[mike]

I have been told by a number of people (mostly vegans, vegetarians and alternative medicine enthusiasts) that raw sugar is much healthier for you than refined (or white) sugar. The premise for this assumption is that "chemicals" have been used to "bleach" the raw sugar in order to produce the refined sugar. I have been told that raw sugar is natural and real sugar is not meant to be white (as nothing is naturally white, so I was told).

There are some obvious flaws in this argument, first sugar (or sucrose) is a white crystaline solid. Second, I don't think that the fact that "chemicals" are used in the refining process is necessarily bad, people just don't like the thought of chemicals (thank goodness they don't realise that sugar is a chemical ).

To the best of my knowledge real raw sugar is not suitable for sale to the public. So the raw sugar we buy in the shops has been refined to some extent to remove, mould, bacteria, dirt etc etc

So my opinion is (and I would like to hear your opinions) that raw sugar and refined sugar are just as good as each other. I would preferentially choose refined sugar as it has a higher purity. Raw suagr may contain some minerals in the form of molasses, but "real" raw sugar contains dirt, bacteria and mould.

What are peoples thoughts/knowledge of this? and what are peoples thoughts on the publics misconception of chemicals?

[billnotgatez]

Do we not eat dirt and microbes? Is it that we just do not notice it since we do not get sick from it and they are not readily visible?

I know your are going to say eeeewwwww.

[mike]

Do we not eat dirt and microbes?

Well I'm not sure about you billnotgatez, but I had a roast beef with roast vegetables and gravy for lunch, lol

[Mitch]

I wouldn't trust sugar that wasn't at least passed through an activated charcoal plug, same goes for my water. Being we are all Chemists here, I think we'll have a skewed opinion on this subject though.

[pantone159]

The raw sugar you speak of is sometimes called Turbinado.

Some links:
http://www.sugarintheraw.com/html/faqs/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbinado_sugar

These claim that the Turbinado has molasses that is removed in refined sugar, as well as other 'nutrients' from the sugar cane.
The first link claims that these nutrients are both good for you (who knows) and more flavorful (that one sounds pretty believable).
Neither makes any claim about 'bad chemicals' involved in refining, just that the stuff the refining removes is good.

[Borek]

There is more to it.

As we evolved eating microbes and dirt, they are imprinted into our lives. Our current - artficially sterile - environement is wrong for our health. Lack of microbes to fight is a very probable reason of so common allergies, as our immunological systems develop stupid reactions out of boredom OK, not out of boredom, but immunological system was designed to be active, when it has nothing to do it looks for enemy - and can become oversensitive to things that it should ignore.

Lack of bacterias in our digestional tract is dangerous as they produce B vitamines, lack of bacterias on the skin often lead to mycosis (especially in the wet parts that I will not name ).

There is a saying that there are clean kids and happy kids. It has a new version - there are clean kids and healthy kids.

[mike]

Mark: I like the last FAQ in the first link you posted: "Why, if it's less refined, is Sugar In The Raw more expensive than white sugar?" what a great question So it seems that the main difference is the taste, I suppose. Therefore the choice will be a personal preference to taste (unless you are vegan or kosher in which case you would have to go for the raw sugar.) So are you concerned that your white sugar is being bleached? And what about all of the products that we consume that contain sugar (are we supposed to be told whether the maker has used raw or refined sugar?).

Borek: Yes an interesting topic also, do we harm ourselves and our children by being too clean? I have often thought that in the future, generations of people will have evolved to be immune to HIV/AIDS or to cancer....

[constant thinker]

Has anybody ever chewed on plain sugar cane. I have, I found it to be good. My uncle grew it in a greenhouse and gave me some.

Also I love molasses and dip bread in it. Although I guess molasses is technically processed.

[pantone159]

Mark: So are you concerned that your white sugar is being bleached?

Personally, I'm not concerned at all.  Sucrose is sucrose.

[mike]

Personally, I'm not concerned at all.  Sucrose is sucrose.

Yes me too, I have the exact same sentiment, sucrose is sucrose