Is Brown Sugar As Bad As White for Diabetics?
When anyone eats sugar, the body rapidly metabolizes the sugar and converts it to essential fatty acids and cholesterol. Digesting sugar also causes a sharp increase in blood glucose levels. In non-diabetics, the pancreas releases sufficient insulin to counter the glucose, but diabetics typically produce too little or no insulin. Brown sugar is as bad as white sugar for diabetics.
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White Sugar
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While processing white sugar, the molasses is stripped from the sugar, and it is bleached white by the application of sulfur dioxide.
Brown Sugar
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Brown sugar is made essentially the same way as white sugar, except the manufacturer adds the molasses back to the white sugar at the end of the process to give brown sugar its color.
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Features
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According to dietitians affiliated with HealthCastle.com, brown sugar has a small amount of minerals lacking in white sugar, but you would have to eat massive quantities for that to be of any benefit.
Considerations
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Many diabetics follow the glycemic index (GI) to make food choices. The GI assigns a number to foods based on how quickly and how high they elevate blood glucose levels. A 25 g serving of sugar has a rating of 65; the glycemic index doesn't distinguish between white, brown or raw sugar, because all cause the same response.
Misconceptions
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Diabetics are sometimes advised to use agave syrup or honey instead of brown or white sugar, but both are processed in a similar manner to sugar and provoke an increase in glucose levels.
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References
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- Photo Credit Image by Fotolia.com, courtesy of Claudio Calcagno
