The Hidden Sugars in Your Food
Most people know what sugar is, what monosodium glutamates (MSG) are, and at least understand that they aren’t generally good for us. Most of us try to avoid sugar and MSGs as often as we can. The question? What if what we’re using to replace it is just as bad? Or worse, it’s the same thing with a different name?
That’s what is happening in the food industry now. The next time you’re in the store and you see products that are low in sugar, read the nutrition and ingredients labels. You’ll likely find ingredients with names like:
Evaporated cane juice – 99.5% sucrose
Sucrose (“raw sugar”) – unprocessed sugar
Turbinado (“processed raw sugar”) – 99% sucrose
These are new names for sugar. To compare, white “processed” sugar is 99.9% sucrose.
Evaporated Cane Juice
Evaporated cane juice is just sugar (usually sucrose or “raw sugar”) that’s been liquified and then evaporated away to create a sweet juice from the evaporating water. It costs about three times as much to make as processed white sugar, but it allows the manufacturer to put the new name on the label, avoiding the word “sugar” altogether.
Sucrose
Sucrose is sugar that hasn’t been processed. At first, this sounds good, but this sugar is not fit for consumption due to it being literally fresh from the cane fields. Sugar cane is harvested and ground up, with most of the fibrous content removed during the milling. The result is a milled product that is 98% sugar and 2% mold, bacteria, field dirt, and so forth. This is further refined into processed sugar or it is compressed and “juiced” to make molasses.
Turbinado
Turbinado is cleaned up sucrose. Most of the time, sucrose and turbinado on the label are literally the same thing. Turbinado doesn’t have “sugar” or anything close to it in its name, so it is often preferred. It’s sold in health food stores as “pure sugar,” though it is no different than processed sugar in nearly all respects. It does, however, retain some of the Vitamin A and other trace elements.
Amazingly, most of these sugars under a different name are often sold in health food stores and touted as being somehow “healthier” than standard sugar. The problem is, sugar is not good for you no matter its form. The only form of sugar that has nutritional value is molasses.
Molasses is the “milk” of the sugar cane. It’s dark, thick, and heavy and hard to cook with in today’s kitchen because we expect our cakes to be pure white, our ingredients to be easily measured, and our cooking to be clean and mess-free.
The only difference between the “organic” sugar and the non-organic varieties is whether it was grown using pesticides. Nutritionally, they are the same: empty. In the end, sugar is empty calories – about 400 calories in 100 grams.
It does nothing but increase blood sugar levels, raise blood pressure, increase your chances of becoming diabetic, and worse. It also robs your body of the ability to absorb many beneficial nutrients.
Sugar by any other name is still just sugar.
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Tags: Evaporated Cane Juice, Sucrose, Turbinado
Feb 05, 2010
I couldn’t agree with you more. I “gave” up carbonated drinks a long time ago specifically because I want to avoid high-fructose-corn-syrup (another cheap and unhealthy alternative to sugar) like it was the plague. I soon learned, as you pointed out, that these alternative sugars are not only bad for you, but they’re everywhere. I’ve been a regular tea drinker for several years now and only recently heard of a company called “LAZY DAY’S TEA COMPANY.” I was at the Macy’s Culinary studio here in Chicago, Il on Jan. 20th and they were on hand. Needless to say I found my new favorite tea. I just wanted to share that since this article reminded me of the reasons I switched to drinking tea so long ago.
Mar 22, 2010
I first focused on the breakdown of fat for about 7 months and up. My current setting (standing) is both the health and productivity (boxes). Key findings antishay.
Apr 01, 2010
The diet of human beings prior to the arrival of agriculture, technology and civilization is known as the Paleolithic Diet. Basically, this Stone Age diet consisted of vegetables and lean red meat. Consumed in large quanties, this type of diet provides 40 to 65% of the energy needed by the body.
Until people shifted to our modern diets, amazingly, they experienced extremely low rates of cancer, obesity, arthritis, osteoporosis, diabetes and heart diseases. Therefore, nutritionists and scientists believe that the Paleolithic diet is a great tool for combating modern ailments including obesity, cancer and others.
The foods included in this diet are generally lean red meat, eggs, fish, fruits, nuts and vegetables. Items like breads, pasta, milk, refined sugars were excluded from this diet. This diet used to vary region and culture wise in different countries.
The specialty of this diet is it is rich in protein, fiber, minerals, iron, vitamins, mono unsaturated fat, omega3 fats, antioxidants and phyto-chemicals. On the other hand the diet contains lower quantity of saturated fats, salts, and enzyme inhibitors.
Experts feel that the Paleolithic diet have many health benefits and since foods taken are mostly natural they have no side effects. Since milk and dairy products are excluded in this diet it is safe to have some calcium to protect from rickets, osteoporosis, etc.
Learn more about the best ways to lose weight by reading reviews and health tips at http://paleolithicdiet.com
Oct 23, 2010
Very informative article with many fascinating information! Can’t say I totally agree with all you have suggested here, but there are many key suggestions you have emphasized that can be very usable on natural health and associated topics. Please keep providing more suggestions on this topic and associated subjects, as there are many out there like me who are attempting to understand the costs and benefits.