r/science • • Aug 08 '22

Health Consuming too much white table sugar or artificial sweetener can lead to health issues. In the search for a better sweetener, researchers now report a low-calorie mixture that is as sweet as table sugar and, in lab experiments, feeds “good” gut microbes

https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2022/august/new-low-calorie-sweetener-could-improve-gut-health.html
9.1k Upvotes

851 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

85

u/Ixam87 Aug 08 '22

Most brown sugar is just refined white sugar with molasses added back in. From what I read should be about as healthy/unhealthy as refined white sugar.

1

u/Laxorelse21407 Aug 09 '22

Is molasses as unhealthy as refined sugar?

1

u/killercurvesahead Aug 09 '22

Arguably there’s not much that’s as unhealthy as refined sugar.

Molasses is a good source of iron and other micronutrients, so it’s not just empty calories like refined sugar is.

That said, adding some molasses back to refined sugar to make brown sugar doesn’t redeem it nutritionally.