THE BROWN
SUGAR DOCTOR TO THE KICKAPOO
When I
began working with the Indians, I used to introduce myself as the Sugar Doctor,
in keeping with the humour of the times. I distinctly remember, when giving a
conference on Type 2 Diabetes among the Indians, Louis LR, Chairman of the
Hocanks, impishly questioned me publicly?
Are you a
White Sugar Doctor or a Brown Sugar Doctor?
Of course
the pun was intended since Brown here referred to my skin colour as well as the
rising popularity of Brown Sugar.
Before
arriving at the Clinic of the Mexican Kickapoo, properly referred as Texas
Traditional Tribe of Kickapoo, they would put up a sign saying, The Sugar
Doctor will be here next week. The Clinic Nurse was to later report to me that;
the sign alone had tremendous effect on the Type 2 Diabetics among them. In
fact, she reminded me, after they see that notice, their blood sugar begin to
go down.
After
many years being with them, now I can understand the Symbolic Healing offered
by the Sign proclaiming The Sugar Doctor will be here!
They did
use the term Brown to denote my appearance since they have another word,
Makate, which they use to describe Blacks, now identified as African-Americans,
of whom there were hardly any in their town in the USA but there is community
of descendants of Black slaves of the Seminole Indians, now well mexicanized
near the sacred grounds in Nacimiento de los Negros in Coahuila, Mexico
Yesterday
morning I was discussing matters of nutritional importance to my friend, Dr. W
and he was preparing a nice cup of coffee for me. Of course I will never have
any of the artificial sweeteners, such as Splenda, and give me Brown Sugar, I
told him.
That made
me think, what are the advantages of Brown Sugar over say White Sugar?
I don't
need any convincing about the ill effects upon health of Splenda or other
artificial sweetener such as Aspartame (used in Diet Drinks).
But what
about the White Sugar? And is Brown Sugar healthier than the White Sugar? Where
did the brown sugar come from or where did white sugar get its colour?
And
finally where did sugar come from, which part of the world, and having lived in
at least two countries (Cuba, Jamaica) with precious history of Sugar and two
states with corporate ties to Sugar (Florida, in the USA and Queensland in Australia),
I was prompted to look into it.
The Cane
from which sugar is refined is a reed and possibly had its first use as a
sweetener in the region now we now know as Papua-New Guinea. But traders
brining it to India, was the crucial step in its dissemination to the rest of
the world, since the first refining may have taken place in India in or around
5th Century of the Common Era.
Two great
Hindu Physicians, Charaka and Sushruta had mentioned in their writings about a
disease they called MadhuMeha or Honey Urine Disease, which we now call
Diabetes Mellitus (thus named by Arateus the Cappadocian, meaning Syphon, since
he observed polyuria in his patients with this illness). He seemed to have
practiced medicine in the second century of CE.
The Hindu
physicians not only correctly identified the two types of Diabetes, which we
now know are Type 1 and Type 2, but also had observed the effects of refining
of sugar and its increased consumption to the onset of the “gluttonous type of
Honey Urine Disease”.
Refined
sugar travelled with the Arabs to the Iberian Peninsula and from there to the
Caribbean. Cuba at one time held the record for being the biggest producer of
good quality sugar. (It is worthwhile to note that despite that Cuba had one of
the lowest levels of Type 2 Diabetes in the world until recently, around 1990s,
the prevalence began to increase, so did the obesity)
SO ONE
EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF MY ARGUMENT: It is not refined Sugar, the white table
sugar, Sucrose, a mixture of Glucose and Fructose that causes Diabetes, but
some other changes in the society has to accompany the increasing sugar intake.
Also here we have to make the distinction, Sugar or Sucrose is made from Cane
Juice by evaporation and refining and artificial sugars are just that, chemically
produced the most famous of which is High Fructose Corn Syrup which is made
from Corn and now, its relative Maltodextrin. There is also non-absorbing sugar
alcohol like Erythritol, Mallitol which are found in Chewing Gum, Truvia
etc. But always read labels, chemicals
are chemicals and watch out for the company they keep. Truvia which sound
rather healthy because of its sonorous similarity to Stevia, the sugar plant of
the Indians of the South, is Mallitol plus Maltodextrin. You would also see
that it contains:
Rebiana is the trade name for high-purity rebaudioside A, a steviol glycoside that is
200 times sweeter than sugar!
My advice, Cargill the
agricultural giant that manufactures Truvia is not known for ethical practices,
so stay away!
Back to Brown Sugar..
MUSCAVADO ON TOP
Natural
brown sugar, raw
sugar or whole cane sugar are sugars that retain a small to large
amount of the molasses from the mother liquor (the partially evaporated sugar
cane juice). Based upon weight, brown cane sugar when fully refined yields up
to 70% white sugar, the degree depending on how much molasses remained in the
sugar crystals, which in turn is dependent upon whether the brown sugar was
centrifuged or not. As there is more molasses in natural brown
sugar, it contains minor nutritional value and mineral content. Some natural
brown sugars have particular names and characteristics, and are sold as
turbinado, demerara or raw sugar if they have been centrifuged to a large
degree. Brown sugars that have been only mildly centrifuged or unrefined
(non-centrifuged) retain a much higher degree of molasses and are called
various names across the globe according to their country of origin: e.g.
panela, rapadura, jaggery, muscovado,
pilconcillo etc.
Turbinado, Demerara and so-called "Raw"
sugars are made from crystallized, partially evaporated sugar cane juice, spun
in a centrifuge to remove almost all of the molasses. The sugar crystals are
large and golden coloured. This sugar can be sold as is or sent to the refinery
to produce white sugar
Muscovado, panela,
pilconcillo, jaggery and other natural dark brown sugars have been minimally
centrifuged or not all at all. Typically these sugars are made in smaller
factories or "cottage industries" in developing nations, where they
are produced with outdated, traditional practices that do not make use of
industrialized vacuum evaporators or centrifuges. They are commonly boiled in
open pans, upon wood fired stores until the sugar cane juice reaches
approximately 30% of the former volume and sucrose crystallization begins. They
are then poured into molds to solidify or onto cooling pans where they are
beaten or worked vigorously to produce a granulated brown sugar. In some
countries, such as Mauritius or the Philippines, partially centrifuging the
evaporated and crystallizing cane juice to create a sugar-crystal rich mush,
which is allowed to drain under gravity to produce varying degrees of molasses
content in the final product, produce a natural brown sugar called muscovado.
This process approximates a slightly modernized practice introduced in the 19th
century to generate a better quality of natural brown sugar. A similar Japanese
version of uncentrifuged natural cane sugar is called kokuto (Kanji: 黒糖). This
is a regional specialty of Okinawa, and is often sold in the form of large
lumps. It is sometimes used to make shochu. (Information on
Brown sugar freely available from Wikipedia).
So I cannot argue with my
friend, Dr. W, the commercially sold Brown sugar has no greater health benefit
than the smugness you may feel about having chosen Brown Sugar but the
artisanal brown sugars are still healthier than the white or commercial brown
stuff, as they may contain minerals.
As the Brown Sugar Doctor to
the Traditional Kickapoo, I can only say:
Pass me the Brown Sugar.. Let
me enjoy my Coffee
It is good to have friends like Dr W, who keep an open mind and offer constructive criticism. Here are his comments, published here verbatim. Thank You, Dr W.and L'Chaim, to Life!
Dear S, I'm sorry to say this but I do feel that it would be somewhat irresponsible for you to disseminate this article to laypeople. I think it is a mistake to equate artificial sweeteners as "chemicals" while implying that brown sugar Is natural.
This makes me think of a point that I recently heard in a weight watchers meeting. A 5 pound package of sugar could be sold labeled as "fat free" giving the implication that is a promoter of health. Of course we would agree that nothing could be further from the truth.
The word "chemical" carries an Implication that something is bad. Please be reminded penicillin is a "chemical", so is oleic acid. As is chemotherapy. It requires some education and knowledge to determine which chemicals are good and which Chemicals are bad for us. Just as the term "fat free" requires a similar education to be interpreted correctly so as not to be misleading.
And even things that are truly natural which these days are hard to find can be eaten to excess leading to conditions that are just as Pernicious as the ingestion of smaller quantities of substances or chemicals that we may be consider to be toxic.
So in summary, I say please be careful with your semantics. I believe our opinions are pretty much on the same page but you must be very careful as words have multiple meetings and can be very deceiving. I also disagree with the notion that artificial sweetener is bad in all cases. For many people Have been able to lose large amounts of weight by utilizing artificial sweeteners. I think it all depends on the quantity and the particular artificial sweetener involved. Choose your chemical: sucrose, Sucrose with a brown color caused by an insignificant trace of minerals versus erythritol. I think that the Answer for most of us depends on individual genetics, predisposition to insulin spikes And of course on quantity consumed, etc. More need for individualized medicine is clear.
Unfortunately this leaves the layperson almost as confused as the physicians. I think the jury is still out on artificial sweeteners. Is anyone able to provide scientific evidence That overall mortality is higher in consumers of artificial sweeteners than in consumers of sucrose?
