What are Dr Coy’s sugars?
(And how to choose the right one)
Not all sugar is bad.
In fact, sugar is necessary for a healthy body. The problem is that we often eat too much of the wrong kind. With Dr Coy’s sugars, we can make smart switches to our favourite recipes, without sacrificing sweetness.
-
Sweet Days
Past
Daily life was stressful for our ancestors. The struggle to gather basic needs required them to exert high levels of strenuous activity. Food could be scarce, and they only had access to a limited supply of fruit in the winter. Fructose rich fruits played a vital role for gaining weight to survive the harsh conditions of winter.
Today
Our struggle to survive the starvation between breakfast and lunch, would shock our ancestors. There is an abundance of fruit today, even in the winter. As a result, people today are more intolerant to fructose than in the past.
-
Honey
Past:
Honey is a natural sugar source. It is considered one of the oldest sweeteners, some fossils of bee honey date back 150,000,000 years. Cave paintings in Spain show the earliest records of beekeeping from 700 BC.
Today:
With the threat of extinction to bee populations worldwide, natural honey is in limited supply. Honey is a natural sugar high in sucrose and fructose. Replacing it with Dr Coy's sugars can have a positive impact on our health.
-
Classic Sugar
Past:
By 1300 AD, the Venetian merchants isolated sugar from sugar cane and it became a luxury for the rich. The gluttonous behaviour that followed from overconsumption may have been the leading cause of death for wealthy people at this time.
Today:
Industrialization brought change, sugar became cheap and readily available to the masses. Around the world people are making less informed nutritional choices and are dying from the side effects of a diet high in classic and added hidden sugars. Obesity and diabetes are serious problems in most nations.
-
Sugar Consumption
Past:
Several hundred years ago people were eating 2-4 kilos of classic sugar per year.
Today:
In some first-world countries today, an individual adult consumes up to 34 kilos of sugar per year. This is due to excessive amounts of sugar found in processed glucose-starch foods such as bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice.
Getting to know the classic sugars
Glucose
Glucose (dextrose) is a simple sugar that provides most of our energy. It’s stored in our liver and muscles in the form of glycogen, ready to be released when we need it.
Glucose:
Most of the glucose we consume comes from starchy carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes. It’s also a component of many common sugar compounds, including:
- Sucrose (glucose + fructose, found in cane sugar and table sugar)
- Lactose (glucose + galactose, found in dairy products)
- Maltose (two glucose molecules joined together, found in malt sugar)
- Combinations of other non-sweet indigestible sugars, such glucomannan (long chains of glucose + mannose), inulin (long chains of fructose) and resistant dextrin (long chains of glucose)
Effects on the body?
Our brains need sugar in the form of glucose, so an entirely sugar-free diet is not ideal. However, overconsumption of classic sugar and starch-rich foods can result in obesity, diabetes, early ageing, memory loss, and may increase the risk of cancer and other negative health problems.
We recommend:
Swapping foods that contain glucose for the Dr Coy's sugars listed below will help avoid these health challenges. Check out our recipes page for suggestions.
Fructose
Fructose (fruit sugar) is the most common simple sugar found in food after glucose. Fructose occurs mainly in fruits but is also found in vegetables and honey, and is a common sweetener added to food and drink.
Fructose:
Our ancestors had limited fresh fruit options in winter and would eat as much as they could when it was available, to gain the fat needed for survival. Fructose is a sugar enabling the efficient building of fat deposits. Consumption of fructose rich fruits in late summer and autumn helped our ancestors to survive but nowadays we don’t use fat deposits to survive the winter. Dr Coy's sugars allow the reduction of fructose and its negative aspects, when combined with fruits or used as calorie reduced sweetener:
Effects on the body?
Fruit is a healthy nutritional choice, but if we eat too many fruits rich in fructose, it can still affect our waistlines and cause other health issues. Consuming too much fructose has been linked to increases in liver fat and reduced insulin sensitivity, which can lead to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease (NAFLD). There are lots of fruits with low amounts of sugar and low amounts of fructose. Berries like strawberries, currants, chokeberries, and blueberries are recommended.
We recommend:
By adding Dr Coy's sugars to fruit drinks and smoothies you can reduce the amount of fructose you consume without sacrificing sweetness. Fresh fruit in our diet is important for nutritional benefits, but balance is key. Consider adding galactose, tagatose, or trehalose to your diet to maintain a healthy balance of sugar.
Sucrose
Sucrose (household, beet, or cane sugar) is a double sugar that consists of glucose and fructose. It can be found in most households either as a crystalline powder or in sugar cubes.
Sucrose:
Most of the time we consume sucrose completely unconsciously, in chocolate, pastries, fruit yoghurts, ready-made desserts, breakfast cereals, condiments and sausages.
Effects on the body?
Individuals consume an average of over 30kg of this type of sugar per year. This strongly contributes to the onset of health conditions including obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
We recommend:
Replacing classic sugar in our recipes and food choices with Dr Coy's sugars can help limit our overconsumption of sucrose.
Lactose
Lactose (milk sugar) is a double sugar, composed of glucose and galactose. As babies, we take lactose through breast milk, then as we grow, we get it through milk products from cows, goats, sheep, and other animals.
Lactose:
Fermented milk products like yogurt, kefir and buttermilk are good options because they contain galactose, which helps with lactose digestion.
Effects on the body?
Lactose intolerance is a common side effect of dairy consumption. Signs include an upset stomach, bloating, gas, headaches, fatigue and eczema. Fermented dairy products like buttermilk, kefir, yoghurt, cheese harbour low or very low amounts of lactose, because fermenting bacteria cleaves the lactose and prevents the lactose intolerance.
We recommend:
Tagatose and galactose can be consumed by people suffering from a lactose intolerance, because they can be digested without lactase, the digestive enzyme which breaks down lactose. Adding galactose and tagatose to coffee instead of dairy milk and classic sugar supports healthy and comfortable digestion.
The surprising benefits of Dr Coy’s sugars
Tagatose
Tagatose, is a sweet, simple sugar (monosaccharide) with a very low glycaemic index and low-calorie content. Tagatose stabilises blood glucose levels. A small amount is absorbed in the small intestine, and the remainder is excreted or fermented in the large intestine by good bacteria.
Galactose
Galactose, is a simple sugar (monosaccharide) like glucose, but with a lower glycaemic index, which means it doesn’t lead to a fast blood glucose increase and blood sugar levels remain stable. Although it has the same calorie content as glucose, it uses more energy to process, so the actual calorie content is lower than normal sugar.
Isomaltulose
Isomaltulose is a natural double sugar (disaccharide) which consists of the same components as conventional household sugar – glucose and fructose – but has a lower glycaemic index. Isomaltulose prevents a strong blood glucose increase, enables a safe and extended delivery of energy to the body, and protects teeth from decay.
Trehalose
Trehalose, is a natural double sugar (disaccharide) composed of two glucose molecules. Many plants, fungi, bacteria, and some insects use trehalose to protect proteins in their cells against protein damages – especially when extreme environmental conditions are present.
Ribose
Ribose is a simple sugar which forms the building blocks of DNA. It’s an essential component of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the primary molecule that stores and transfers energy in our cells. It’s the least sweet sugar.
Ribose:
Benefits:
Recently, the enzyme TKTL1 has been shown to play a major role in converting glucose into ribose to support the formation of new cells. It’s therefore extremely important for the formation of new cells and tissue renewal.
Important:
Ribose promotes cell renewal in healthy bodies, which is very beneficial. However, if the body is compromised by cancer or a virus, such as SARS-COV2, then ribose could fuel the growth of the cancer cells or the virus. Therefore, it is important to know if your body is in healthy state before consuming ribose.
We recommend:
Ribose is a good option for anyone experiencing high levels of stress. Add to any beverage or mix into yogurts or cereals.
Calorie content: 4 kcal per gram
Erythritol
Erythritol is a calorie-free and tooth-friendly sugar alcohol (polyol), that has no negative effects on blood glucose levels. It’s found in honey, grapes, melons and other fruits.
Erythritol:
Benefits:
Although the body absorbs erythritol completely, it cannot use it and excretes it unchanged. As a result, it doesn’t cause any rise in blood sugar or insulin release, and is completely calorie-free. It can’t be metabolized by caries-promoting bacteria, which means it doesn’t damage teeth.
We recommend:
Erythritol is a soluble powder with around half the sweetness of classic sugar. It can be used to add a mild sweetness to ice cream, drinks, desserts or calorie-conscious baking, and tooth-friendly children’s drinks. Because of the absence of negative side effects, you can add more erythritol to suit your preferences without worrying. Combine it with isomaltulose and tagatose for a caramel taste in baking. Erythritol has a cool taste, and can be combined with another Dr Coy’s sugar, such as tagatose, for a more familiar sugary flavour.
An intelligent sugar strategy is the key to good health
Too much classic sugar, combined with large amounts of glucose-based carbohydrates bumps up our daily sugar consumption that eventually damages our health. When this is combined with a stressful and inactive lifestyle, our bodies are at greater risk of disease and faster ageing.
Being aware of where sugar may be hidden in your diet, and knowing how to replace or complement them with Dr Coy’s sugars can provide the energy we need without the negative health risks linked to many of the sugars found in modern diets.
Dr Coy’s sugars can help to:
- Manage diabetes by stabilising blood glucose and insulin levels
- Reduce the visible (and invisible) signs of ageing
- Balance energy consumption for fewer cravings and better mental and physical performance
- Protect teeth from decay
- Enable weight loss by inducing fat burning
Our recipes page is packed with ideas for incorporating Dr Coy’s sugars into your diet.
Get in touch with Intelligent Sugar
Got a question about Dr Coy’s sugars? Contact info@intelligentsugar.info
If you have a question about a specific health condition, please speak to your doctor.
* The EFSA is the European Food Safety Authority. They ensure food safety for all food consumption as well as protecting animals and considering the environment when approving and recommending food options for Europeans to eat safely.