white sugar vs dark brown sugar

Is dark brown sugar better for you than the white sugar?

I believe white sugar can sometimes be more processed than brown sugar. There  is something I've seen that is raw white sugar. I think its supposed to be healthier than the other white sugar.

Ha.  No.  White sugar, as sold in the United States and Canada is made from beets (yes, you heard right).  So it's processed to removed colour and flavour, etc, but this doesn't make it bad.

Conversely, brown sugar is the SAME beet sugar with molasses added in (to simulate REAL brown sugar which is cane sugar with not all of the molasses removed).

Therefore,  brown sugar is worse for you because it has molasses on top of the regular white sugar.

The brown sugar sold at grocery stores is actually white granulated sugar with added molasses. Yes, brown sugar contains minute amounts of minerals. But unless you eat a gigantic portion of brown sugar every day, the mineral content difference between brown sugar and white sugar is absolutely insignificant. The idea that brown and white sugar have big differences is another common nutrition myth.

Man, that's disappointing to hear!!! I always thought brown sugar was more natural and less processed. Question for you sugar experts: what about sugar in the raw? Is that less processed than white sugar and brown sugar? 

well... raw cane sugar is as far as I know less processed so it would be a tiny little bit better. But afterall it's sugar. Could you get used to honey instead? i know it's not easy and doesnt go with everything... but honey would definately be the best choice! :o)

Original Post by jcl76:

Man, that's disappointing to hear!!! I always thought brown sugar was more natural and less processed. Question for you sugar experts: what about sugar in the raw? Is that less processed than white sugar and brown sugar? 

 Read here for an explaination of the difference between "raw sugar" and "white sugar"...http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/73/1/ White-sugar-vs-raw-sugar.html   Raw sugar is definately more environmentally sound, but nutritionally they are about equal. If given the choice, I always choose sugar in the raw over whilte sugar.

Wow!!!!  This information is awesome!!!!   I used dark brown sugar in my oatmeal then started putting it in my tea because I was thinking it was more healthy..  I was definately wrong...Thanks you guys for all of your help!!!!!

No, BUT it sure does tastes better than white sugar.

If you want something more natural, stick with using honey instead.

Original Post by mermaid3011:

well... raw cane sugar is as far as I know less processed so it would be a tiny little bit better. But afterall it's sugar. Could you get used to honey instead? i know it's not easy and doesnt go with everything... but honey would definately be the best choice! :o)

I know haha. I'm trying to get used to it! I actually really like it in my coffee/tea. I haven't tried it yet in baking sweets, but I'm hoping it will taste good!!! Thanks :)

It used to be to my knowledge that brown sugar was made from sugar cane that was unprocessed or refined while white tablespoon sugar was refined or processed to make it more sweeter and thus have a higher glycemic index to form a more fat forming substance when mixed with certain foods. Today I really don't know where any sugar comes from these days since corn syrup might just be called white table sugar.

Wanna know something gross about sugar?

Some refineries use 'bone char' to refine sugar.  Watch out, vegans!

I know its wikipedia, but this one is true.  Scroll down to 'Uses'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_char

Original Post by jcl76:

I know haha. I'm trying to get used to it! I actually really like it in my coffee/tea. I haven't tried it yet in baking sweets, but I'm hoping it will taste good!!! Thanks :)

Honey tastes fine in a lot of baked goods, but it can completely change the texture of what you're making, since it's a liquid, not a solid. Any recipe (like cookies, for instance) where you first cream the fat with the sugar just won't work quite the same when you sub in honey, because in addition to the sweetness, the sugar crystals cut the fat and work in extra air. Also, as honey contains extra moisture, you might find you need to reduce whatever liquids you would include. I would play around with recipes for yourself and find out how your particular recipe works out with a liquid source of sugar.

I'm not sure why molasses is bad for you. Especially blackstrap molasses contains lots of vitamins. I know that's not what they put into brown sugar though. But just wanted to point out that molasses is not all bad.

Basically, they're adding some brown sugary stuff into white sugary stuff to make it look brown. It's all sugar.

The weakest element of members at CC is evaluating foods for their nutritional content as well as comparing similar foods.  

To your blood, to your pancreas, to your blood sugar, to your weight etc. all processed sugars are exactly the same.  Your body does not differentiate between 100 calories of maple syrup, molasses, table sugar, organic evaporated cane juice, apple juice etc. etc. etc.   All these processed sugars have the same effect on your weight, your pancreas, your insulin levels, your blood sugar levels etc.  There is no debate about this.  The effect can be moderated of course by eating these sugars with other foods, but eating white sugar on fibre cereal will have the same effect on your body as eating honey.

The differences between the sugars lies in vitamin and mineral content, and even that is slim at best.  Yes molasses contains some trace elements as does honey and maple syrup etc.   White table sugar contains no nutrition at all beside calories...none..nothing as in zero.   If you are eating molasses and touting it's nutritional content as a way of assuaging your guilt for eating it no problem.  If you're eating a couple of tablespoons of honey or molasses because you think it's good for you, you are just fooling yourself.  Eat it to enjoy it, eat it for the sweetness, eat it as a treat whatever you like, but don't eat it thinking it's somehow good for you, because you'd be far better off eating an apple or a piece of fruit than a tbsp of honey for example.