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White sugar, also calledtable sugar,granulated sugar, orregular sugar, is a commonly used type ofsugar, made either ofbeet sugar orcane sugar, which has undergone arefining process. It is nearly puresucrose.
The refining process completely removes themolasses fromcane juice orbeet juice to give the disaccharide white sugar,sucrose. It has a purity higher than 99.7%.[1] Its molecular formula isC
12H
22O
11.[2] White sugars produced from sugar cane and sugar beet are chemically indistinguishable: it is possible, however, to identify their origin through acarbon-13 analysis.[1]
White sugar (and somebrown sugar) produced from sugar cane may be refined usingbone char by a few sugar cane refiners.[3] Beet sugar has never been processed with bone char and is vegan.[4] In modern times,activated carbon andion-exchange resin may be used(seeSugar refinery § Purification).
From a chemical and nutritional point of view, white sugar does not contain—in comparison to brown sugar—some minerals (such as calcium, potassium, iron, and magnesium) present in small quantities in molasses.[5][6][7] The only detectable differences are, therefore, the white color and the less intense flavor.[7]
The overconsumption of white sugar (or any sugar) brings many health consequences,[8] includingheart disease,obesity andtype 2 diabetes. TheCDC recommends limiting daily sugar consumption to less than 200 calories worth (about 12teaspoons/48grams) on a 2000 calorie diet.[8]
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