Vegans, health and sugar

[harpy]

If you're concerned, Chiyou, or if you want to drink a lot of this stuff, green tea's easy to make yourself (stating the obvious here, I'm sure!). Making your own iced tea would require a bit of forward planning, I guess.

[Chiyou]

I don't eat premade soups I typicaly make my own soups like leek and lentils,or potato soups.Also yes I've made my own green tea before I think I may do that more often since I read the back once again it has 17g of sugar in it ugh..it also has honey but I've heard some vegans still use honey...

[bradders]

As far as I am aware no genuine vegan uses honey as it comes from an animal. Honey production involves mass cruelty mutilation and death. Since vegans seek to avoid such things to the greatest degree possible and practical it is not vegan.

[RubyDuby]

I don't eat premade soups I typicaly make my own soups like leek and lentils,or potato soups.Also yes I've made my own green tea before I think I may do that more often since I read the back once again it has 17g of sugar in it ugh..it also has honey but I've heard some vegans still use honey...
as bradders said, vegans don't use honey because by definition vegans don't use anything that comes from an animal if we can help it.
Check this thread (http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18347) for some explanation.

[Korn]

Here's an excerpt from some infro found on another forum (blog), (here (http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/entry.php?730-White-Sugar-Is-it-or-isn-t-it))...



Since no animal products are actually a part of the sugar, some say it's vegan. But others say, since the sugar is processed using an animal product, it isn't vegan. So, the big question is: Is it or isn't it? That is something you will have to decide for yourself. It isn't as cut and dry as honey, which IS an animal product. You have decide where you feel comfortable drawing the line. If you eat processed foods, it is almost impossible to avoid added sugar, which would take a lot of research to determine if it is vegan or not.

Now for some good news. Only cane sugar is filtered, beet sugar isn't. If the sugar you are using is beet sugar, you're safe. I spoke to some companies regarding their use of bone char and more good news.

One of the top manufacturers of sugar does not use it. They are certified vegan. This company produces C&H, Florida Crystals and Domino Sugar. I also spoke to Safeway/Vons supermarkets and they use beet sugar in their store brand sugar, so they are also safe to use.

I will add more companies to the list as I talk to them and label them as vegan or not. I would have had a bigger list, but I started this late in the afternoon and I'm on the West Coast, so most of the companies were closed for the day.

So a quick summary of vegan safe white sugar:

C&H
Domino Sugar
Florida Crystals
Safeway Brand
Vons Brand
Billingtons
Tate & Lyle Sugars
Pioneer Sugar
Meijer's store brand
Silver Spoon
Stator Bros Brand (except 1lb package)


The following companies DO use bone char:

Imperial
Dixie Crystals
Holly

These companies might or might not use bone char:

Walmart (Great Value Brand)- They said they use a lot of different suppliers and don't know if any of them use bone char, but I did get a speech explaining how bone char has been used for over 100 years and is perfectly acceptable to use.
Ralph's, Food4Less, Smith's (Kroger Brand)- They use multiple supplies, some of which do use bone char.


This information is not from other websites. I have personally verified the information with either their customer service, quality assurance or R&D depts.

[RubyDuby]

I thoughts Dominos was not safe?? :confused:

[mmmorgans]

I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth :( Having Candida makes it even more challenging.

[Korn]

From CBS/60 minutes:
"Sugar is toxic" (http://healthmaven.blogspot.com/2012/04/sugar-is-toxic.html)

[Firestorm]

Thanks for that Korn, I try to steer away from sugar as much as I can because of diabetes, but sometimes I choose a sugary treat (with extra insulin) over a fatty one as I thought it would be better for my heart. I guess I will try and have as little sugar as possible

[leela]

I just watched the 'sugar is toxic' link you posted, Korn.
I knew high sugar intake wasn't good. but that confirms just how bad it really is for you.
I'm finding it very difficult to cut right back, I've always had a very sweet tooth.
I often bake treats for myself and my two kids, but it still involves the use of quite a bit of sugar.
I'm wondering if using raw unrefined sugar like jaggery, turbinado or dark muscovado would make much of a difference?

[Korn]

Here's a highly biased :-) article from a (non-vegan) site called naturalbias.com:

How Sugar Can Ruin Your Life (http://naturalbias.com/how-sugar-can-ruin-your-life/)

[Lentils]

I just watched the 'sugar is toxic' link you posted, Korn.
I knew high sugar intake wasn't good. but that confirms just how bad it really is for you.
I'm finding it very difficult to cut right back, I've always had a very sweet tooth.
I often bake treats for myself and my two kids, but it still involves the use of quite a bit of sugar.
I'm wondering if using raw unrefined sugar like jaggery, turbinado or dark muscovado would make much of a difference?

You should try dates, they are up to 80% sugar by weight but like all fruits don't cause the problems associated with refined sugar. Some quacks do advocate fruit avoidance but when you actually look at the studies they quote, most are using HFCS rather than actual whole fruits. I think some 'raw' snack bars use dates as a binder and sweetener actually, I wonder how they would be in baked goods!

[Korn]

Here's an excerpt from some infro found on another forum (blog), (here (http://www.veggieboards.com/boards/entry.php?730-White-Sugar-Is-it-or-isn-t-it))...


Since no animal products are actually a part of the sugar, some say it's vegan. But others say, since the sugar is processed using an animal product, it isn't vegan. So, the big question is: Is it or isn't it? That is something you will have to decide for yourself. It isn't as cut and dry as honey, which IS an animal product. You have decide where you feel comfortable drawing the line. If you eat processed foods, it is almost impossible to avoid added sugar, which would take a lot of research to determine if it is vegan or not.

Now for some good news. Only cane sugar is filtered, beet sugar isn't. If the sugar you are using is beet sugar, you're safe. I spoke to some companies regarding their use of bone char and more good news.

One of the top manufacturers of sugar does not use it. They are certified vegan. This company produces C&H, Florida Crystals and Domino Sugar. I also spoke to Safeway/Vons supermarkets and they use beet sugar in their store brand sugar, so they are also safe to use.

I will add more companies to the list as I talk to them and label them as vegan or not. I would have had a bigger list, but I started this late in the afternoon and I'm on the West Coast, so most of the companies were closed for the day.

So a quick summary of vegan safe white sugar:

C&H
Domino Sugar
Florida Crystals
Safeway Brand
Vons Brand
Billingtons
Tate & Lyle Sugars
Pioneer Sugar
Meijer's store brand
Silver Spoon
Stator Bros Brand (except 1lb package)


The following companies DO use bone char:

Imperial
Dixie Crystals
Holly

These companies might or might not use bone char:

Walmart (Great Value Brand)- They said they use a lot of different suppliers and don't know if any of them use bone char, but I did get a speech explaining how bone char has been used for over 100 years and is perfectly acceptable to use.
Ralph's, Food4Less, Smith's (Kroger Brand)- They use multiple supplies, some of which do use bone char.


This information is not from other websites. I have personally verified the information with either their customer service, quality assurance or R&D depts.




More companies verified to sell sugar not processed with bone char:

(From http://www.veganproducts.org/sugar.html#Brands)



American Crystal Sugar Company
Corporate Office
101 North 3rd Street
Moorhead, MN 56560
Phone: (218) 236-4400
http://www.crystalsugar.com (http://www.crystalsugar.com/)
Labels: Crystal Sugar
Note: Uses beet sugar

[...]

Imperial Sugar Company
P.O.Box. 9
Sugar Land, Texas 77487
Phone: 800-727-8427
Labels: Spreckles , Holly Sugar, Pioneer Sugar
Note: Uses beet sugar in the above product lines

Irish Sugar Ltd.,
Athy Road, Carlow, Ireland.
Tel: 0503-42551 Fax: 0503-42534
e-mail: information@irishsugar.ie
http://www.irish-sugar.ie/
Label: Siucra
Note: Irish company selling beet sugar

Monitor Sugar Company
2600 S. Euclid Avenue
Bay City, MI 48706
Phone: 989-686-0161
FAX: 989-686-2959
http://www.monitorsugar.com/
Label: Big Chief
Note: Uses beet sugar

Refined Sugars Incorporated
One Federal St.
Yonkers, NY 10702
914-963-2400
Labels: Jack Frost, Country Cane, 4# Flow-Sweet
Note: Uses granular carbon filter instead of bone char
[...]


Supreme Sugar Company (subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland)
P.O. Box 56009
New Orleans, LA 70156
504-831-0901
Labels: Supreme, Southern Bell, Rouse's Markets
Sugar in the Raw
Cumberland Packing Corp.
2 Cumberland St., Brooklyn, NY 11205
info@sugarintheraw.com
http://www.sugarintheraw.com (http://www.sugarintheraw.com/)
Note: This is another less processed sugar and as a result does not need be filtered in the same way as white sugars.

[Robinwomb]

I had the experience of helping to harvest beets for American Crystal Sugar Company in the early 1990s. I was living in the Red River Valley at that time, and I dated a guy who was also a farmer. In September of every year in the Red River Valley (western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota area) there is a huge process to harvest the beets and farmers from all over are called on to help. I sat in a tractor for six hours as my then boyfriend passed through beet fields and pulled up the beets with the tractor into a truckbed attached, then drove the tractor to a weighing station where the beets were then dumped in a pile and ready for processing. It was a very monotonous job and quite a rough ride through those fields. The sound of beets going into the truck bed was loud. The farmers worked twelve to fourteen hour shifts but six hours was all I could stand to ride along. It was quite an educational experience.

One thing about the beets for sugar. Although they are processed in a vegan way, and beet farmers are paid decent wages (at least in the Red River valley as far as I know), the beet fields I was familiar with in the Red River Valley were chaulk full of herbicides and pesticide chemicals. But then I suppose this is the way it is for a lot of conventionally grown vegetables and fruits.

[deniselynn]

My understanding of Domino sugar is that it may or may not be processed with bone char depending on what factory it originates from.