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‘Sugar — Pure, White and Deadly’

What is it about sugar that, on the face of it, has a lower caloric value than fat — 4 calories per gram as opposed to 9 calories per gram for fat? The proponents of the low-fat, low-cholesterol dogma could hear or see no evil in sugar. Well, 50 years after adopting the low-fat, low-cholesterol diet, the results are less than overwhelming. There is rampant obesity, Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, strokes and cancer.

In order to understand what sugar does, you need to understand the various terms and definitions. Regular table sugar, or sucrose, consists of two sugar molecules — glucose and fructose — called monosaccharides.

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 Pure, White, and Deadly

Much more research has been done on the effects on health of the bread in our diet, or the eggs, or the breakfast cereals, or the meat, or the vegetables, than about the effects of sugar, even though sugar on average constitutes about 17 per cent of our diet, a larger proportion than any of these other items. Yet in 1972, when Pure, White and Deadly was first published, what little research there had been already showed that sugar in our diet might be involved in the production of several conditions,

Articles of Interest

All About White Sugar

White sugar is the crystallized sucrose extracted from either sugarcane or sugar beets. After harvesting the sugarcane or sugar beets, the juice is extracted and boiled down to remove moisture. As the moisture diminishes, the natural sucrose in the juice begins to crystallize. The crystallized sugar is removed, leaving other extracts behind in the form of molasses.

Cane Sugar: Is It Any Healthier than Common Sugar?

Conventional white sugar (or refined sugar, granulated sugar or table sugar) is made from re-melting single crystallization sugar (organic cane sugar) and refining it to remove all traces of molasses and mineral. It’s then re-crystallized to form pure sucrose.

High-fructose corn syrup vs. sugar: Which is actually worse?

The message here is that you should absolutely avoid HFCS. But you should also be avoiding all forms of sugar equally.

How Sugar is Made and Why it’s Best to Avoid It

Almost all of our refined sugar comes from sugar cane; the rest is extracted from sugar beets. Sugar is made using a two-step process of milling and refining.

How To Choose The Right Sugar For Your Baking

What are the differences between brown and white sugar? This primer will walk you through the uses for both, and for other types of sugar.

Isn't sugar just... sugar? Types of sugar at a glance

Like most people, the word "sugar" probably conjures up an image in your mind of the glistening crystals that you spoon into your coffee for a pleasantly sweet taste. But there are numerous other types of sugar besides this well-known granulated version that we should really be crystal-clear on...

Study: Corn Syrup Actually Isn't the Same as Table Sugar

At most, HFCS is supposed to be 55 percent fructose, as compared to the 50 percent in table sugar. Most foods and drinks are supposed to be using HFCS that is 42 percent fructose. A percentage of 55 is not much different biologically than 50, which is why the assumption has been that there is no biologically meaningful difference between HFCS and table sugar.

What are the Chemicals in White Sugar?

Refining raw cane sugar into white table sugar is a complicated process that involves hundreds of organic, inorganic and electrolytic materials. The sugar cane is cut, washed in hot water and pressed; the juice is then mixed with lime. The canes may also be burned, mixed with soda ash and exposed to a myriad of chemicals in order to clarify the sugar.

What is sugar?

The white stuff we know as sugar is sucrose, a molecule composed of 12 atoms of carbon, 22 atoms of hydrogen, and 11 atoms of oxygen (C12H22O11). Like all compounds made from these three elements, sugar is a carbohydrate. It’s found naturally in most plants, but especially in sugarcane and sugar beets—hence their names.

What Is White Sugar? A Breakdown of 4 Types of White Sugar

White sugar comes from refined sugar cane or sugar beets, out of which food processors extract sucrose, a natural sweetener.

What's The Real Difference Between Cane Sugar And White Sugar?

White sugar, or granulated sugar, is a sugar that can be made from sugar cane or sugar beets, and is usually what recipes mean when they call for "sugar." It also has a list of other monikers, including table sugar, common sugar, or regular sugar.

What’s the Difference Between Cane Sugar and Beet Sugar?

White table sugar comes from either sugarcane or sugar beets and is usually sold without its plant source clearly identified. This is because—chemically speaking—the two products are identical. Refined table sugar is pure, crystallized sucrose, much in the same way that pure salt is simply sodium chloride. Sucrose is found naturally in honey, dates, and sugar maple sap, but it is most concentrated in sugarcane and sugar beets. The refining process renders the original plant irrelevant as the sucrose is completely extracted from the plant that produced it.

Resources

5 Reasons Why Raw Honey is Better Than White Sugar

A few years ago, a customer stopped by our place to buy some honey. As we were chatting, he mentioned that he had stopped eating white sugar, and had replaced it with honey. With this one change, he had lost 10 pounds over the course of a year. This is an interesting result, given that 1 tablespoon of white sugar contains 49 calories, while 1 tablespoon of raw honey contains 64 calories. But because honey has a sweeter taste, you can use less in your food and therefore consume fewer calories overall..