The 100-Calorie Secret - Never Diet Again!

Think you will lose weight using brown sugar instead of white, or avoiding the high fructose corn syrup for real sugar?  Think again. Over the last year  sugar research has revealed that all sugars: white, brown, raw and even high fructose corn syrup are the same 15 calories per teaspoon. No sugar is really "natural" and that high fructose corn syrup once thought "toxic" is not so bad. Thinking has swung around.

The real issue is the difference between all the sugars and the artificial sweeteners.That's where the obesity epidemic needs to be focused. Artificial Sweeteners Are Safe

February 10, 2009

Sugar has been taking a real beating in the past several months. Jane E. Brody a science writer for the New York Times (February 10, 2009) discusses some of the newest information on the role of sugar  and the expanding  American waist line.She points out  that all sugars contain a combination of glucose and fructose, all are processed and all have exactly the same calories. If you understand the process, you will see how little difference there is:

White Sugar: (15 cal/tsp)
Sugar cane or sugar beets are  crushed and then filtered to produce a juice. The juices is treated with lime to remove impurities and then neutralize it. Boiling the juice then allows the sediment to settle to the bottom for dredging out, while the scum rises to the surface for skimming off. In cooling, the liquid crystallizes, usually in the process of stirring, to produce sugar crystals.

Brown Sugar: (15 cal./tsp)
Brown sugar, "natural sugar" or "raw" sugar is made exactly the same as white sugar, exceept that molassas is added to give it a brown color. It is not less natural or pure than "white" sugar.

High Fructose Corn Syrup:(HFCS) (10-15 cal./tsp.)
High-fructose corn syrup is produced by milling corn to produce corn starch, then processing the starch to yield corn syrup which is almost entirely glucose.  Adding enzymes changes the glucose into fructose. The resulting syrup  contains 90% fructose.  To make the other common forms of HFCS  the syrup is mixed with 100% glucose corn syrup in the appropriate ratios to form the desired HFCS, either 45 or 55% corn syrup.

What is the sugar in regular sodas?
The soda's in the US  are sweetened with HFCS contains 55% fructose and 42% glucose. Table sugar has 50% fructose and 50% glucose.

Dr George Bray explains that fructose comes from 3 main sources: common table sugar, high fructose corn syrup,and fruits. He estimates that 10% of daily calories comes from fructose.Dr Bray notes a lack of any nutrition in  high fructose corn syrup  beverages and the tendency for beverages sweetened with this type of sugar to cause hunger and alter some metabolic functions.

Jacobson notes that it’s an “urban myth that high fructose corn syrup has a special toxicity.”  Cane sugar and sugar derived from corn are both “natural.” Both are  extracted from plants and then processed.  Sugar extracted from fresh fruits is equally bad. If orange juice is being consumed for it’s vitamin C content, take a look. You get just as much Vitamin C in a single Centrum vitamin pill without the calories or the sugar.  Tropicanna says it takes 3.5 whole oranges to make an 8 oz. glass of orange juice. Look at the calorie differences and the amount of sugar between the fresh fruit and the juice.

Reviewing the studies of Drs. George Bray, Barry Popkin and Michael Jacobson, she notes that the previous emphasis on the high fructose corn syrup in soft drinks as the only culprit in the obesity epidemic is rapidly changing. The average American is consuming more than 20 teaspoons of sugar, in all kinds of forms.  She points out that it does not make any difference whether it’s called brown or white sugar from sugar cane or high fructose sugars from corn or sugar from  beets, fruits or fruits juices. It’s all the same, sugar is sugar and calories are calories. All contain some combination of fructose and glucose and all contribute to weight gain.