The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

What’s wrong with sugars and sweeteners?

Sucrose, or table sugar, is correlated with weight gain and so is fructose. Both sucrose (table sugar from sugar cane or sugar beets) and fructose (fruit sugar that has been concentrated and dried down into crystals that resemble sugar) are correlated with liver stress. A recent article in Nutrition Metabolism contained an article citing a connection between the advent of the obesity epidemic and the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into the food supply. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association described how the higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a more weight gain and increased risk for development of type 2 diabetes in women, because of the excess calories and rapidly absorbable sugars.

Some experts claim sugar gives you a high that over-stimulates your adrenal glands, but then puts you into a low that makes you feel fatigued, fuzzy-headed and desperate for your next sugar fix.

What to use instead of sugar

Two natural sweeteners, stevia and molasses are both better alternative sweeteners to sucrose or fructose. (more…)