Which sweetener is best?

Hey, quick question—what sweeteners are you guys actually using? I keep hearing that the stuff made with aspartame and saccharin is pretty garbage, so I’m looking for better options. I use honey sometimes, but it doesn't really work for everything. Thanks

Honey and brown sugar.

I actually toss honey into my coffee—my friends used to think I was losing it 😬 but honestly, the flavor is incredible, just super rich and satisfying. When I'm out grabbing a cup, I always stick to black, but when I'm making it at home, I go for honey or brown sugar.

As for white sugar or artificial sweeteners? Not a chance in my house. 😁

And why on earth aren't you using artificial sweeteners?

I don't believe in sweet things without calories, just like I don't believe in beer without alcohol. 😬

But seriously, why don't I use artificial sweeteners?
The name alone tells you everything you need to know—they're artificial. I try my best to base my diet on completely natural foods, though honestly, in this day and age, that’s nearly impossible.
Still, I avoid processed products as much as I can.

I’m not actually that skeptical when it comes to "artificial" things. Science is fine by me, and I don't buy into any conspiracy theories. Honestly, we shouldn't be dividing the world into what's natural and what isn't; the only distinction that matters is whether something is good or bad. At the end of the day, just because something comes from nature doesn't mean it's beneficial. I mean, marijuana is perfectly natural, yet look at how some people react to that...

George Bailey2 said:I’m not really that skeptical about "artificial" stuff or science, and I don't buy into any conspiracy theories. Honestly, we shouldn't be splitting things into natural vs. unnatural—it should just be good vs. bad. Not everything found in nature is actually good for you, either. I mean, marijuana is totally natural, yet look how some people react to it...

This sounds exactly like something I’d say👍

I have this friend who smokes like a chimney, drinks way too much, and lives on caffeine, but then she’ll be doubled over with cramps or a massive headache because she refuses to take an Advil. She’s all like, "No thanks, that’s not natural, it’s just chemicals..." Or she’ll be dealing with constipation for days but won't touch a Senna pill because she "doesn't do medicine—ever."
Thank God for modern medicine!

Kimberly Williams, I'm not even talking about your situation specifically since you actually stick to a healthy diet... but my mom is definitely one of those people who will drink her coffee black rather than use any kind of sweetener.

It really just comes down to what I'm mixing it with—Natren or brown sugar.

I don't spend much time overthinking the whole "art" of sweeteners; honestly, there are plenty of other things in life I've managed to cut out that were way worse. 😁

Can someone actually break down the real perks of brown sugar over the white stuff for me? Like, give it to me straight...

rustymoose54 said:Can someone give me a straight answer on what the actual perks are of using brown sugar over white?

Look, when you’re dealing with "original" brown sugar, the whole point is that they strip away the molasses during processing to make white sugar, but then they toss that molasses back in—which is what gives brown sugar its character. But let's be real here and not kid ourselves: there isn't some magical health miracle hidden in a bag of brown sugar.
It’s basically just trace amounts of vitamins and maybe a slightly lower count of "empty calories," if you want to get technical.

And don't even get me started on artificial sweeteners... Aspartame is easily the worst offender. It’s practically shoved into every single "diet" product on the grocery store shelves these days, and there are supposedly all these studies linking it to cancer. Just a total mess.

Taylor Brown61 said:molasses
is basically what makes sugar actually "good"

just trace vitamins and way fewer "empty calories."

Look, trace vitamins aren't exactly life-changing... I mean, if you're eating a decent diet and you're healthy, we aren't exactly running low on micronutrients here.

What I'm getting at is, I don't really see the point in trying to supplement ourselves with molasses...

And as for this whole "fewer empty calories" thing—that just implies the concentration of pure sucrose in brown sugar is lower than in white sugar. So what does that mean for sweetness?

Basically, if brown sugar is just as sweet, then fine, whatever.

But if the lower sucrose concentration means it's less sweet, then we haven't actually achieved anything—because to get that same hit of sweetness, you'd just end up using more brown sugar, meaning the total amount of sucrose you're dumping into your system stays exactly the same...

rustymoose54 said:Look, if brown sugar is just as sweet as white sugar, then fine. No big deal.

But if a lower concentration of sucrose means you aren't getting the same hit of sweetness, then we haven't actually solved anything. To get that same level of sweetness, you’d just end up dumping in more brown sugar, which means the total amount of sugar consumed ends up being exactly the same anyway.

Honestly, man, none of this back-and-forth debate is going to help you actually grasp how they taste or how they compare in a real kitchen... Personally, I find brown sugar way sweeter, and it carries its own distinct flavor profile too—though that really depends on whether it's derived from sugarcane or sugar beets. Just try it and see for yourself. For what it's worth, my go-to is still an artificial sweetener!

Taylor Brown61 said:look, man, none of this back-and-forth is actually gonna help you distinguish the flavor profile or how one sugar tastes compared to the other...

I mean, I know the difference—I've got a tongue, after all 😁 🙂

but I'm still curious why (and by how much) brown sugar is supposedly healthier than white sugar

besides, I don't think the issue with a standard, balanced diet—one where you aren't constantly packing on the pounds—is about getting calories just for fuel (you know, those "empty calories" everyone talks about)

The real headache starts when junk food makes up too huge a chunk of what you're eating... then your body ends up dealing with malnutrition even while you're hitting your calorie goals or, worse, overdoing it...

True, there is definitely a difference in flavor profile.

I don't quite follow why white sugar is labeled as unhealthy. Proponents of brown sugar often claim it enters the bloodstream more slowly, which sounds plausible on the surface, but I fail to see the actual biochemical basis for it. Sucrose is sucrose, regardless of the color. Unless brown sugar isn't a simple polymer—requiring more time for breakdown, though I'm not certain that would be biologically significant, given how quickly starch converts to glucose—or perhaps there are trace additives involved that slow down the digestion of the sucrose.

shadowfalcon33 said:It feels like those brown sugar advocates keep pushing this idea—you know, the whole thing about it entering your bloodstream more slowly... like it’s somehow "better" or whatever.

Nah, total myth. Absorption into the blood is just as fast. I've actually measured it myself... 😉

rustymoose54 said:No, absorption into the bloodstream is just as fast. I actually measured it myself 😉

Wait, hold on... You actually ran an experiment?! 😲 👍

If the absorption rate is identical, then the metabolic impact should be too. It likely all comes down to those "fillers" Taylor Brown61 was talking about.

shadowfalcon33 said:Hold up, hold up... You actually ran an experiment?!

Look, I wasn't trying to be some rogue scientist out to prove a point to anyone else... it was just that I noticed my blood sugar spikes look pretty much identical whether I'm using white sugar or brown sugar.

So, the second time around, I timed how fast my glucose levels shot up 20 minutes after eating 30g of standard white sugar. Then I waited a few days until I felt that same hypoglycemia hitting me—same trigger, roughly the same glucose level—but instead of going for the white stuff, I grabbed 30g of brown sugar and checked my levels again at the 20-minute mark.

I mean, sure, I should probably run this another 5 or 6 times to be "official," but for what I actually needed to know—can I bail myself out of a low if there’s no glucose tabs or pure sucrose nearby and I've only got brown sugar on hand?—this little test was more than enough. Basically, yeah, I can use brown sugar just like white; they both kick my sugar levels up just as effectively.

Just grabbed some cane sugar from the Target checkout. The bag claims that unlike white sugar, brown sugar keeps all the good stuff intact: minerals, micronutrients, and amino acids.

Taylor Brown61 said:Brown sugar is basically just raw cane sugar where they strip out the molasses during processing. That molasses is what gets reused for all sorts of baking goods—that’s the stuff that actually gives brown sugar its character. But let’s be real here: there isn't anything incredibly healthy about brown sugar either.
It's just trace amounts of vitamins and still carries a fair amount of empty calories.

Artificial sweeteners... aspartame is easily the worst offender. It's practically in every single "diet" product on the shelf, and there are supposed to be links to cancer...

Look, those links to cancer are real, but we're talking about consuming 50 to 100 servings of saccharin every single day over a long period.
If you're having 2 or 4 servings a day, it isn't going to do a thing to you.
By the way, has anyone tried that fructose coffee from DM? I haven't gone for it yet, but a buddy tells me it's actually great.

I remember reading this deep dive once into the chemical makeup of all different kinds of sugar, from the standard white stuff all the way down to those various syrups, but I can't for the life of me track down the link right now...
Basically, brown sugar is almost identical to refined sugar when you look at the composition. White sugar is just pure sucrose—that’s the disaccharide made up of fructose and glucose. Now, brown sugar usually has a slightly lower concentration of sucrose, maybe somewhere between 80% and 95% depending on the brand, but that gap is mostly just filled out by glucose, fructose (which is just broken-down sucrose), and water. It’s got a negligible amount of minerals, ash, or fats—maybe 3% total if you're lucky—and that's really it. Honestly, I don't see any biochemical reason why anyone would claim brown sugar is "healthier" than the white stuff, though I guess people like the flavor profile differently...
The lowest sucrose content is actually found in syrup, sitting at about 65%, while the remaining 30% is mostly just water and a tiny bit more minerals, under 2%...
Since fructose sits higher on the sweetness scale than both sucrose and glucose, pure fructose is sweeter, but man, it's pricier too. It's like asking a Napa Valley winemaker to swap their traditional methods for some high-end additive; sure, you could put fructose in wine instead of regular sugar to boost the sweetness, but it's going to cost you a fortune, brother...

driftinggull13 said:Brown sugar is basically identical to white sugar when you look at the composition.

I honestly don't see any biochemical reason why brown sugar would be any healthier (and I'm not even talking about the flavor profile here).

Syrup actually has the lowest sucrose content—around 65%—but about 30% of what's left is just water plus a tiny bit more minerals (less than 2%).

On the sweetness scale, fructose ranks higher than both sucrose and glucose, which makes pure fructose much sweeter,

, but man, it's pricey.

Well, thanks for laying all that out—you pretty much filled in all the gaps I left out....

And here's a little fun fact for you... heh, let me see if I can top your info 😁

since fructose acts almost like a "pure" fruit sugar that the body absorbs nearly instantly. So, if someone is feeling lousy or their blood sugar crashes, the best move is to grab something with fructose... sure, it costs a premium, but it works... just like grape sugar does! 👋
But anyway, back to artificial sweeteners... in talking with some doctors, I found out that it's actually best to go with The Beatles (kill me now, I'm not even sure if I'm spelling that right)... apparently, aspartame has the lowest impact, and that’s really the most important thing!