by Brittany Butland, RD
Here are 3 common nutrition myths you should stop believing right now:
1. “Natural” sugars such as maple syrup, honey and coconut sugar are better for you than plain white sugar.
To put it simply, sugar is sugar. All sugars are very similar to one another as they are made up of glucose and fructose (sugar molecules) in different ratios. For example, white sugar is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose, while maple syrup is made up of 51.5% glucose and 49.5% fructose. Our body cannot tell the difference between white sugar and so called “natural” sugars, it just sees sugar molecules. Although “natural” sugars may contain some trace nutrients, the amounts are so minimal that they do not add up to anything significant (and you shouldn’t be eating sugar for the trace nutrients anyway). The bottom line is that “natural” sugars are added sugars, just like plain white sugar, and they should be limited.
Here are 3 common nutrition myths you should stop believing right now:
1. “Natural” sugars such as maple syrup, honey and coconut sugar are better for you than plain white sugar.
To put it simply, sugar is sugar. All sugars are very similar to one another as they are made up of glucose and fructose (sugar molecules) in different ratios. For example, white sugar is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose, while maple syrup is made up of 51.5% glucose and 49.5% fructose. Our body cannot tell the difference between white sugar and so called “natural” sugars, it just sees sugar molecules. Although “natural” sugars may contain some trace nutrients, the amounts are so minimal that they do not add up to anything significant (and you shouldn’t be eating sugar for the trace nutrients anyway). The bottom line is that “natural” sugars are added sugars, just like plain white sugar, and they should be limited.
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