Whether an added sugar contains more or less fructose versus glucose has little impact on health. (An exception may be people with diabetes who need to control their blood glucose, in which case a higher-fructose, lower-glucose sugar may be preferable.)
There is no health advantage to consuming any type of added sugar. Added sugars provide little nutritional value beyond the calories they contain. Sucrose, or white table sugar, is probably the most recognizable form of added sugar. It is made from sugar cane or sugar beets.
Talking about sugar being good for health, then natural sugar or stevia is the best. They have many health benefits to offer apart from weight loss. It has all the essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that are essential for your body. While stevia is also known to be the best sugar for weight loss.
The human body cannot differentiate between naturally made sugars and added sugar. All sugars will follow the same metabolic pathway once we consume them. So, when we look at sugar for what it is, there is not necessarily one sugar that is better than another.
Free sugars are found in foods such as sweets, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, and some fizzy drinks and juice drinks. These are the sugary foods we should cut down on. For example, a can of cola can have as much as 9 cubes of sugar – more than the recommended daily limit for adults.
Different sugars can have different metabolic effects, regardless of whether the sugars are consumed in calorically equal amounts. For example, fructose can be more harmful than glucose, raising the risk of obesity, insulin resistance, and fatty liver disease.
Because of its molasses content, brown sugar does contain certain minerals, most notably calcium, potassium, iron and magnesium (white sugar contains none of these). But since these minerals are present in only minuscule amounts, there is no real health benefit to using brown sugar.
Unlike glucose, which is processed throughout the whole body, fructose is almost entirely metabolized by the liver. Over time, overconsumption can cause fatty liver and visceral fat around essential organs. The fructose-rich Standard American Diet shows a high prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
From a calorie and sugar content perspective, the differences between sugar and honey are minimal, however, overall, honey contains slightly more health benefits than table sugar from its potential antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties.
Finally, refined sugar, which includes white granulated sugar, bakers' sugar and confectioners' sugar, is the purest form of sugar, with all the molasses and other impurities removed. It is ground to various fine consistencies, each of which has different applications.
The sugars from whole fruits are digesting and absorbing into the bloodstream at a slower pace than added sugars. Whole fruits also contain valuable nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that refined sugars do not. We recommend having fruit, around 3 servings, daily.
Honey is a naturally occurring sugar and is also considered an added sugar, which can be confusing. Although pure honey is made by nature and no sugars are added during its production, consuming pure honey contributes added sugars to the diet.
“Sweet and sugary foods should be a once-in-a-while thing,” Dr. Young says. “No artificial sweetener can turn an unhealthy food into a healthy one. Swapping out sugar for artificial sweetener isn't going to give you the health benefits you're looking for, and may prove to be dangerous to your long-term health.”
Ingestion of fructose chronically has contributed to multiple health consequences, such as insulin resistance, obesity, liver disorders, and diabetes. Fructose metabolism starts with fructose phosphorylation by fructose kinase in the liver, and this process is not feedback regulated.
When people eat or drink lots of high fructose foods, such as sugar-sweetened beverages, they are also taking in extra calories that can contribute to weight gain. There is no recommended daily minimum or maximum fructose intake because a person does not need this sugar to survive.
Natural and added sugars are metabolized the same way in our bodies. But for most people, consuming natural sugars in foods such as fruit is not linked to negative health effects, since the amount of sugar tends to be modest and is "packaged" with fiber and other healthful nutrients.
You will feel more energetic and a bit lighter as well. Within a week of quitting sugar, you will also notice your skin clearing up. Pimples and acne will reduce, your skin will become smoother and you will glow from within. Another big advantage that comes with quitting sugar is weight loss.
There are massive health benefits from cutting back on your sugar intake, one of which is losing stubborn belly fat, says Brenda Rea, MD, DrPH, PT, RD, a family and preventive medicine physician at Loma Linda University Health.
Cutting down sugar helps in improving insulin resistance, makes you feel active and energetic and further boosts your kidney function and metabolism. "Cutting down sugar will reduce your hunger pangs and also prevent mood swings since they are mostly caused by sugar spikes," the expert added.