Sugar is veg or non-veg..? Facts about the white poison??

Sugar has become an integral part of our daily diet especially in recent times when we mainly rely on processed food and sweetened drinks to fill our tummy. Over the period sugar has replaced honey as a sweetening agent and we grab a tea spoon of sugar very often to sweeten our food, and yes, it really does add taste but is there an increase in nutrient content ??Lets check out..!

Sugar- How it is made?
Sugar is mainly extracted from sugarcane and sugar beet which are rich source of sucrose or table sugar which we normally use.

Harvested sugar cane or sugar beets are first crushed to produce the cane juice which then goes through several stages of evaporation, filtration, boiling and centrifugation. The resulting crystals are called raw sugar which is brown in color and is then refined to produce white sugar.

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Raw Sugar

What we commonly use at home is white sugar .But many of us are not aware of raw sugar which is the most natural sugar one can think of.It is less processed and it has yellow to brown in color. Raw sugar goes through less chemical processing compared to white sugar and it still has some amount natural molasses than white sugar.

But this does not mean raw sugar offers any health benefit when compared to white sugar. White sugar and raw sugar have same amount of carbohydrates and calories.

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According to the USDA National Nutrient Database, 1 teaspoon of granulated white table sugar provides 16 calories and contains only trace amounts of calcium, iron, potassium, sodium, zinc and riboflavin. The same quantity of Sugar in the Raw contains 18 calories and slightly higher, though still trivial, levels of nutrients: 1 milligram of calcium, 0.02 milligram of iron, 1 milligram of potassium and nearly undetectable amounts of magnesium, phosphorus, sodium and zinc.

How does sugar get white color?

Before the cane juice undergoes evaporation, it is mixed with sulfur dioxide which cause a bleaching effect on the sugar crystals and it becomes white. Other options include use of chemicals such as calcium hydroxide, phosphoric acid or carbon dioxide to give extra whitening for sugar crystals.

Sugar is veg or non-veg?

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This topic has been debated time and again under various forums. The reason for some claiming sugar to be non veg is because of the use of bone char ,often referred to as natural carbon,in whitening of sugar .Bone char is made from the bones of cattle.

Bones are collected largely from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many countries have now reduced the use of bone char in sugar purification due to concerns raised by vegans worldwide.

Side effects..!!

Sugar is slow poison which we consume daily knowingly or unknowingly.Studies suggest that sugar is 8 times more addictive than cocaine. It contains lot of calories with no added nutrients and is harmful for your teeth,heart,affects metabolism,increases fat content, causes migraine and many other diseases. So its high time that we switch to other alternatives like honey,jaggery etc as sweeteners.Stay healthy , Stay happy !!!

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