Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagle the nutrition diva and today I have some quick and dirty tips on sugar in particular natural sugars.

I'm sure you've heard a lot about how bad refined sugar is for your health,

enough to think twice before putting that bag of white sugar into your grocery cart.

And right next to the white sugar are some options that seem that they might be just a bit healthier.

There's evaporated cane juice, for example.

Or what about raw sugar?

Are these so-called natural sugars really better for you than refined white sugar?

Or at the very least, are they a little less bad for you?

Well, first, let me give you a quick rundown on who's who in the sugar aisle.

Now, for the purposes of this episode, I'm not going to include natural sweeteners like honey and maple syrup

I'm focusing on sweeteners produced from sugar cane or in some cases sugar beets and these include

Refined white sugar.

This is pure sucrose.

It can be produced from either sugar cane or sugar beets,

but by the time it's been refined to a white crystal,

the two are chemically identical.

Molasses is what's left over from the sugar refining

process. It's everything that gets taken out when you refine sugar cane into white sugar.

Brown sugar is basically refined white sugar with a bit of molasses added back into it.

In fact, if you ever run out of brown sugar, you can make your own by adding one tablespoon

of molasses to one cup of white sugar. For dark brown sugar, add two

tablespoons of molasses. Evapidated cane juice such as Florida Crystals is, as the

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