Brandless sells a one pound bag (16 ounces) of ORGANIC unrefined coconut sugar for only $3. This is a serious bargain for such a great product but is coconut sugar actually good for you? Let’s delve into this question that many health conscience people have.
First of all, you should be made aware that coconut sugar does not come from coconuts, the fruit of a coconut palm tree. To emphasize, coconut sugar is not powered coconut meat nor is it made from coconut milk as is so commonly assumed. Instead, coconut sugar, including the type sold at Brandless, are the crystals that form after boiling down the flower sap. Luckily, the final product is not a liquid like maple syrup but rather crystals that can be easily substituted for cane sugar in recipes.
Okay, now that you have a better idea of what you’re dealing with, let’s look at some carefully studied scientific data about ordinary table sugar and coconut sugar. Ordinary table sugar is pure sucrose. This is a compound sugar made from the chemical combination of glucose and fructose. Sucrose is not all that common in nature and the human body is not well equipped to deal with it as a result, especially in the quantities that Americans tend to eat. Published data from the Linus Pauling Institute shows the glycemic index of table sugar to be 63, which is considered quite high. This means cane sugar causes a big spike in blood sugar when we consume it.
Coconut sugar is about seventy-nine percent sucrose, along with a mixture of fructose and a little glucose. Fructose must be processed by the liver before it can be utilized by the human body. Therefore, the fructose component of coconut sugar lowers the blood sugar spike seen when people consume table sugar. Further, and perhaps more importantly, coconut sugar, including the kind sold by Brandless, contains significant amounts of inulin. Don’t confuse the word «inulin» for insulin because they’re completely different. Inulin is a dietary fiber made from oligosaccharides, not a hormone. It feeds the good bacteria in your gut and reduces blood sugar levels.
The combination of the fructose component of coconut sugar, along with the inulin content, makes the glycemic index of coconut sugar only 35, much lower than table sugar! This is good for not only type 2 diabetics but for anyone who wants to stave off diseases like obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, hormonal imbalances, and a compromised immune system. This is because elevated blood sugar contributes to all of these diseases. In this regard, a big bag of coconut sugar from Brandless can help save your health, as long as you don’t overdo it because coconut sugar is NOT low calorie! In fact, the calories in coconut sugar are about the same as table sugar, so you may want to ration yourself a bit.
Coconut sugar has many other health advantages beyond it’s lower glycemic index. Coconut sugar is more unrefined than raw cane sugar and turbinado. As such, it contains many minerals including magnesium, potassium, zinc, calcium, phosphorous, iron, and copper. It also contains several classes of antioxidants including polyphenols and flavonoids like anthocyanidin. There’s even a little vitamin C in coconut sugar.
Coconut sugar can vary in flavor just like maple syrup and other natural sweeteners, depending on the source. Brandless customers rave about the flavor of Brandless organic coconut sugar, some saying it has a flavor like brown sugar and others saying it tastes more like maple syrup. Bottom line, it’s quite tasty, in addition to being better for you than ordinary table sugar, including even raw organic table sugar.
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