Life details determine health

Author: Li Xingchun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features:
1. Eating Too Much Sugar is Harmful to Health
Sugar is one of the seasonings commonly used in daily life. It can also be consumed as a sweet drink, or used to make candies and rock sugar. Generally speaking, people enjoy eating sugar, especially children. Sugar is a large family with three branches:
First, monosaccharides, including glucose, fructose, and galactose;
Second, disaccharides, such as maltose and lactose;
Third, polysaccharides, including starch and cellulose.
The sugar used for drinking or cooking is mostly disaccharide, commonly known as red sugar or white sugar, also called brown sugar or white sugar, with a small amount of syrup. Red and white sugar are widely found in sugarcane and sugar beets, and they also exist in other plants. After crushing sugarcane or sugar beets to extract juice, the cooked sugar syrup with crystals is then separated by a centrifuge to form brown sugar, also known as red sugar. Brown sugar becomes white sugar after decolorization, also known as white sugar. Crushing white sugar forms powdered sugar. Evaporating the sugar syrup (white sugar or brown sugar) after adding water forms block-shaped crystals, which is rock sugar.
Brown sugar and white sugar not only differ in color but also in properties. Brown sugar is warm in nature and contains slightly more impurities, while white sugar is neutral and has higher purity. Their nutritional components and functions also differ. Brown sugar is more nutritious and valuable than white sugar.
1. The Main Nutritional Components and Functions of Sugar
Both brown sugar and white sugar contain small amounts of vitamins, minerals, and protein, with low fat content. Therefore, the nutritional value of sugar is not very high. The main component in both brown sugar and white sugar is carbohydrates, with minimal other nutritional components. Carbohydrates are essential nutrients for the human body, but excessive intake can lead to the production of large amounts of heat, causing obesity. Among the carbohydrates in sugar, brown sugar contains less sucrose than white sugar but more glucose, which is 20–30 times higher than that in white sugar. Brown sugar also contains more iron and other minerals than white sugar. It is generally believed that eating brown sugar is better than eating white sugar.
Traditional Chinese medicine considers brown sugar to be warm in nature and beneficial for promoting blood circulation and resolving blood stasis. It has some effects on uterine contraction, recovery, lochia discharge, and milk production after childbirth. Brown sugar contains more iron than white sugar, which is beneficial for blood replenishment. Therefore, it is recommended for postpartum women to drink brown sugar water, which is widely used in folk remedies. The reason lies in the high concentration of glucose in brown sugar, which aids in diuresis after absorption, helping to maintain smooth urinary tract function in postpartum women. This reduces the risk of bladder urine retention during bed rest and prevents urinary tract infections. However, postpartum women should only consume brown sugar water or foods with brown sugar within the first 10 days after childbirth and should avoid long-term use, especially in summer, as excessive consumption may cause dizziness, palpitations, or excessive vaginal bleeding.
Traditional Chinese medicine considers white sugar to be neutral and beneficial for moisturizing the lungs and generating body fluids, making it suitable for summer consumption.
2. Is Brown Sugar Better or White Sugar Better?
In the market, brown sugar is cheaper, while white sugar is more expensive, leading many people to believe that white sugar has a higher nutritional value than brown sugar. Over time, some people have come to prefer white sugar and avoid brown sugar. Both brown sugar and white sugar are sucrose, made from sugarcane or sugar beets. White sugar is a pure carbohydrate, providing only energy to the body and containing almost no other nutrients. Brown sugar has not undergone high-temperature