Myth Debunked: White or brown sugar?

Brown sugar is more expensive than white sugar, and this is perhaps after the claim that it is healthier.  But is this true?

Sugar, whether white or brown consists of the disaccharide sucrose, a carbohydrate.  Sugar production involves removing everything except for sucrose.  What remains is white sugar.  Brown sugar is produced by leaving some cane molasses behind or manually adding them after production. 

In reality, brown sugar is actually dirty sugar! This poses no threat to human health though. It is sometimes claimed that brown sugar contains minerals like manganese, copper, iron and vitamin B. These are naturally present in the molasses but their amounts are insignificant compared to the daily recommended amounts. 

From a health point of view, there is no real difference between brown and white sugar. It is just a matter of personal preference... whether one likes the dark colour and taste of molasses in brown sugar or whether one prefers the classic white sugar.   

Reference:  Kovàcs, L. et al., 100 Chemical Myths [2014] ISBN: 978-3-319-08419-0.