What is Medicinal Sugar?
Jaggery versus table sugar
Obviously, it can’t be table sugar, because we all know how poisonous it can be!!!
However, a quick search over Google gives you some medicinal benefits of table sugar. Even then, it’s not called ‘medicinal sugar’ because of the reasons known to many out there.
Then what is medicinal sugar? If you haven’t guessed from image of the article, then
the answer is: Jaggery.
Jaggery has higher medicinal values than ordinary table sugar because it’s full of micronutrients, minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals, our body needs. That’s why it has acquired that moniker, ‘medicinal sugar’.
It is the traditional sugar widely used even these days in Indian subcontinent, southeast Asian nations, central and south American countries.
For example, jaggery is added in several sweet recipes prepared throughout India.
Further, in Indian temples and homes, sweet delicacies prepared are offered as prasad, a religious offering, to deities as part of Hindu rituals and pujas. That’s why you encounter many Indians with their names ending as Prasad (not necessarily a ‘surname’).
Drink made out of it is offered as panakam, a sweet beverage drink, during Rama Navami festival in south India. This drink is considered as a thirst quencher during summer months.
Anyways, I digressed little bit away from the purpose of this article.
Let’s dive into its other details.
Jaggery is more expensive than table sugar these days because of the industrial scale dumping of table sugar in the market. So, naturally majority of people prefer table sugar over jaggery because of its low cost.
However, the trend is increasing to pick jaggery as the go-to sweetener since it is more nutritious than table sugar and more people with health conscious are opting for jaggery over table sugar.
My intention here is not just to rave about jaggery without hard details. I want to put it across here the nutritional information of varieties of jaggery and their comparative profile with each other and with refined cane sugar as well.
In addition, highlight the benefits of using jaggery in place of refined sugar, why it should be the preferred sweetener for everyone. That includes persons with mental health issues such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which is my concern in the first place.
Jaggery versus table sugar
Jaggery is the cane sugar derived from the evaporation of sugar cane juice. Technically, it’s called non-centrifugal sugar.
Below is a table of compositions (per 100 g) of sugar cane jaggery in comparison to refined table sugar.
A cursory look at the above table reveals why jaggery is called as medicinal sugar when compared to the ordinary table sugar. Yes, the table sugar pales in many aspects and the jaggery wins thumbs down when it comes to nutrition because of its rich mineral content.
Yes, the ugly dark blackish brown color may offset some people versus that of glistening white color of table sugar. But we shouldn’t be deceived by the color when it comes to our health.
I emphasize here again, if you have not paid attention to the above table yet, please have a look at it before proceeding further as it gives lots of information in a glance and it’s self-explanatory.
However, I would like to highlight couple of points before proceeding further: i) Jaggery has low glycemic index than that of table sugar; ii) Jaggery is a friend of detox center of body i.e. liver, whereas table sugar behaves in opposite manner and causes lots of problems to it.
So, now go and figure out if you still want to use table sugar on a continuous basis over jaggery after reading thus far.
Jaggery varieties
Now having convinced you (I hope so!) that jaggery is better than table sugar, my next job is to tell you which kind of jaggery is better as there are multiple sources are available and we are in luck as all of them are available in the market.
I wish it’s that easy to recommend you but not really as each of them have a different nutritional profile.
Let’s examine their nutritional profiles before making any recommendations.
The below table reflects on the four different kinds of jaggaries available, and their nutritional values (per 100 g).
As it can be seen from the above table the jaggeries from different plant sources have a better nutritional profile than that of table sugar itself.
Jaggery being unrefined, it’s a rich source of several minerals required for our daily health needs. The different jaggeries from plant sources are having slightly varied nutritional profile.
Which kind of jaggery to use?
Sugar cane jaggery and palm jaggery are beneficial for anemic persons as they have higher amount of iron compared to the other two jaggery varieties. Further palm jaggery has higher amounts of potassium compared to rest of them because of which it offers multiple health benefits.
However, they are all superior compared to refined sugar. It’s better to rotate all of them instead of using only one kind to get better nutritional benefits. All jaggeries also contain different kinds of phytochemicals such as several phenol varieties, tannins and flavonoids which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Now after reading this far, is it not a silly question, whether consuming jaggery is beneficial or not for anyone?
Jaggery for mental health needs
How is it beneficial for persons with mental health issues?
Yes, that’s a right question and need to be answered properly and it’s easier to answer as well.
The research studies revealed that several mineral micronutrients are deficient in ADHD persons. Dietary supplementation with mineral micronutrients has shown to reduce severity of ADHD symptoms when compared to placebo group.
In this context including palm jaggery in your diet is suggested to reduce iron deficiency and other minerals in a natural form than with a synthetic pill.
Although one can’t consume 100 g of jaggery in a day but regular consumption of 10–20 g of jaggery is not difficult and that too when taken two or more portions. This supplements the mineral intake from the other dietary sources. We need to consume a variety of foods endowed with minerals and vitamins to meet our daily needs. Jaggery is one of them to be included in our daily intake as sweetener instead of table sugar.
Jaggery can be included in our daily diet as part of snacks such as candies and cakes prepared with several nuts such as peanut, almonds, cashews, and several plant seeds. These items are routinely sold in India and am sure same is the case with other nations around the world where jaggery is widely used.
Jaggery is a friend of my son
With respect to my son, we try to avoid giving him items where table sugar is in excess or given in only small quantities.
We include jaggery in many of his drinks or smoothies as a sweetener and given as part of evening snacks which contain jaggery.
We need to consume the right kind of foods to improve our health. The foods individually may seem to have not contributed much but the sum of all the benefits accrued from different foods makes all the difference. Jaggery is one food whose benefits are not directly correlated but overtime we find its benefits.
So, jaggery is just one item among many others which help my son in managing his ADHD. I don’t claim his behaviors were reduced directly because of jaggery alone but I can confidently tell you that it helped him in combination with other supplements we provide him. Since jaggery is rich with essential minerals we require daily, and it probably helped my son through minimizing his mineral deficiencies.
Additionally, I think it has helped him in unexpected ways, i.e. reducing his constipation and improving his digestive health, which appears to be one of the direct benefits talked about with jaggery.
I have only scraped the top layer about the benefits of jaggery, and it will take multiple articles if I have to cover its usage in traditional medicines in India.
Remember, jaggery also contains large amounts of sugars and we need to consume them in moderation. When used appropriately it provides valuable amounts of minerals and phytochemicals to keep us healthy.
Until the next post, cheers
Vara
