All brown sugars in stores are highly refined and processed, even the so-called "raw" and "unrefined," but unrefined brown sugars are the least refined of all. Most are traditional artisan sugars made on small scale for local markets using simple equipment and little capital.
When sucrose is consumed from whole foods, it is considered a natural sugar. When sugars like brown sugar, molasses or sucrose are consumed from packaged foods and beverages to which they have been added during manufacturing or in home baking and cooking, they are considered added sugars.
Brown sugar is refined white sugar with varying amounts of molasses added. Raw sugar, brown sugar and molasses are higher in compounds that provide colour, from natural sources or byproducts of the breakdown of sugar (caramel) during sugar processing.
From a nutrition perspective, there's no advantage to using white sugar over brown sugar or vice versa, the Sugar Association says: "Nutritionally speaking, all natural sugars have relatively comparable nutritional value with approximately 15 calories per teaspoon (4.2 g)."
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.
Unrefined sugars and sweeteners include honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, unsulphered molasses, brown rice syrup, coconut sugar, sucanat, fruit, date sugar and many more.
All brown sugars in stores are highly refined and processed, even the so-called "raw" and "unrefined," but unrefined brown sugars are the least refined of all. Most are traditional artisan sugars made on small scale for local markets using simple equipment and little capital.
Side Effects
Brown sugar when consumed in limited quantity is safe and well-tolerated by most healthy adults. However, if consumed in large amounts may increase the risk of weight gain, yeast infections and diabetes.
“Natural sugar is naturally occurring in food. Think of the sugar that's in fruit or dairy or carbohydrates,” says Wohlford. “Refined sugar may be from a natural source, but it has been processed so only sugar remains, like granulated sugar from sugar cane, or corn syrup from corn.
Naturally occurring sugars are found in milk (lactose) and fruit (fructose). Any product that contains milk (such as yogurt, milk or cream) or fruit (fresh, dried) contains some natural sugars.
"Honey's advantages over sugar include a slightly lower glycemic index (i.e. it doesn't affect your blood-sugar levels as much)," Dr. Dixon says. "It also contains more vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, such as calcium, potassium, vitamin C, zinc, phenolic acids, and flavonoids."
Brown sugar contains anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial elements that help fight the bacteria and infections in the human body.
Brown Sugar is rich in minerals like iron and calcium. It contains more iron than white sugar, which is an essential mineral that helps fight fatigue and maintain healthy blood cells and red blood cells. Brown sugar also contains calcium. Calcium is a mineral that helps build and maintain strong bones and teeth.
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.
The juice is then purified, filtered, and crystalized into raw golden sugar. From there, the sugar is processed into its final form. For granulated sugar, this means all of the molasses is extracted. For brown sugar, molasses is retained, creating a darker color, caramel flavor, and richer texture.
Brown sugar - Physico-chemical Properties
Industrial brown sugar (chemical formula C6H12O6) is also called corn glucose, corn sugar, or glucose for short. Chemical name: 2,3,4,5, 6-pentahydroxyhexanal. 2, is an important monosaccharide spread in the natural world, it is a polyhydroxy aldehyde.
Brown sugar contains 380 calories per 100 grams (g), while white sugar contains 385 calories per 100 g. Brown sugar contains more calcium than white sugar, with 83 milligrams (mg) per 100 g compared to 1 mg per 100 g of white sugar. Equally, other minerals, such as iron, are slightly higher in brown sugar.
Many people believe that sweeteners like honey, brown sugar, or molasses are healthier than cane sugar. But that's not true. While some contain tiny amounts of minerals, they're all simple carbohydrates that your body uses for energy. The fact is that your body doesn't need any added sugars.
Brown Sugar is equally high in carbohydrates. However, unlike white sugar, which is considered to have empty calories, brown sugar contains some traces of micronutrients like iron, calcium, zinc, copper, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamin B-6.
Sweeteners like fruit juice, honey, molasses and maple syrup contain natural sugar and have some nutritional benefits. Fruit has fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. Even raw honey and maple syrup can contain antioxidants and minerals like iron, zinc, calcium and potassium.