Is one type of sugar healthier than another? Read on to learn about the different types of sugar and find out why I think sugar is sugar .
Welcome to Myth Monday! Today I’m touching on a controversial subject which could be argued in numerous ways, I’m sure. I don’t mean to review every single argument in this blog post, because that would take WAY too long. Instead, I’m breaking it down and hopefully showing you why I feel the way I do on the subject.
No Wonder We Are Confused!
I recently had a patient come into my office, telling me about all the changes he had made in his diet. Overall, he was doing great! He had made a lot of positive lifestyle changes and they were paying off for him, health-wise. He went on to tell me how he noticed things a lot more now in regards to the food he eats, including the sweetener basket on the table at restaurants.
He noted, “They had a blue packet, a pink packet, a white one, and a brown one.” I asked him which packet he chose (this being only his second visit with me, we had not yet discussed all the different type of sweeteners). He told me he chose the brown packet, called “Sugar in the Raw” (aka turbinado sugar or natural cane sugar). He stated he was told this one is healthier because the white packet is bleached sugar.
After this comment I thought to myself…a healthier sugar…What does that mean? We are bombarded by social media messages and other health gurus saying one type of sugar or sweetener is better for you than another. I even have patient’s telling me they’ve heard bananas are bad for them because they contain sugar! Then you have those who go even further to say you should quit sugar of any kind altogether. So which is it? Who do we believe?
Honestly, to me, sugar is sugar. Basically, sugar comes in many forms: white “refined” sugar, brown sugar, “raw” or turbinado sugar, powdered sugar, etc. Sugar is a sweetener. All types of sugar have ~4 calories per gram and most have similar chemical structure and nutritional content (scant amount of vitamins and minerals).
Now what about honey or pure maple syrup or blackstrap molasses, you say? Just another form of “sugar”, aka a sweetener. Still has ~4 calories per gram. And the nutrients in them? Yes, they contain some nutrients, but to get those nutrients in any beneficial amounts, you would have to eat A LOT of honey, pure maple syrup, etc., which would also mean taking in A LOT of sugar, as well. Not worth it – get your nutrients elsewhere!
Breaking Down the Science of Sugar
Before I go any further on the subject, I feel we are in need of a science lesson. Sugar is a carbohydrate made up of compounds known as saccharides. There are four types of saccharides: mono-, di-, oligo-, and poly- saccharides. Sugar and other simple carbohydrates include monosaccharides and disaccharides only.
Monosaccharides are the simplest form of carbohydrates, meaning they cannot be broken down or digested any further, as they are one single sugar unit. Monosaccharides include glucose, fructose and galactose (there are a couple others, be won’t won’t get into them here).
Disaccharides are just two monosaccharides, or two sugar units, joined together. When disaccharides are eaten, they are digested and broken down into the two individual monosaccharides units that make them up. The three most common disaccharides are sucrose, lactose and maltose.
Sucrose (cane & beet sugar) is made up of one glucose unit and one fructose unit.
Lactose (commonly found in dairy products) is made up of one glucose unit and one galactose unit.
Maltose (found in malt beverages such as beer and malt liquors) is made up of two glucose units.
So now you know the basic building blocks of simple carbohydrates and that they are all broken down and digested as monosaccaride (single sugar) units, let’s move on.
The Sugar Refining Process
Taking it back to the comment made by my client about “bleached” sugar: pure sugar crystals are naturally colorless. No artificial bleaching or whitening is required to make them appear white. Molasses, which is naturally present in sugar beet and sugar cane and gives brown sugar its color, is removed from the sugar crystal with water and centrifuging. Carbon filters absorb any remaining colored plant materials.
Raw sugar is sugar that has been partially processed, where only the surface molasses has been washed off. It is approximately 96-98% sucrose. It still contains a thin layer of molasses, which is why it has a slightly brown or blond color to it. The rest of the sugar refining process takes raw sugar and makes it into granulated sugar, brown sugar, and other consumer and food industry products. You can find a more detailed description of the sugar refining process here.
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Sugar vs. Sugar…Which one is better?
If you’ve read this post up to this point, you should probably already know my answer to this question, but I first wanted to touch on a sweetener I haven’t talked about yet: High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).
HFCS has been blamed for the obesity problem in America. What makes this sweetener so bad for us compared to other sweeteners? There have been multiple studies done on this subject, but from what conclusions I have drawn on the subject is you can’t blame one single nutrient, or factor on the obesity epidemic.
Whether a soda is sweetened with HFCS or “real” sugar, it’s still not going to be good for you. HCFS is composed of either 42% or 55% fructose, with the remaining sugars being primarily glucose. Compare that to sucrose (table sugar), which is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. That means that HFCS has a very similar metabolic impact on the body as sucrose.
New Nutrition Facts Labels
Starting in January 2020, large manufacturers must comply with new nutrition facts label changes. You may think I’m a nerd to be excited about an updated nutrition facts label, but I am so excited because it will help the public be better informed – especially when it comes to sugar.
The thing I’m most excited about? They have included an “added sugars” line.
image from FDA.gov
Having to specify the amount of added sugars in a food will help consumers know where their sugar is coming from. For example, while 100% fruit juice may state 24 g total sugars, it should have 0 g added sugars listed. This is because all of the sugars in the juice should be from fruit – it came naturally and wasn’t “added” to the product.
So while all “sugar” is “sugar”, I definitely promote eating whole foods with natural sugar over foods with a bunch of added sugars (not to say you can’t have a treat every once in a while).
This is because those foods with naturally occurring sugars usually also contain other health-promoting nutrients, such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and/or antioxidants (called ‘nutrient-dense foods’). Foods with a lot of added sugars often do not have other beneficial nutrients in them, thus they are called ’empty calorie foods’ (high in calories, no nutrients).
Final Conclusions
White sugar, brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, high fructose corn syrup, all have similar nutritional values. All are composed of glucose, fructose, and/or sucrose in differing amounts, provide a similar amount of energy (~4 calories per gram), and may contain scant amounts of vitamins and minerals.
To this end, I’ll say it again: sugar is sugar (or a sweetener is a sweetener). No matter which sweetener you use, eat it in moderation. To satisfy your sweet tooth choose more nutrient-dense whole foods that are naturally sweet, like fruits (yes, even bananas 😉 )!
As a bonus, I created this infographic listing 62 names for sugar. Because sugar comes in so many different forms, it can be hard to decipher it in an ingredients list. This handy list will help you out!
References:
Gropper SS, Smith JL, Groff JL. Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism. 5th ed. Belmont, CA. Wadsworth. 2009.
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