brown sugar or white???

[monkey15401]

My dad said brown sugar is better than white sugar for you although he doesn't use to much of brown sugar Because neither is good for you but he said he rather have brown but is it better than white just wondering???He is 82yrs almost 83 and always exercise so he must have done something right.

Teresa

 

[sahara]

Hi Teresa,

Whether brown sugar is better than white sugar depends on who you ask. I fall into the there really is no significant difference camp. Brown sugar supposedly has more calories than white sugar but it also provides some nutrients while white sugar has none. My uncle swears by his brown sugar too.

Tracey
"Where there's a will, there's a way."

 

[jdbmga]

My Dr. recommended to me to sweeten (when neccesary) with stevia but if I had to use sugar to use brown sugar.

 

[endorphin_junkie]

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about brown sugar. People think that it is less processed than white sugar when in fact many of the store brands are more processed. Some companies take already refined white sugar and add some molasses back in to make it brown. I go for raw sugar, it has that deeper taste and truly is less processed.

Take Care
Laurie

 

[kathryn]

What Laurie said!

The best "sugar" to use is something like 'Sugar in the raw," which is just dried extract from the sugar cane.

White sugar goes through something like 8 filtering steps to make it white (and one of the steps involves the removal of what becomes molasses, which contains much of the nutrients).

 

[jennifermaria]

> Some companies take already refined white sugar
>and add some molasses back in to make it brown.

I believe true brown sugar (at least the way bakers define it) is this exactly; it's white sugar with molasses to make it a little more moist and add moistness to your baked goods. That's why a lot of cookie recipes use brown sugar, to make the cookies softer and more chewie.

It's definitely not the same as raw sugar (which just happens to be brown in color, but is not really brown sugar), which is less processed. Brown and white sugar are both processed, from what I understand.

Jennifer

 

[Mocha]

Any thoughts on how molasses stacks up nutritionally as a sweetener? I have heard that it has some iron in it, so I use it in oatmeal...

 

[kathryn]

Molasses is pretty good, if you get black strap molasses (the most nutritious). As you say, it has iron in it, as well as other minerals.

 

[monkey15401]

Thanks I never heard of raw sugar before I have to check that out.
And black stap molasses.
Thanks so much!!
Teresa

 

[feelgood]

sugar is sugar in the end
brown is just white with molasses added, its not like brown rice vs white rice
raw sugar is still sugar, the only thing that acts less like sugar to not spike insulin levels is stevia that i've found

 

[jdbmga]

Just to clarify what I meant by brown sugar was sugar in the raw.

 

[jordysyd]

Sugar in the raw, sucanat, turbinado, etc. are all refined with a small amount of molasses added to give a brown color. Basically the same as brown sugar. If you want a truly unrefined sugar product go with dehydrated cane sugar juice (Rapadura) which is rich in minerals, especially silica. Of course you don't want to overdo any type of sugar.

 

[[email protected]]

where do you find stevia?

 

[feelgood]

stevia can be found in any health food store and i even find it in my grocery store in the health food section

 

[LuvExercise]

>sugar is sugar in the end

Agreed. I avoid it as often as possible... except now since DH brought a boat load of candy. I'm eating it like there's no tomorrow :9

 

[shamnas1]

I was at the health food store today and was asking the nutritionist the same thing. She said Sucanat was the best if I needed to used a dry source sweetener but if I wanted a liquid form...agave nectar was best. It is low on the glceymic index and tastes good.

 

[0 Push ups]

Brown Sugar vs White Sugar
Back in 17th century Europe, manufacturers developed a laborious process through which sugar could be refined to something approximating whiteness. This whiteness, which at the time came at such a high price, caused white sugar to be considered by many people to be more worthy of consumption. In reality, however, although a cup of brown sugar has slightly more calories than white, brown sugar also contains 187 milligrams of calcium, 56 mg of phosphorous, 4.8 mg of iron, 757 mg of potassium and 97 mg of sodium, compared to only scant traces of those nutrients found in white sugar. All the good parts – the molasses, the vitamins and minerals – have been removed; there is practically nothing left but carbohydrates and calories.
Now that the days of white sugar being considered a status symbol are long gone, the refining is now done for purely commercial reasons; it allows the sugar to last longer in the warehouse and on the supermarket shelf. Of course, to protect the end user – that’s you – merchants can simply put a “Consume Before:” stamp on the package of unrefined sugar. But that also means a risk for the merchant should the unrefined sugar expire before it gets sold. Ultimately, it’s your health that pays the highest price.