Is Brown Sugar Healthier Than White Sugar?

We all know brown rice is better for you than white rice and brown bread comes on white bread, but does that pattern extend to sugar as well? While you should generally limit your brown and white sugar intake, you may have heard that brown sugar is better for you. While brown sugar may contain slightly more essential nutrients than white sugar, it isn’t necessarily healthy.

Sugar is a natural ingredient and has been part of the human diet for thousands of years. Although there are many types, brown sugar and white sugar are among the most popular varieties. This article explains which sugar is good for your health and lets you decide which one to choose.

What is the Healthiest type of Sugar?

Brown sugar is actually white sugar mixed with molasses. Therefore, brown sugar can keep its shape like wet sand, unlike white sugar. Raw sugar is also usually brown and is formed when the juice from the sugarcane evaporates. However, many people refer to brown sugar as white granulated sugar with added molasses. Many of us keep pondering what is the healthiest type of sugar? However, it’s not healthiest at all to intake much sugar but, somehow, brown sugar is healthier than white sugar.

Why use Brown Sugar instead of White Sugar?

Brown sugar has a deep, caramel, or caramel-like flavor due to the added molasses. For this purpose, it works well in chocolate cakes and cookies, as well as in cakes that are rich in fruit. Secondly, white sugar is sweeter, so you can use less of it to get the taste you want. Brown sugar is healthier than white sugar. It has fewer calories than white sugar. That is why you should use brown sugar instead of white sugar.

Is Brown Sugar as Bad as White Sugar for Diabetics?

If you or people with diabetes think or wonder whether brown sugar is better than white sugar for diabetics? Then you are in the wrong because both white and brown sugars are unhealthy if you have diabetes. If you have diabetes, brown sugar is no healthier than white sugar. Keep in mind that any added sugar should be limited as part of a healthy, complete diet. Excessive sugar intake is linked to a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and fatty liver diseases.

Is Brown Sugar Bad for You?

No, brown sugar is not really bad. Molasses and brown sugar contain more essential nutrients than white sugar, so choosing brown sugar over white one is technically healthier.

For example, a tablespoon of molasses is a good source of dietary potassium and provides small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins. However, the amount of these essential nutrients that you would get from brown sugar is very low and will not do much to meet your daily nutritional needs. Also, just like white sugar, molasses and brown sugar are added sugars that should be minimized, or avoided in the diet to prevent unwanted weight gain and an increased risk of chronic diseases.

Which One has More Calories, Brown Sugar or White Sugar?

Which, in your view, has more calories? Is it brown sugar or white sugar? Brown sugar also has fewer calories than white sugar. However, the difference is minimal. 1 teaspoon (4 grams) of brown sugar provides 15 calories, while the same amount of white sugar has 16.3 calories. So, figuratively white sugar has more calories.

Brown Sugar vs White Sugar Sweetness

When we compare brown sugar vs white sugar in sweetness, the results show that brown sugar is more liquid and contains about 0.25 calories less per g than white sugar. It has a slightly less concentrated sweetness in its small amount of syrup. Brown sugar contains slightly more minerals than refined white sugar, but only because it contains molasses. And white sugar is sweeter than brown sugar. Hence white sugar is sweeter.

Is Brown Sugar Healthy?

If you are the one still consuming white sugar to satisfy your hunger for sweetness, you are doing wrong. As consuming white sugar leads to an increase in calorie intake beyond what is required, you end up gaining weight. But without sweetness, life doesn’t go well.

However, there is a solution for this, you can use brown sugar. Brown sugar is much lower in calories as compared to white sugar. In addition, it contains multiple micronutrients such as iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, copper, phosphorus, and vitamin B-6, which are essential for a healthy functioning body. Brown sugar is an extract from jaggery and not sugarcane, which makes it a healthier choice.

Benefits of Brown Sugar:

If this doesn’t satisfy you, let’s take a look at some more benefits of consuming brown sugar.

Helps You Lose Weight

If you are making mind to lose weight, you need to control calories. Brown Sugar benefits weight loss as it is low in calories and also improves metabolism. Hence, it helps you lose weight without sacrificing smoothness in your life.

Works as an Aid in Asthma

Brown sugar contains anti-allergic elements that could help asthma patients treat disease.

It’s Good For Digestion

Excessive sugar consumption can cause fatty liver disease; here’s everything you need to know: Brown sugar helps relieve digestive issues.

For instance, if you are suffering from constipation, a glass of lukewarm water mixed with a bit of ginger and a teaspoon of brown sugar is just what you need.

Relieves Period Cramps

Period Cramps are sometimes an inevitable ailment. Consuming brown sugar could help fight this ailment quite well. It contains potassium which is a remedy for muscle cramps and soothes pain.

It’s Good For Your Skin

Micronutrients such as vitamin B6, niacin, pantothenic acid and other minerals found in brown sugar help you achieve rich skin and work as an anti-aging component. Brown sugar can also be utilized as a scrub mask to remove dead skin and clogged pores.

Has Qualities of Antiseptic

Brown sugar contains anti-inflammatory and antibacterial elements that may help fight bacteria and infections.

Brown Sugar vs White Sugar in Cookies

White sugar & brown sugar both can be used in various ways in baking and cooking. Although they can sometimes be used interchangeably, this could affect the final product’s color, flavor, or texture. The molasses in brown sugar retains and keeps moisture, so utilizing it will result in smoother but denser baked goods.

Let’s take a glance at brown sugar vs white sugar in cookies. For instance, cookies made with brown sugar will be softer and denser, while cookies made with white sugar will raise more, leaving more air in the dough and giving a more airy texture. For this purpose, white sugar is used in several baked goods that require adequate sourdoughs, such as meringues, mousses, soufflés, and chewy baked goods. In contrast, brown sugar is utilized for dense baked goods, such as zucchini bread and rich cookies.