Coco Sugar

The Philippine Food and Nutrition Research Institute used the following procedure to determine the Glycemix Index (GI) value of coconut sugar.

Fifty grams (240 ml) standard glucose tolerance test beverage (Medic Orange 50, Product no. 089) and fifty (50) grams of coco palm (Cocos nucifera) sugar  was fed in random order to ten (10) human subjects.

Nutritive value of coconut palm sugar

The Philippine Food and Nutrition Research Institute released the following information about their analysis of nutritive values found in  coconut palm sugar

There are many people out there who are not only after healthy sweeteners but is also concerned on how their sweeteners are made. In fact, due to the human propensity for creativity, too many of the same thing is being hawked around as something else and when consumers are actually buying the same thing but having a different name.

Cane Sugar

The other day, I was asked to describe its color and got stumped. Originally, our process produces a dark, chocolate shade of brown, sometimes coppery or just plain brown. Now, it's way lighter than light brown and neither beige nor buff but not white. So, off I went to consult Mr. Google: its color is cream, a hint of yellow tone to the white.

Palm sugars come in different forms (cakes, tubes, bars, bricks, granules,powder, flakes), color (pale gold to dark brown) and taste (complex taste without the cloying sweetness - very much unlike sugar as you know it). The sweet, watery sap dripping from cut flower buds are harvested from a number of different palm varieties. The process, techniques even palm sap variety used in making palm sugar contributes to a different flavor profile, color, and smell for each type of palm sugar.

Here’s a type of sugar that does not attract swarms of ants.

This sugar is not only “ant-free” — it is also a good sweetener for diabetics. And suited for those consciously managing their weight, too.

The coconut sap sugar (CSS) was developed through research conducted by the Department of Agriculture-Philippine Coconut Authority (DA-PCA).

By Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa, PhD
Food and Nutrition Research Institute

Diabetes is a disease that affects the way the body uses food.  It raises sugar levels in the blood.

During normal digestion, foods are converted into a form of sugar called glucose. The blood transports glucose to cells of the body with the help of insulin, a hormone manufactured by the pancreas.