(NaturalNews) The search for healthy, natural sweeteners sometimes seems to involve a whirlwind of information. I’ve been writing about stevia since 1997 — back in the day when the FDA was actually seizing stevia products and threatening to arrest the owners of stevia companies. But today, stevia is now widely accepted as a safe, natural sweetener. That doesn’t make it super popular, however: Many people complain about the aftertaste of stevia, and it doesn’t melt or cook like sugar does.

So the search goes on. For several years, many people in the natural health community have been turning to agave nectar, a low-glycemic sugar made from the bulbous roots of agave plants. While agave has a wonderful taste and a relatively low glycemic index, it has also been embroiled in controversy about whether it is truly “natural” or even low glycemic. Some agave nectar providers have, in the past, even been accused of adulterating the product with high-fructose corn syrup (although my sources tell me this practice has ceased for mainstream U.S. suppliers).

Now a new choice for a natural, wholesome sweetener emerges, and it has tremendous promise. It’s called palm sugar.

Why palm sugar is the next big thing in natural sweeteners

Palm sugar is a nutrient-rich, low-glycemic crystalline sweetener that looks, tastes, dissolves and melts almost exactly like sugar, but it’s completely natural and unrefined. It’s acquired from the flowers growing high on coconut trees, which are opened to collect their liquid flower nectar. This nectar is then air-dried to form a crystalline sugar that’s naturally brown in color and naturally rich in a number of key vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including potassium, zinc, iron, and vitamins B1, B2, B3 and B6.

It is never refined or bleached like white sugar. So the nutrients it was made with are still there. That’s rare for sweeteners, most of which are highly refined. Even stevia is highly refined in its white powder form (real stevia is a green herb).

The amazing caramel and butterscotch taste of palm sugar

Remarkably, even though palm sugar cooks, dissolves and melts just like regular sugar, it has a far superior taste. As Wikipedia states, “The taste of pure coconut palm sugar resembles that of brown sugar, yet with more rounded caramel and butterscotch notes, without the metallic ending flavor that brown sugar has. It has a rich flavor.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_sugar)

I completely agree with that assessment. Palm sugar adds a special richness to almost any recipe. I’ve been using it in smoothies, and I know raw food chefs who are thrilled about using it in raw food desserts (palm sugar is not raw, by the way, but neither is agave nectar). You can use palm sugar as a replacement for regular white sugar in any recipe. You’ll get improved taste, improved nutrition and a lower overall glycemic index for the finished food.

Palm sugar is not a calorie-free sweetener. It has calories like any carbohydrate, but due to its relatively low glycemic index, its calories are absorbed into the bloodstream at a significantly slower rate than regular refined sugar. This property should be of interest to anyone who is monitoring their blood sugar levels and attempting to avoid blood sugar spikes. Palm sugar isn’t medicine; it’s a food with a surprisingly low GI, considering its sweet taste.  It has a glycemic index of 35. By comparison, the GI of honey is 55 – 60, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is 62. Maltodextrin, a common powder often added to many sweeteners, has a GI of 105! (http://www.snac.ucla.edu/pages/Reso…)

At just 35, our palm sugar has a glycemic index very similar to milk or cooked carrots. And yet it’s a super delicious sweetener!

One disadvantage: The price

As with many healthy products, the price is higher than conventional, processed “junk” products. Highly-refined cane sugar is dirt cheap because it can be mass produced in sugar factories that churn out huge quantities of that white, nutritionally-devoid powder known as “table sugar.”

But creating something healthier is more complex. Climbing coconut trees to harvest the nectar of their flowers is difficult work, and drying the liquid into crystals takes time (and patience). Palm sugar isn’t fast sugar. It’s slow sugar that takes time to grow, harvest, and dry. Not coincidentally, it also takes time for its complex carbohydrates to be disassembled during digestion, which is why it has a lower glycemic index.

Organic palm sugar usually costs anywhere from $8 – $10 per pound in the USA. There is an issue with adulteration when purchasing palm sugar overseas: Some low-integrity companies adulterate it by mixing in cane sugar.

My experience with palm sugar

As you know, I only recommend products I use myself. I’ve been experimenting with organic palm sugar for about two months now, and I’m really happy with the results. When used as a sweetener in smoothies, it doesn’t give me the “sugar jitters” that more refined sugars used to do. (I used to be borderline diabetic myself, so I’m very aware of how sugars impact the way I feel.)

It also doesn’t make my teeth feel sensitive the way agave nectar sometimes can. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced this side effect from agave nectar, but it’s something I’ve noticed. I still recommend agave nectar, by the way, because it has many good properties. But it does seem to make my teeth feel funny from time to time. (I’d be interested to hear if you’ve ever felt this, too…)

Palm Sugar mixes really well with water, but it doesn’t mix 100%. There are a small number of palm sugar solids that do end up at the bottom of the smoothie shaker bottle, but this is no big deal as you can just shake it again. (I use a Blender Bottle to shake up my smoothies.)

The future of palm sugar

With everything I’ve learned about palm sugar over the last several months, I expect this to become the next “big thing” in natural, organic sweeteners. Before too long, we’ll begin to see it in health food bars and superfood smoothies.

You may even begin to see it next year in natural food products such as healthy cereals. I’ve come to really appreciate one cereal company called Nature’s Path, and palm sugar is the kind of natural ingredient they may be interested in researching more. (They already have some really great natural cereal products.)

But you don’t have to wait for the food products industry… you can try it yourself in your own smoothies and recipes! Enjoy your palm sugar. I think you’ll really like this natural, nutrient-rich organic sweetener.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com

I came across some very disturbing facts related to childhood obesity and figured I would share them in hopes of jolting a parent or two into putting more effort and care into what they feed their children. This includes any adults who have contact with children, parents, grandparents, neighbors, friends, etc.

Please don’t be the favorite grandmother that even on occasion gives your grandchildren non-food garbage with the message that it is alright because it is from Grandma! What a horrible message to send, food and love should never be in the same message to any child, especially from adults they love and trust.

Use your position as a loved and trusted adult to teach GOOD habits! What a better world it would be if we all did this.  And remember we are our children’s best example… what obesity message are you sending to the kids around you?

1. Childhood diabetes have increased 10 fold during the last 20 years.

2. Childhood obesity has increased nearly 3 fold in the last 25 years.

3. Amount that one additional soft drink per day increases a child’s risk for obesity: 60%

4. Increase in per capita consumption of soft drinks, 1950′s to today :500%

5. Percentage of school districts that have contracts with soft drink companies, allowing them to sell soft drinks on school property: 50%

6. Number of food ads viewed by the average child each year: 10,000

7. Estimated annual amount spent on food advertising aimed at US children: 10 billion

8. percentage of these that advertise fast food, soft drinks, candy, or sugared cereal: 95%

9. Increase in risk for childhood obesity per hour of daily television viewing: 12%

10. Annual direct cost of obesity to the American economy: $70 billion!

Source: Dream Magazine, Winter 2004, Published by Children’s Hospital Boston