Sugar and health, or why is it called White Death?
The advantages of consuming sugar (even in the form of sweets) are small, and those could be mentioned by each of us. Let us therefore move on to the justification that sugar should be avoided and replaced by healthy alternatives. Find out why a lot of sugar is bad for your health.
There is a disturbance in the normal functioning of the hormonal economy. The presence of sugar in the body induces the pancreas to produce insulin, which needs a little time to decompose. Its circulation in the bloodstream inhibits the secretion of the growth hormone by the pituitary gland, which is responsible for the immune system. This decreases your resistance.
It promotes diabetes mellitus.
Excess sugar in the body is the beginning of obesity. Excess pounds can be seen when too much sugar is consumed, which the liver processes and stores in the form of fat.
Each successive serving of sugar gives rise to the need for another dose of something sweet.
Children who have eaten sugar in large, regular quantities since they were very young have a problem with obesity in the future.
Let us move on to the substance, which is to replace sugar?
Fruit. They contain sugar, but are natural and full of nutrients. It is called fructose. A sweet apple or banana will bring much more good to your body than a white refined sugar without any nutritional good.
Honey. This one is also called fructose. Although it’s really very sweet, it’s definitely healthier. You can use it to sweeten tea or to add to baked goods instead of food/dust sugar or vanilla sugar. If you can choose real bee honey straight from beekeepers, you can be sure that it is not artificial.
Cinnamon. Ideal for home baked biscuits or other baked goods. It gives dishes an interesting taste and a pleasant smell. It can also be used for coffee, natural yoghurt or fruit cocktails, especially apples and bananas. An additional advantage of cinnamon is that it speeds up the metabolism.
Sweetener. It is true that this is some kind of option to replace food sugar. But personally I am not a fan of sweeteners. Although they are not food grade sugar, they contain many other substances that are harmful to the body.
Birch sugar, called xylitol. It is true that I have not had the opportunity to test this sugar substitute, but the opinions I have found urge me to try it out as soon as possible. As the name suggests, it is made from birch tree. It is called sugar alcohol and it is called a natural sweetener. It has all the characteristics of a sugar, namely colour, form and taste, except for its action. Due to the fact that it consists of 5 carbon atoms (with 6 or even 12 in sugars), it does not ferment in the digestive system. It is true that its price is not too low. On one side I found a package of 0.5 kg for $20, but if you can afford to change it, I think it’s worth it.
With non-food sugar substitutes
Food sugars are otherwise sucrose (compound carbohydrates). It is produced from cane and sugar beet. So, as you guess, cane sugar is not a healthy substitute for sugar at all, but it is made from sugar cane, which is actually a product between which you can put an equality mark in terms of health effects. The same is true for icing sugar, vanilla sugar and roasted sugar in the form of caramel or icing.
And what about brown sugar, is it a healthy substitute?
You may be disappointed, but brown sugar is not a healthy substitute for food sugar. In addition, it is very similar in terms of calories and the way it is produced to white sugar – 100 grams of white sugar has 396 kcal, and brown 373 kcal. The colour of the brown sugar is due to the removal and re-inclusion of molasses and the drying of the sugar crystals during its manufacture. I suppose that it was defined as being healthier due to its colour and slightly different taste than white.
~PG~