Let's talk sugar - in 1776 people consumed around 4 pounds of sugar per year. This number had grown to 20 pounds by 1850 and 120 pounds by 1994. Today, we are consuming almost 160 pounds of sugar every year!

What is sugar?

Sugar is empty calories without essential micronutrients.

Sugar calories may actually be worst than just empty calories. Large amounts of added fructose (table sugar and high fructose corn syrup) can lead to liver toxicity and even other chronic diseases.

In average - women should not consume more than 100 calories per day from added sugars, while for men it's 150 daily calories. That means that one serving of a soft drink can send you over the recommended amount of sugar per day! It is recommended to reduce our added sugars intake, along with our salt consumption, and trans fats and saturated fats. It is because consumption of such foods can lead to chronic diseases and even worse.

Which is the Healthiest Sugar?

The only sweeteners that provide nutritional value and can actually be considered healthy are dates (sugar or syrup) and black strap molasses. Date sugar (dried dates crushed into powder) is considered the healthiest sweetener on the planet.

DATES | DATE SYRUP | DATE SUGAR

The reason why date sweeteners are the healthiest is because it’s a whole plant food which offers you plenty of fiber. This dietary fiber helps to move waste smoothly through your colon and helps prevent LDL (bad) cholesterol absorption. When it comes to the number of minerals, vitamins, and phytonutrients - dates have them all. They're also easy to digest, allowing your body to make a full use of their goodness.

Dates are a good source of energy, and essential minerals such as: calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. The iron content, determines the balance of oxygen in the blood while the potassium, helps control your heart rate and blood pressure. They also contain vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin A, and vitamin K. Vitamin A protects the eyes, maintains healthy skin, and flavonoids help fight infection and inflammation. Vitamin K also helps metabolise your bones.

Eating dates in moderation can contribute to a number of health benefits. From protecting against cell damage caused by free radicals, helping preventing a stroke, coronary heart disease and to preventing from the development of colon, prostate, pancreas, breast, and cancers.

BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES

Molasses is obtained from raw cane and canned sugar refining. Blackstrap molasses contains antioxidants, essential vitamins and minerals. Providing you with a number of powerful health benefits, which makes it a recommended sweetener for diabetics.

Molasses has high levels of calcium, vitamin B6, manganese, magnesium, potassium, copper and  iron. It is a good source of energy and carbohydrates. Molasses also offers various vitamins such as niacin (vitamin B3), vitamin B6, thiamine, and riboflavin. It is very low in both fat and fiber, making date sweeteners the healthier option due to dates' high fiber content.

Blackstrap molasses provides relief from constipation, headaches, and anemia. It helps strengthen the immune system, maintain healthy levels of hemoglobin, and improve the formation of new cells in the body. Moreover, it also helps improve bone and hair health, the functioning of the nervous system, and speeds wound healing.

DID YOU KNOW?

When it comes to nutrition and antioxidant content - agave syrup equals plain white sugar. They both have zero antioxidant power. Corn syrup and brown rice syrup also falls into this category too. All these sweeteners are basically empty calories.