Good News Tucson - A Family Values Publication

The Fascinating World Of Sugar

By Rachel Martin, MS, RD

Many people these days are concerned about “refined” foods. On the internet and in books you can find statements like: “white sugar is poison,” and other comments. So let’s look a bit at what refinement is, and specifically sugar refinement.

Refinement is sometimes misunderstood, and has good and not so good points. For example, if you take a handful of wheat and grind it on a stone, you are refining—making flour. You end up with simple whole grain flour. Contrast this to cheese snack crackers or frozen dinners. There is quite a contrast between the two types of refinement. So don’t let the word “refined” scare you. Mankind has been processing foods to one degree or another for as long as there is written history. The goal is to decipher between better choices and poorer choices of refinement.

This article will look specifically at sugar refinement, and aim to help you make the best health choices you can. First of all sugar is not poison. You do not die from eating it, (unless, perhaps you are an uncontrolled diabetic). White sugar is simply refined sugar cane or sugar beet. It contains energy (4 calories per gram), but nearly no nutritional value. White sugar in large quantities can lead to weight gain, as can nearly any food in large quantities. The point is to find the most nutrition for your calorie intake.

There are primarily two forms of refined sugar on the market today. One comes from the sugar cane plant, and the other from corn. Here’s how the processes occur.

Cane sugar refinement is a multi-step process, and becomes the white stuff after a process of boiling, drying, and reducing. At each step of refinement, a different form of sugar is produced, as well as the side product of molasses. The “first” molasses is usually given to farm animals, and the first sugar usually contains impurities, and is therefore not sold to humans. Down the line comes Turbinado sugar, marketed usually as “sugar in the raw.”

This is coarse brownish, and a preferred choice for many individuals. The nutritional value is not much better that white sugar, but less processing has occurred and this adds health appeal. Later we get white table sugar (sucrose), extra fine sugar, and powdered sugar. The “last” molasses is known as blackstrap molasses. Brown sugar is made by adding molasses to white refined sugar. (Making your own brown sugar is a fun experiment to do with kids, by the way!)

Making sugar from corn did not begin until the 1970’s. The end-product is known as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is made by cleaning shelled corn and adding the chemical sulfur dioxide to soften it; the germ is removed to produce corn oil, and the pulp is made into cornstarch. Then the fun begins! A process called hyrolosis changes corn starch to corn syrup by adding heat and hydrochloric acid. You now have the white syrup that you might use for baking; this syrup is a form of dextrose. Add enzymes to it (alpha amylase) and some bacteria and after several steps it is changed to HFCS.

So, what about health and all of this? Personally, I avoid HFCS. Fructose, the sugar in fruit, is not digested the same way as other sugars. It does not stimulate insulin production, and confuses other hormones—leptin and gherlin. Ultimately HFCS can lead to weight gain, and many studies are looking at its use in our diets as a major contributor to our obesity problem. Read your labels – HFCS is in soda, cereal, ketchup, mayonnaise, and the list goes on. Find foods sweetened with sugar or honey instead. Cereals can be found without added HFCS at non-traditional grocery stores.

Plain old sugar use is up to you. I would encourage minimizing consumption for optimal nutrition – that is to avoid eating “empty” calories, but a treat of candy and so forth are fine. Also, don’t worry about a little bit of HFCS in a treat, either. The bottom line again is to eat plenty of whole food, vegetables, and fruit, and be selective about the others.