Cane sugar

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I have heard that the sugar we eat comes from the fruit called "cane". If so, why is it unhealthy? I thought fruits are healthy? For example, banana is fine to eat, despite all its sugar. I guess I have two answers to my own question:

1. There are two types of sugars. Most fruits have fructose, while cane sugar is glucose

2. Eating fruit as a whole is natural, but extracting sugar from it is not

So I guess answer number 1 implies that eating cane as a whole fruit is bad for you; on the other hand, answer number two implise that eating cane is fine, but eating its sugar on its own is not. So what do you guys think? Is eating cane healthy because it is fruit or is it bad because of its glucose? Or is it kind of both?

But anyway, if, despite these two answers, the sugars extracted from other fruits are still healthier than the ones extracted from cane, why do they insist on using cane for sugar? Is it because cane sugar tastes better? Or is it because it is easier or cheaper to extract? What do you think?

Eating any kind of sugar can be bad for you. A diabetic or someone trying to lose weight probably shouldn't be eating too many bananas. Eating too much sugar puts strain on the pancreas and other vital organs to balance out the blood sugar level in the body. Natural sources of sugar are high in fiber that slows the absorption of sugar. However, over the centuries, fruit has been bred to contain unnaturally high levels of sugar.

Sugar Cane is not a fruit, it is wood. Sugar is commonly refined from beets too. In america foods are usually sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which is a whole 'nother can of worms.

Refined sugar is particularly toxic because it enters the digestive system without the enzymes and nutrients that would helps its proper digestion. Without these, the sugar damages the digestive system by disturbing the ecosystem of bacteria that lives in the digestive tract. Not being easily digestible, the sugar rots and ferments and turns into alcohol. The ecosystem in the digestive system gets taken over by unfriendly bacteria that creates waste products and poisons you even more. Bodily fluids become more acidic and the body responds by leeching calcium away from the bones to neutralize the acid.

So basically, refined sugar is really really bad for you. If you a do a google search there are plenty of good articles about its toxic effects on the body.

Sugar in fruit is also eaten with fiber and other nutrients. Fiber will help slow the absorption of the sugar which helps blood sugar stay more stable. So, straight fruit juice is actually not so good for the blood sugar because the fiber is removed. Pediatricians now recomend little kids have very limited juice intake.

I don't have the link but somebody at Princeton finished up a study comparing cane sugar to high fructose corn syrup and found that in fact high fructose corn syrup does cause some problems that the equivalent in cane sugar did not. Rats were fed the same diet and had the same level of exercize etc, except in one group cane syrup was added to their water and the other corn syrup was added. They got the same number of calories of corn vs cane sugars. The rats given the cane sugar did not gain a lot of weight or have additional health problems. The rats with the corn syrup had increased belly fat and increased weight and had some other health problems.

It's just one study.

Another thing that's interesting is that what is labeled "cane sugar" is sometimes in fact beet sugar. While chemically they are supposed to be the same they are very different in the kitchen. Beet sugar burns more readily and will mess up many recipes.

Apparently there are more differences than one might think between different sugars that are supposed to be equivalent.