Brown sugar is not brown sugar. Don't be fooled by this kind of "brown sugar".

When you come to read this article, the first thing you need to do is: find your own brown sugar, and then look at its ingredient list. If it says "brown sugar", then you are in the right place. Because, this means you have stepped into a pit.

Many people think that "red sugar" is "brown sugar" and happily think that "drinking a cup of brown sugar can replenish iron and blood", but they didn't expect that they were drinking "fake brown sugar". By the way, when it comes to replenishing blood, I have to add one more sentence: let alone red sugar, real brown sugar can't play the role of replenishing blood.

01

Is brown sugar the same as brown sugar?

Not really

What is the difference between brown sugar and brown sugar? Our country has clear standards for brown sugar and brown sugar:

According to my country's standard "GB/T 35884-2018 Brown Sugar", brown sugar refers to sugar produced from sugar cane, beets, raw sugar, etc. It is brown-red or yellow-brown in color, sweet and slightly molasses-flavored. [1] According to the standard "GB/T 35885-2018 Brown Sugar", brown sugar is made from sugar cane, which is directly boiled and refined without separating the molasses after extracting the sugar juice and purifying it. The color is golden yellow to reddish brown, and it has the aroma of brown sugar and caramel. [2] Note the difference in the raw materials of the two: brown sugar has three raw materials: sugar cane, beets, and raw sugar, while brown sugar can only be made from sugar cane.

Brown sugar and white sugar are actually produced on the same production line. During the purification process, some colored substances will appear and are not separated. This substance is brown sugar, which can also be said to be a by-product of white sugar.

Therefore, it is important to understand that brown sugar is not red sugar, it just looks very similar.

02

How to choose real brown sugar?

Look at the ingredient list

Nowadays, there are a wide variety of brown sugar varieties on supermarket shelves, and they have many names, such as rose brown sugar, brown sugar ginger tea, traditional brown sugar, handmade brown sugar, ginger and jujube brown sugar, etc. No matter what the name is, just read the ingredient list before buying it, and don't be fooled by brown sugar.

For example, the following one has brown sugar in the ingredient list:

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

There are also the following pictures. People have told you that we are "brown sugar". If you want to buy brown sugar, don't buy this:

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

When buying brown sugar, it is recommended to buy the two types shown in the picture below. The ingredients list is sugarcane or brown sugar, and the implementation standard is GB/T 35885:

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

▲Image source: e-commerce platform

You may see that some brown sugar standards are QB/T 4561, which is an old standard from 2013 and will be abolished soon. The new standard will be GB/T 35885. However, if you see something claiming to be brown sugar, but the standard number is: GB/T 35884, it is brown sugar. In addition, some companies use corporate standards, which is hard to distinguish, so just don't buy it.

03

Does drinking brown sugar really supplement iron?

Not only can it not supplement iron, it will also make you fat

The iron in brown sugar is non-heme iron, which has a very poor absorption rate, so it is not recommended to use it to supplement iron. In addition, brown sugar is a pure energy food, with a calorie content of 389 kcal/100 g[3]. If a woman drinks 40 to 50 grams of brown sugar every day during her special period, she will not get much iron supplementation during the entire menstrual period, but will gain a lot of weight.

Lean meat, animal blood, animal liver, and shellfish are recommended for iron supplementation during menstruation, especially razor clams, which have an iron content of up to 33.6 mg/100 g, which is 22.4 times that of pork tenderloin (1.5 mg/100 g) [3]. If you rely on eating razor clams to supplement iron, eating about 15 regular-sized clams a day can meet your daily iron needs.

To summarize:

Brown sugar is not brown sugar.

When purchasing brown sugar, pay attention to the ingredient list and implementation standards. The ingredient list should include sugarcane or brown sugar, and the implementation standard is GB/T 35885.

Don’t count on brown sugar to replenish iron and blood. It would be more effective to eat a few clams!

References:

[1]. GB/T 35884-2018 Brown sugar

http://down.foodmate.net/standard/sort/3/52591.html

[2].GB/T 35885-2018 Brown sugar

http://down.foodmate.net/standard/yulan.php?itemid=52590

[3]. Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 1[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018

This article was first published on the Science Refutation Platform