Are brown sugar and honey any better for ones health than white sugar?

Question

My husband reckons they are.

I suspect possibly honey might be, SLIGHTLY (although I dont know how or why) but i doubt that brown sugar is any better.

Answer 1

Unrefined brown sugar contains trace elements and minerals which white sugar is totally devoid of. If it doesn't say unrefined on the packet brown sugar is just the same as white in health terms. Honey also has these minerals in it.
Basically all table sugar is not good for you though. Fructose from fruit sugars is the best and most natural sugar and the skins from the fruit slow down its absorption and they contain vitamins and minerals in abundance.

Answer 2

Sugar or "table sugar" as it is commonly known as, is sucrose, a disaccharide unit composed of glucose and fructose units linked together. Most of the white sugar that is made at an industrial level to be sold commercially comes from sugar beets and sugar canes. The white color is due to the crystallization properties of that sugar.

Raw sugar or brown sugar is categorized by the process of production - boiling or blending. The reason why it is light brown to dark brown is determined by its original constituents (where you got it from) and its crystallization.

Fruit contains an abundance of fructose, but that's not the only sugar that's in fruit. We normally associate fructose as "fruit sugar."

Honey, on the other hand, has some unique aspects to it. The bees that produce the honey actually chemically modify the honey for it to become the viscous liquid that we know of. It's actually an emulsion of glucose hydrate and fructose hydrate crystals in a thick syrup.

As far as what is nutritionally more beneficial? Well, we haven't quite figured out a precise and accurate method to determine how different these are processed by the human body. We have traced some mechanisms and used ways to trace it in the body, but the research is still pending as far as the metabolism goes.

Everything in moderation. You can consume vast quantities of sugar and really not do much harm to you. Think of it this way, if we took all the sugar you consumed in your lifetime even if you were just to eat as little as a quarter of a teaspoon per day, that would still be a lot by the time you died.

Just brush your teeth, exercise, get enough rest (sleep), and eat a variety of foods and not just ones with sugar in it. Don't avoid it completely either, unless you have a medical condition warranting you to do so, and I think you will be fine.

Answer 3

Honey is definitely better, it is a natural sugar, and it never goes off, (sell by dates, aren't needed on honey, it's just a government ruling, but it's not need on honey)..the bees work hard to make it, it's all very natural substances, so it is definitely better.

Brown sugar is meant to be better, but now, (in England) you can buy organic sugar, which is a pale brown, it's not ordinary Brown sugar, or light Brown sugar, which you use to sweeten coffee, or bake with.

Answer 4

Didn't know brown sugar is a cheating one with added substance.

Honey must be better then. I heard honey is not fattening.

Answer 5

Brown sugar is sugar with molasses in it. Honey is good.

Answer 6

Brown sugar is much better for you than white....So is honey.
Your husband is right.

Answer 7

Brown sugar is simply white sugar with mollases infused in it to give it that brown color, so no it is not healthier.

Honey may be slightly, but not by much...Basically it is pure suagr.

Hope I helped!!

Answer 8

brown sugar is healthier because it is not processed and bleached like white sugar is. less chemicals in your body.

Answer 9

i dunno the reason behind it but yeah it's TRUE, for me. I always use BROWN sugar for my coffee and everything else (unless i need to bake with white sugar), they say it is much healthier than the other--my doctor said!

Answer 10

honey is good for you because it has natural antioxidants in it which are good for you blood system and your immune system!