrockets triglycerides, triggers abnormal insulin surges, and makes us hungry. It also converts the less-harmful large LDL particles to the much more harmful small LDL particles.

So how much is enough? The Heart Association report goes on to recommend that most women should be getting no more than 6 teaspoons a day, or 100 calories, of added sugar—the sweeteners and syrups that are added to foods during processing, preparation or at the table. For most men, the recommended limit is 9 teaspoons, or 150 calories. A single glass of store-bought orange juice, with the equivalent of 10 teaspoons, would put you over.

So this summary of sweeteners comes with a warning:

Sugar in any form is not good for you, so please use it sparingly.

An Inside Look at Sugar

There are various types of sugar, chemically speaking. Sucrose comes from sugar cane or sugar beets, fructose, maltose and dextrose come from fruits and starchy plants, lactose comes from dairy products, etc.—basically, if it ends in -ose, its a type of sugar.

Sucrose, like all polysaccharides, breaks down during digestion into simple glucose and fructose. Glucose is transported by insulin to the cells for energy, which, unless burned, gets stored away as fat. Yep, you read that right: Sugar, unused, makes you fat.

Glucose is the foundation for the Glycemic Index (GI), which ranks foods on how they affect our blood glucose levels. This index measures how much your blood glucose increases in the two or three hours after eating certain foods. Table sugar, or sucrose, has a GI of 60. Eating low (below 50) on the glycemic index can help you control your blood sugar naturally.

People tend to think that fructose is a benign sugar because it is found naturally in fruit. But, despite the name “fructose,” whole fruit actually has a relatively low concentration of fructose compared to agave syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, or cane sugar. Fructose does not raise blood glucose levels immediately the way glucose does, and is therefore considered low on the glycemic index. But don’t be fooled.

Fructose travels to the liver where it gets converted to triglycerides—the fats in the blood that are associated with heart disease. Blood triglycerides made from fructose are stored as fat, which increases the size of your fat cells, contributing to weight gain and obesity. The excess triglycerides created when you eat fructose increase insulin resistance, thereby boosting insulin production to very high levels, which fosters the development of diabetes in a “back door” fashion. Fructose also interferes with the absorption of minerals and impairs the immune system. (See The Skinny on Fat, Part 2 for more information >>)

White Sugars

There are many different types of refined, granulated sugar derived from sugar cane or sugar beets. Cane and beet sugars are mainly made of sucrose and come in varying crystal sizes that provide unique functional characteristics appropriate for a specific food’s special need. Refined white sugar is highly processed using multiple fossil-fuel- and chemical-intensive processes. It provides empty calories and zero nutritional value. Additionally, the fact that a lot of commercial sugar is made from genetically engineered sugar beets makes white sugar something to be avoided at all costs.

“Regular” or white sugar, from coarse to powdered granulations
“Regular” or white sugar, as it is known to consumers, is the sugar most commonly used in home food preparation. White sugar is the sugar called for in most cookbook recipes. The food industry stipulates “regular” sugar to be “extra fine” or “fine” because small crystals are ideal for bulk handling and not susceptible to caking. You can find refined sugar in crystal sizes varying from coarse granules to powdery confectioner’s 10X, depending on the needs of your dish.

“Fruit Sugar” or Crystalline Fructose
Crystalline fructose is slightly finer than “regular” sugar and is used in dry mixes such as gelatin and pudding desserts, and powdered drinks. Crystalline fructose has a more uniform small crystal size than “regular” sugar which prevents separation or settling of larger crystals to the bottom of the box—an important quality in dry mixes.

Brown Sugars

Brown sugars range in the amount of processing they receive, but they are brown because, unlike white sugar, they have not had all of the molasses chemically and physically removed. The least processed of the brown sugars—Rapadura or panela—often still has the minerals and enzymes intact. Palm sugars differ in texture and taste from brown cane sugars, but are often minimally processed as to still contain trace minerals too. Brown sugars can be used in cup-for-cup substitution with white refined sugars.

Brown Sugar (common light and dark)
Common brown sugar is really highly processed and refined white sugar that has had the surface molasses syrup added back in, which imparts its characteristic flavor. Dark brown sugar has a deeper color and stronger molasses flavor than light brown sugar. Lighter types are generally used in baking and making butterscotch, condiments and glazes. The rich, full flavor of dark brown sugar makes it good for gingerbread, mincemeat, baked beans, and other full flavored foods.

Brown sugar tends to clump because it contains more moisture than white sugar, but putting a piece of bread in your sugar box is said to help prevent this. Common brown sugar is a refined pseudo-food best replaced by one of the naturally brown sugars below.

Evaporated Cane Juice and Sucanat™
Evaporated Cane Juice is the common name for the sugar produced directly from milled cane using a single-crystallization process. The filtered, clarified juice is simply heated and then allowed to cool, forming granular crystals of what is basically dried sugar cane juice. The crystals retain their molasses, creating a very distinctive and quite strong flavor, along with other impurities which may be present in the cane.

Unlike more refined sugar, Sucanat™ is grainy, rather than blocky and crystalline. It also contains less sucrose, because it is has not been purified; white sugar contains the most sucrose, and is in fact almost entirely sucrose.

Sucanat™ is a contraction of “Sugar Cane Natural.” It can be difficult to bake with, because it behaves very differently from more processed forms of sugar. The lower sucrose content makes Sucanat™ less sweet, which can be confusing for bakers who want to replace regular sugar with Sucanat™ on a cup for cup basis. The granular texture can also manifest in finished baked goods, causing a disappointing texture, and the strong flavor can be unpleasant, especially when mixed with other intense flavors like citrus or chocolate.

Turbinado, Muscovado, Demerara and Rapadura
Turbinado sugar is raw sugar which has been partially processed, where only the surface molasses has been washed off. It has a blond color and mild brown sugar flavor, and is often used in tea and other beverages.

Muscovado sugar, a British specialty brown sugar, is very dark brown and has a particularly strong molasses flavor. The minimally processed crystals are slightly coarser and stickier in texture than “regular” brown sugar.

Popular in England, Demerara sugar is a light brown sugar with large golden crystals, which are slightly sticky from the adhering molasses. It is often used in tea, coffee, or on top of hot cereals.

Rapadura is the Portuguese name for a form of sugarcane juice, used as a sweetener or as a candy, common in Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela (where it is known as papelón or panela), and the Caribbean. Made from dried sugarcane juice, in the form of a brick, rapadura is largely produced on site at sugarcane plantations in the very warm tropical regions. In Venezuela it is an essential ingredient for many typical recipes, and in some parts of the country, it is used in place of refined sugar as a more accessible, cheaper and healthier sweetener. Rapadura is rich in dietary iron.

Palm Sugar
Palm sugar was originally made from the sugary sap of the Palmyra palm, as well as the date palm or Sugar date palm. Now it is also made from the sap of the sago and coconut palms and may be sold as “coconut sugar.” Date sugar can also be made with the fruit of the palm by pulverizing very dry dates, but note that sugar made this way will not dissolve well in liquid.

Palm sugar varies in color from a light golden color to a rich dark brown. It tends to be extremely grainy, with dried forms being highly crumbly, and it is typically minimally processed. Many people like to use palm sugar in cooking because it is so coarse and unprocessed, and many Southeast Asian recipes call specifically for palm sugar. The light processing leaves much of the flavor of the sugar intact, creating an almost molasses-like flavor. Palm sugar is lower on the glycemic index than cane or beet sugar.

You may also see palm sugar sold as “coconut sugar,” which can be a bit confusing, since coconut fruits themselves are not actually involved. It is also sometimes marketed as “palm honey” or jaggery. Asian markets are a good resource for palm sugar, and it can also be ordered through specialty retailers. Many companies sell palm sugar in jars or tins which make it easy to ship and store, and if you purchase a block or cone of palm sugar, be aware that blocks are often coated in wax for shipping. Check for wax before shaving off the desired amount of palm sugar.

Liquid Sugars

Molasses
Molasses is a thick, brown to deep black, honey-like substance made as a byproduct of processing cane or beet sugar. It is enjoyed as a sweetener in many countries, and most particularly in England where it is called treacle. Today, molasses is used primarily in baking. No gingerbread would be quite the same without the addition of molasses.

Molasses has somewhat more nutritional value than does white or brown sugar. The process by which it is extracted and treated with sulfur results in fortification of iron, calcium and magnesium. Calories in molasses are approximately the same as sugar, about 16 calories per teaspoon (5 ml), however it only contains about half the sucrose as sugar. It is also made up of both glucose and fructose. Though it is high in iron, it is also high in calcium, which tends to prevent iron from being absorbed by the body, thus its benefits as a mineral supplement may be a bit overrated.

Corn Syrup
There was a time when manufacturers of processed foods used common table sugar, or sucrose, as their default sweetener. In the 1970s, however, Japanese scientists discovered a process which could convert cornstarch into an alternative sweetener called high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup contains 55% fructose and 45% glucose, which makes it virtually as sweet as sucrose or natural honey. When imported sugar became prohibitively expensive, many processed food and beverage manufacturers began using high fructose corn syrup exclusively.

Today, high fructose corn syrup has replaced pure sugar as the main sweetener in most carbonated beverages, including Coca Cola and Pepsi products. High fructose corn syrup is also hiding in products like salad dressing, spaghetti sauce, and whole wheat bread, and it is often one of the first ingredients in cake mixes, cookies, sauces, breakfast cereals and commercial baked goods.

High fructose corn syrup is made through a highly industrialized, chemical fermentation and distillation process that uses tremendous amounts of energy to produce. Many health experts and environmentalists are concerned over the level of genetic modification, environmental pollution and toxic processing used to create high fructose corn syrup. Others point out the association between processed foods containing high fructose corn syrup, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. All around, high fructose corn syrup is nasty, industrially-made pseudo-food to be avoided at all costs.

Agave Syrup
Agave syrup is very high in fructose. Depending on the brand, agave can contain as much as 92% fructose. Nowhere in nature does this ratio of fructose to glucose occur naturally. The amount of fructose in agave is much, much higher than the 55% fructose in high-fructose corn syrup or the 50% fructose in refined table sugar. The fact that agave syrup is high in low-glycemic fructose is often hailed as a benefit of using it. What many people don’t realize is that concentrated fructose is probably worse for you than high amounts of glucose.

Agave is not naturally sweet like sugar cane, honey or fruit. Whether heavily processed with heat and chemicals or minimally processed with enzymes, agave syrup requires an intensive, patented process to extract its sweetness. As such, agave syrup is not a whole or traditional food. It is a factory-made, modern product, and like all processed foods, agave syrup is missing many of the enzymes and nutrients that the original plant had to begin with. And like many processed foods, it contains very high amounts of fructose that the human body simply wasn’t designed to handle. (See A Bittersweet Goodbye to Agave for more information.)

Yacon Syrup
Yacon syrup is a sugar substitute native to the Andean region of South America. It is glucose-free, and does not increase blood sugar levels. Because of this, yacon syrup is often recommended as a sweetener to those suffering from diabetes or at risk for becoming diabetic.

The syrup is derived from the roots of the yacon plant, and according to some studies is a good source of antioxidants. The syrup also contains up to 50% of FOS (fructooligosacharides). The consumption of FOS does not increase blood glucose. However, since any inulin-derived sweetener has large amounts of fructose, the same concerns about the health effects of fructose apply.

Yacon syrup is usually made with minimal processing in an evaporator, like the ones used to make maple syrup. Yacon syrup is often compared to molasses, caramel, or honey in taste, with a deep and rich, mildly sweet flavor. It easily substitutes for maple sugar or molasses in recipes, and can be used to sweeten beverages. It is typically sold in jars like honey, and can be purchased online or at specialty food stores.

Rice Syrup
Rice syrup is a natural sweetener which is made from cooked brown rice which is specially fermented to turn the starches in the rice into sugars. Along with other alternatives to sugar, rice syrup can usually be found in natural foods stores and in some large markets. Since rice syrup will cause an elevation in blood sugar, it is not suitable for diabetics.

Individuals with gluten intolerance should read rice syrup labels carefully. Many producers culture the enzymes needed to make rice syrup on grains which contain gluten. Unless the label clearly specifies that the product is gluten free, it should be assumed that the food contains gluten.

The thick, sweet syrup can be used one for one like honey, molasses, and other liquid sweeteners, and with some planning it can also replace granulated sugar. Rice syrup has a faintly nutty flavor which is not always appropriate for all foods. Cooks should taste it before using it extensively, and they may want to experiment with small batches before committing. Since rice syrup is less sweet, the end dish will obviously be less sweet as well.

Maple Syrup
Maple syrup is one of the many wonders of the world. This viscous amber liquid with its characteristic earthy sweet taste is made from the sap of the sugar, black or red maple tree. Maple syrup contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals than honey, and is an excellent source of manganese and a good source of zinc.

The process of creating maple syrup begins with tapping (piercing) 40 year old trees, which allows the sap to run out freely. The sap is clear and almost tasteless and very low in sugar content when it is first tapped. It is then boiled to evaporate the water, producing syrup with a sugar content of 60%. This maple syrup may be further reduced to create thicker delicacies, such as maple butter, maple cream, and maple sugar.

Maple syrup is, by law, graded according to color in the United States and Canada—although the grading systems differ between the countries. In the US, there are Grade A and Grade B maple syrups, with three sub-divisions of Grade A: light amber, medium amber, and dark amber. Grade B is even darker than Grade A dark amber. Many people assume that the grading system is also indicative of quality, but in reality, it only helps to differentiate the color and taste of the maple syrup, which is a matter of personal preference. The tastes are different, but to say one is objectively “better” than another would be incorrect.

Honey
Honey is a mixture of sugars and other compounds, mainly fructose and glucose. Honey contains trace amounts of several vitamins and minerals. Honey also contains tiny amounts of several compounds thought to function as antioxidants. The specific composition of any batch of honey depends on the flowers available to the bees that produced the honey.

Pasteurized honey is honey that has been heated in a pasteurization process. Pasteurization in honey reduces the moisture level, destroys yeast cells, and liquefies crystals in the honey. While this process sterilizes the honey and improves shelf-life, it has some disadvantages. Excessive heat-exposure also deteriorates the honey and destroys enzymes. The heat also affects appearance, taste, and fragrance and can also darken the natural honey color.

Raw honey is honey as it exists in the beehive or as obtained by extraction, settling or straining without adding heat (although some honey that has been “minimally processed” is often labeled as raw honey). Raw honey contains some pollen and may contain small particles of wax. Local raw honey is sought after by allergy sufferers as the pollen impurities are thought to lessen the sensitivity to hay fever. Raw honey is mildly antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral, and can be used to treat small cuts. A spoonful of raw honey is also excellent for settling a nauseous stomach.

Sugar Alcohols

Xylitol, Erythritol, Mannitol and Sorbitol
Sugar alcohols (which end in -itol) occur naturally in plants. Some of them are chemically or biologically extracted from plants (sorbitol from corn syrup and mannitol from seaweed), but they are mostly manufactured from sugars and starches.

Sugar alcohols are like sugar in some ways, but they are not completely absorbed by the body. Because of this, they affect blood sugar levels less, and they provide fewer calories per gram. Additionally, sugar alcohols don’t promote tooth decay as sugars do, so are often used to sweeten “sugar-free” chewing gum.

Xylitol and erythritol can often be swapped one for one with sugar, but you will have to read the package and experiment with each type to see how it best substitutes for sugar in your recipes. Sugar alcohols do not brown or caramelize like sugars do. Though sugar alcohols have fewer calories than sugar, most of them aren’t as sweet, so more must be used to get the same sweetening effect. Still, there is a range of sweetness and impact on blood sugar among the sugar alcohols.

For example, Maltitol has 75% of the blood sugar impact of sugar, but also only 75% of the sweetness, so they end up being equal in the end.  Xylitol is just as sweet as cane sugar, but has a low glycemic index of 13, and also helps prevent tooth decay by inhibiting bacterial growth in the mouth. Erythritol is only 70% as sweet as cane sugar, but it has zero glycemic index, and is sometimes recommended for people fighting candida.

Because they are not completely absorbed, sugar alcohols like sorbitol and xylitol can ferment in the intestines and cause bloating, gas, or diarrhea. People can have different reactions to different sugar alcohols, so careful experimentation is advised. Sugar alcohols can be made from corn and other allergens, so always check the label or call the producer to make sure the product won’t give you a reaction. Sugar alcohols like xylitol are toxic to dogs.

Sugar-Free Sweeteners

Stevia
Stevia is a South American herb that has been used as a sweetener by the Guarani Indians of Paraguay for hundreds of years. The leaves of this small, green Stevia rebaudiana plant have a delicious and refreshing taste that can be 30 times sweeter than sugar. The word Stevia refers to both the plant and the sweetener extracted from the leaves of that plant.

In the 1930s, chemists in France isolated stevioside, the compound in the leaves which is responsible for their sweetness. This extremely sweet compound is often sold isolated from the leaves in a highly refined powder or liquid form, under names like Truvia. In contrast, stevia can also be made simply by crushing or distilling the leaves of the plant to form a powder or a syrup with an intensely sweet flavor.

Refined stevia can be 30-200 times sweeter than other sugars, meaning that only a small amount needs to be used. It is challenging to bake and cook with stevia for this reason. The body also processes stevia very slowly and so it won’t spike blood sugar levels like glucose or convert to triglycerides like fructose. In addition, stevia is calorie free and safe for diabetics. (See Stevia: Traditional Medicinal or Modern Pseudo-Food? for more information.)

Saccharin, Aspartame & Sucralose
Saccharin, most often known by the brand name Sweet ‘N Low®, is the oldest artificial sweetener. It comes in the pink packet, and is commonly used to sweeten diet soft drinks and candies or to improve the flavor of medicine and toothpaste.

Aspartame is sold under a number of different product names, including Equal® (in the blue packet), NutraSweet®, Tropicana Slim®, and Canderel®. Like saccharin, it is used to sweet diet soft drinks and candies. Although it is 180 times as sweet as sugar, it is not suitable for baking because it loses much of its sweetness when heated. Many people consider this aftertaste to be a significant drawback to using aspartame.

Sucralose, sold under the name Splenda® in the yellow packet, is an artificial sweetener that is heat stable. Splenda® is made from refined sugar which has a molecule of chlorine artificially added to it so it is not properly absorbed by the body.

All three are completely artificial, chemical sweeteners that have no calories nor glycemic index. Each has been linked to cancer, digestive distress, and chronic illnesses in multiple studies. None of them are Real Food and each should be avoided at all costs.

The Sweet Surrender

While no sugar or sweetener is without its health risks, in moderation, minimally processed, natural sweeteners like rapadura, palm sugar, maple syrup, raw honey, and stevia leaf can be delicious additions to a healthy, real food diet.

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade!

Tagged as: candidiasis, digestive health, Health & Nutrition, industrial food, nutrition, sweeteners, whole food