We know how harmful sugar is. But are alternatives like coconut blossom sugar really better for our health? Let's find out.
Medicine has been warning about the dangers of excessive sugar consumption for years. Because we consume far too much sweetness in our environment of readily available convenience foods. But we don't always realize how much sugar we're eating because it's also used as a flavor enhancer in foods where we wouldn't expect any sweetness. Sauces, bread, and yogurt are examples of such traps. As a result, the average German consumes 31 kilograms of sugar each year, which has major repercussions. It raises the chances of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, and other illnesses.
It is therefore much more critical that we avoid excessive sugar consumption - or that we replace white household sugar with healthy alternatives. These are currently accessible in a variety of formats, including Many people's baking, cooking, or coffee and tea sweetening routines now include artificial sweeteners, stevia, date syrup, agave syrup, rice syrup, or coconut blossom sugar.
Coconut blossom sugar: What is it exactly?
Coconut blossom sugar does not come from the coconut and so does not taste like coconut, despite its name. It is instead derived from the coconut palm's inflorescence. This is accomplished by scratching the blossom and collecting the nectar.
This is then filtered and cooked until the liquid has entirely evaporated, leaving only the crystalline coconut blossom sugar. It looks like brown cane sugar at first glance, but it's considerably finer. In terms of flavor, the coconut blossom sugar has a malty caramel flavor.
Is coconut blossom sugar healthier than household sugar?
We must consider numerous factors to determine if a food is healthy or unhealthy. Coconut blossom sugar, for example, is marginally superior to industrial sugar in terms of nutrition, but the levels of iron, zinc, potassium and other minerals are far lower than those found in fruits and vegetables. To get a beneficial effect, you'd have to ingest a lot of coconut blossom sugar.
This brings us to the second point, which is the calorific value. Coconut blossom sugar, like white sugar, is high in calories: it has roughly 380 calories per 100 grams, whereas white sugar has 400 calories per 100 grams. Neither form of sugar is a suitable source of nutrients due to the high-calorie content.
Finally, we consider the glycemic index, which describes how much blood sugar levels rise after consuming a certain food. The lower the value, the better in this case.
Coconut blossom sugar's glycemic index, like the number of calories, is only slightly better than regular sugar: In this case, 54 compares to 60. The high fructose content of coconut blossom sugar is responsible for the significant rise in blood sugar levels. However, it is important to remember that the kind of processing might have a significant impact on the GI. The value of sugar varies greatly depending on what it is combined with.
Too much sugar is harmful - regardless of whether it is household or coconut blossom sugar.
In the end, whether you use coconut blossom sugar, industrially processed sugar, or another sweetener for baking or cooking has little impact on your health; it all depends on the amount. Sugar in any form does not have to be eliminated entirely from our diet, but it should be consumed in moderation. Because hidden sugar, which we don't even realize we're eating, can have serious health implications.
But, in this situation, you can entirely trust your taste buds, as the malt note in coconut blossom sugar isn't for everyone.