The New Year celebrations are round the corner, and of course, the merriment entails the consumption of sweets. The reassuring part of this practice is that we have – in the recent years – become healthconscious and thus the demand for healthy foods is rising. Yet, there is little denying that the taste for sugar is innate and the taste of sweetness is a pleasure. Even the food of the Gods, PanchAmrit, is a mix of sugar, honey, milk, curd and ghee.
Over the years, sugar has acquired a bad reputation, but the problem mainly arises because it is being consumed in excess of the acceptable daily limit. Back in the day, sugar was a rare commodity, known as ‘white gold’, and was used sparingly, which is why the harmful effects of overconsumption were out of the question. Today, it has become crucial to follow the prescribed dietary guidelines (<10% of calories from sugar) and consume sugary foods only sparingly.
During the festive season, I find myself answering a lot of questions about the ‘sulphurfree sugar’ that is available in the market. Stated very simply, sulphur is an additive used by manufacturers for the purpose of purifying sugar. Sulphurfree sugar does not contain the sulphur residues that are otherwise present in the conventionally cleaned sugars.
It has been scientifically proven that sulphur as a food additive carries the risk of precipitating allergies (asthma) in potentially susceptible individuals. Because of the use of sulphur in the refining process, international markets do not accept most of the sugar processed in India. The sulphur residues of such sugars are usually high (70 ppm) as opposed to the maximum limit of 20 ppm in the international markets. Additionally, sugars cleaned with sulphur release sulphur dioxide during the storage process, which is yet another undesirable effect of such sugars.
Surely, then, we should all prefer to consume sulphur-free sugar. Sulphur-free sugar is cleaned by a process that uses phosphoric acid and phosphate salts instead of sulphur. This process has many advantages over the conventional one. In addition to being a safer and healthier option, this is an eco-friendly process that also enhances soil fertility.
At this point, I must clarify that the sulphur that is naturally present in some foods is quite different to the sulphur that is added to foods. Foods such as eggs, cheese, nuts, milk and meats contain sulphurrich amino acids that are essential for maintaining good health. But the effect of the chemical sulphur, added to foods for purification and preservation purposes, is quite different.