Sweets are liked by most people regardless of their age, but after a certain age, people are apprehensive
about consuming white sugar and are worried if it may lead to increase in their weight or cause other
problems like diabetes or fatty liver. These people then opt for the so-called harmless sweets like
jaggery, palm sugar, honey, date sugar, coconut sugar, stevia, etc., which are very easily available. Also,
there are artificial chemical sweeteners available.
People are often not sure about which of these sweeteners is the safest to be consumed and which can
be used by people having high cholesterol or diabetes.
The refined white sugar is sucrose, which is 50% glucose and 50% fructose. Sugar was first produced
from sugarcane by Indians about 2000 years ago. The sugarcane was then taken to America by
Columbus and was cultivated there and over time the crystalized sugar was formed and commercialized.
Though sugar contains equal proportion of glucose and fructose, the cereals that we eat such as rice,
wheat, etc., contain greater amount of glucose and the fruits contain greater proportion of fructose.
Sugar contains 100% sucrose, whereas jaggery contains 88% sucrose. This means, jaggery has the next
highest concentration of sucrose after sugar. The palm sugar contains 85% sucrose, but honey contains
less than 20% sucrose, 40% glucose, and the remaining proportion of fructose.
To consider a particular sweetener better than the others, the criteria would be that it must provide the
same sweetness with lesser number of calories. The calorie is almost same in sugar, jaggery, and palm
sugar. One ounce of sugar, jaggery and palm sugar contains almost 77 calories, 76 calories, and 75
calories, respectively. However, honey has a lesser calorie value of about 65 calories as compared to the
earlier three sweeteners. But, the sweetness of these is also lesser when compared to that of refined
white sugar. Thus, we end up consuming more calories when using honey, jaggery and palm sugar as
compared to sugar since we would need to use greater quantities of these to get the sweet taste. This
would in turn lead to a greater rise in the sugar level, cholesterol and body weight.
Many studies have been done in America to compare the effects of using white sugar, jaggery, honey,
and high fructose corn syrup. These studies showed that the people using any of these sweeteners had
their sugar levels, cholesterol level, triglyceride level, fat level increasing in same proportion. Therefore,
none of these sweeteners had a considerable benefit over the others. Using other sweeteners such as
date sugar or the sugar crystalized from coconut toddy, etc. , also result in same amount of calorie
intake.
There is a claim that white sugar provides empty calories whereas jaggery or palm sugar contain more
amount of other minerals. However, the fact is that for these minerals to reach our body in sufficient
amounts, we will have to consume very high amounts of the jaggery or palm sugar, which is not
possible. The refined white sugar is obtained by removal of molasses from jaggery or palm sugar by the
process of centrifugation. So, there is no much difference in the calorie intake between any of these.
Hence, the patients having diabetes, cholesterol, or obesity must not take jaggery, palm sugar or honey
with a belief that these are beneficial to the body. Any kind of sweeteners including sugar, jaggery, or
honey, becomes beneficial or harmful depending on the quantity of intake. But when a person is
diabetic, it is better to avoid these additive sugars as the body has a reduced capacity to process the
sugars that are consumed. Consuming these sweeteners may lead to more inflammation in people who
are obese, thereby leading to further weight gain and liver problems from stress.
So, it can be concluded that all the different forms of sweeteners used have an almost similar effect on
the body and are best avoided as much as possible.