Brown Sugar vs Granulated Sugar: Which is Better for Your Health?
Key Takeaways:
Brown sugar and granulated sugar are almost identical nutrition-wise. Neither is healthier than the other.
Sugar alternatives fall into two broad categories: nutritive sweeteners and non-nutritive sweeteners.
Nutritive sweeteners include honey, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and maple syrup. These contain calories and can impact blood sugar levels. You’ll still need to limit your intake as they're added sugar.
Non-nutritive sweeteners include stevia and monk fruit extract. These contain little to no calories and do not impact blood sugar levels. That said, there are some concerns about their long-term safety profile.
When looking to add a touch of sweetness to your coffee (to soften its bitter notes), yogurt (to balance its face-scrunching tanginess), or tom yum soup (to enliven the flavors of various herbs), what should you reach for — brown sugar or granulated sugar?
FYI, granulated sugar is also known as white, “regular”, and table sugar.
You may think it comes down solely to taste preferences. The former has a deep, toffee-like flavor, while the latter lends a neutral sweetness.
But what if there are additional health considerations?
In this article, we dive deep into brown sugar vs. granulated sugar to determine, once and for all, which has a friendlier impact on your blood glucose levels, weight, and chronic disease risk (i.e., which is healthier).
What is brown sugar?
To answer that, it helps to know how white sugar is made.
It all starts with sugar cane or sugar beet plants. After extracting the (sugary) juice from the crops, sugar manufacturers purify and heat it to get a brown, thick, viscous syrup called molasses.
Next, the syrup undergoes a mechanical process called centrifugation to separate the sugar crystals.
Those sugar crystals are further processed to remove excess molasses and then run through a filtration system to form white sugar.
Now that that’s covered, let’s talk about brown sugar. There are two types:
Refined brown sugar: This refers to granulated sugar that has had molasses added back into it.
Unrefined brown sugar: Sugar crystals that skipped the later processing stage, allowing them to retain some of their molasses content and, therefore, distinct brown color.
Brown sugar contains anywhere between 3% to 10% molasses.
Assuming an equivalent molasses content, there are no meaningful differences in nutritional profile between refined and unrefined brown sugar (since it’s just a matter of how the molasses ended up inside).
Is brown sugar healthier than white granulated sugar?
OK, but what about brown sugar vs granulated sugar?
Brown sugar contains molasses, a source of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, while white sugar doesn’t — so it’s definitely a healthier choice, right?
Not really.
Antioxidant activity and micronutrient profile
See: while the antioxidant capacity of molasses is higher than granulated sugar, it’s still relatively low compared to antioxidant-rich foods. For context, you’d need to consume more than 200 grams of molasses to get the same amount of antioxidants in 100 grams of berries.
And that’s pure molasses. To get that amount from dark brown sugar with 10% molasses content, you’d need to shove down an impossible 2 kilograms.
On the vitamins and minerals side, the case for brown sugar over white sugar remains equally weak. Yes, compared to white sugar, brown sugar contains more:
Calcium (83 mg/100 g vs 1 mg/100 g)
Iron (0.71 mg/100 g vs 0.05 mg/100 g)
Potassium (133 mg/100 g vs 2 mg/100 g)
But once you factor in the recommended daily added sugar intake limit (no more than 36 grams for men and 25 grams for women) and your actual daily requirements for those micronutrients (based on individuals between 19 and 50 years old):
Calcium: 1,000 mg
Potassium: 3,400 mg for men, 2,600 mg for women
… you’ll quickly realize that brown sugar simply isn’t a good micronutrient source.
Energy density and impact on blood glucose levels
In case you were wondering, brown sugar isn’t a low-calorie alternative to white sugar. One teaspoon of:
Brown sugar provides 17 calories
White sugar provides 16 calories
A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it difference.
Wow. So, is there truly nothing healthier about choosing brown sugar over white sugar? What about its effect on blood glucose levels?
For that, we’ll need to look at something called the glycemic index (GI) value.
Before that, for the uninitiated, the glycemic index is a rating system that ranks carbohydrates on a scale of 1 to 100 based on how quickly and how much they cause increases in blood glucose levels.
Foods with a:
Low GI value: Tend to release glucose slowly and steadily
High GI value: Release glucose rapidly, spiking blood glucose levels
The categories are:
Low GI: 1 to 55
Medium GI: 56 to 69
High GI: 70 and higher
Here are the respective GI values for:
Bottom line? When it comes to brown sugar vs. white sugar, they’re almost identical nutrition-wise. Neither is healthier than the other.
Sugar alternatives
Now, it’s time to contemplate a different question: are there alternatives to brown and white sugar you could use when putting together your favorite dishes and drinks? And perhaps more importantly, are they healthier?
To answer the first question, yes.
There are many sugar alternatives available — and we’ll take the opportunity to address the second question (i.e., are they healthier?) as we explore each of them below.
Sugar alternatives fall into two broad categories:
Nutritive sweeteners: Provide energy in the form of carbohydrates
Non-nutritive sweeteners: Contain zero or very low amounts of carbohydrates (and, in turn, calories)
Nutritive sweeteners
Some of the most popular natural, nutritive sweeteners include:
Honey
A thick, golden liquid produced by honeybees that’s 25% sweeter than white sugar.
There’s some evidence indicating that this natural sweetener may exert health-beneficial effects (e.g., it fights oxidative damage, lowers inflammation levels, and reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases).
However, it’s doubtful that you’d eat enough honey to reap those benefits.
It’s still added sugar (a tablespoon of honey contains 17 grams of sugar), which means honey should be something to include in your diet carefully and kept to a minimum.
Not to mention, it’s also more calorie-dense than either white or brown sugar on a per-teaspoon basis. A teaspoon of honey contains 21 calories, versus the 16 in white sugar and 17 in brown sugar.
Maple syrup
A thick, sugary liquid made by cooking the sap from maple trees — and most people’s go-to drizzle on pancakes.
While maple syrup contains slightly more calories than table sugar on a per-teaspoon basis (17 calories versus 16 calories, respectively), it’s generally considered sweeter. This means you may end up using less of it.
Two characteristics that make maple syrup marginally better than table sugar are its:
Micronutrient profile: Maple syrup contains small amounts of manganese, iron, potassium, and zinc. That said, when consumed in typical quantities and in moderation (a tablespoon of maple syrup contains 14 grams of sugar), the micronutrients you get will not be enough to make a difference to your health.
GI value: Maple syrup has a GI value of 54, lower than table sugar’s 65. This means maple syrup won’t spike your blood sugar levels as quickly.
Non-nutritive sweeteners
Some of the most popular non-nutritive sweeteners include:
Stevia: A natural sweetener derived from the leaves of the South American shrub Stevia rebaudiana. Despite being nearly 250 to 300 times sweeter than white sugar, stevia contains zero calories and doesn’t impact blood sugar levels.
Monk fruit extract: Obtained from the Siraitia grosvernorii plant, which is native to China. Like stevia, monk fruit extract is much sweeter than white sugar (250 times), yet neither contains calories nor raises blood sugar levels.
Sugar alcohols: A type of carbohydrate naturally found in fruits and vegetables. These are about 25% to 100% sweeter than white sugar but way lower in calories and friendlier on blood sugar levels (because sugar alcohols are poorly absorbed in the small intestine). For reference:
Table sugar: 4 calories per gram
Erythritol: 0.2 calories per gram
Xylitol: 2.4 calories per gram
Maltitol: 2.1 calories per gram
Why choose nutritive sweeteners?
You may be thinking, “Huh, why would anyone choose nutritive sweeteners over their non-nutritive counterparts, then?”
There are three reasons.
Taste
Though stevia, monk fruit extract, and sugar alcohols provide a sweetness similar to sugar, they do taste different. Some even describe them as bitter or metallic.
You may not enjoy the taste (or aftertaste) of these non-nutritive sweeteners.
Cost
In general, non-nutritive sweeteners are much more expensive than sugar.
Case in point: 120 grams of stevia powder costs S$8.90, which you could use to purchase 4 kilograms of white sugar — and still have change left.
Long-term health and safety concerns
While non-nutritive sweeteners are generally considered safe for consumption, there are concerns that long-term use could have adverse health effects.
In this 2017 review published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, for example, researchers noted an association between non-nutritive sweeteners and an increased incidence of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in some observational studies.
However, before you get too worried, know that further research is required to conclude a direct cause-effect relationship between non-nutritive sweeteners and adverse metabolic effects.
To sum it all up …
Ultimately, it appears there is no “silver bullet” option when it comes to your sweetener choice:
Nutritive sweeteners (e.g., white sugar and honey): Contain more calories, can impact blood sugar levels, and high intakes are associated with an increased risk of certain chronic diseases.
Non-nutritive sweeteners (e.g., Stevia and sugar alcohols): Contain little or no calories and don’t impact blood sugar levels, but their long-term safety profile remains unknown.
You’ll have to choose one that best suits your taste preferences, dietary needs, medical history, and risk aversion.
And a friendly reminder: choosing a nutritionally wise sweetener option (for you) isn’t the only proactive step you can take to improve your health. Don’t forget about these lifestyle habits, which will arguably make a bigger, more meaningful difference:
Eating a well-balanced, nutritious diet;
Sticking to a regular exercise routine (which includes resistance training);
Getting at least seven hours of good-quality sleep nightly; and…