The Biggest Misconceptions about Sugar

Brown sugar contains minerals, glucose makes you fit, fructose is not harmful and honey is healthier than sugar. Is that really true? Much of what we think we know about sugar is actually wrong. What are the ten most common mistakes about sweet stuff and which is correct?

Do you need a minimum amount of sugar every day?

Humans don’t need any extra sugar at all to get going. Our brain and other organs need glucose, also known as dextrose, to function properly. But our body can produce it itself from many foods, for example, bread, potatoes, or cereals. So sugar is not a staple.

Is Brown Sugar Healthier Than White Sugar?

While brown sugar looks more natural than white, that doesn’t make it any healthier. There are three types of brown sugar: whole sugar, whole cane sugar, and brown sugar. While sugar is unrefined sugar is made from sugar beets. Whole cane sugar is made from sugar cane and brown sugar is caramelized sugar colored brown with syrup.

While colored sugar is our conventional household sugar (sucrose), whole sugar and whole cane sugar contain more minerals. However, experts consider the difference to be very small, so it does not play a role in terms of health.

What names can sugar have?

It’s not always easy to tell if a product actually contains sugar. Food manufacturers, for example, are allowed to put more than 60 different names on the package for sugar. Here is an overview:

• Sucrose: Conventional table sugar that contains neither vitamins nor minerals, only calories. It consists of glucose and fructose.
• Lactose: Milk sugar is a natural component of milk and milk products.
• Glucose: This is grape sugar. It is obtained from potato or corn starch, but is also one of the main components of honey, for example.
• Fructose: Fructose is a natural component of fruits such as pome fruit and berries. Fructose is also used in the food industry as a sweetener for finished products, sauces, or ketchup.
• Glucose-fructose syrup: Also called isoglucose. It consists of glucose and fructose. This type of sugar is made largely from corn and wheat starch and is used in beverages and canned fruit. If the designation is fructose-glucose syrup, this indicates that the fruit sugar content (fructose) is higher than the dextrose content (glucose).
• Honey: Often seen as a healthy alternative to table sugar. But honey is almost 80 percent sucrose. Mueslis, for example, is sweetened with honey.
• Maltodextrin: The mixture of sugar and starch is used, among other things, as a thickener (e.g. in soups or sausages) and extenders (e.g. by coffee roasters).
• Glucose Syrup: Made from starch, it is made up of glucose and fructose. It is used, among other things, as a binding agent in the manufacture of pralines, chocolate bars, and breakfast cereals.
• Invert sugar syrup: This is table sugar dissolved in water. Syrup is used in the production of ice cream, for example.
• Thick juices and plant syrup: Highly concentrated, thickened juices are also used as sweeteners – either as syrup or as thick juice. There is, for example, pear, grape syrup, or agave syrup as well as maple or date syrup. Another variant is syrup made from rice and other grains.

Is honey healthier than sugar?

The natural taste is deceptive: Although honey contains traces of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes, it consists of 80 percent fructose, glucose, and other types of sugar. The rest is water, which is why honey is really just a supersaturated sugar solution. Therefore, it is wrong to think that honey is important for daily vitamin or mineral balance.

Is sugar the best source of energy?

no Fat, for example, has more than twice the energy value of sugar. For comparison: a gram of fat contains nine kilocalories, and a gram of sugar only four. The best source of energy is and remains a balanced diet with fiber, protein, and vitamins. And that keeps you full for the longest.

Is sugar a vitamin and calcium robber?

However, it is a myth that sugar robs the body of calcium, thereby “softening” the bones. This assumption goes back to incorrect conclusions from experiments in the 1920s. Although the body needs vitamin B1 to digest sugar, it also needs it to digest other carbohydrates. And with a balanced diet, people always consume enough vitamin B1 anyway.