It is generally believed that brown sugar is suitable for women with irregular menstruation and new mothers. In fact, brown sugar is more suitable for the elderly, especially for those who are old, weak, or recovering from a serious illness. This is because brown sugar is an unrefined crude sugar that retains more vitamins and minerals. Brown sugar helps the elderly live longer and healthier.
Depending on the size of the crystalline grains, brown sugar is divided into granulated brown sugar, brown sugar powder, and bowl sugar. Because it is not highly refined, it retains almost all the components of sugarcane juice. In addition to its function as a sugar, it also contains vitamins and trace elements such as iron, zinc, manganese, and chromium. Its nutritional content is much higher than that of white sugar.
Every 100 grams of brown sugar contains 90 milligrams of calcium and 4 milligrams of iron, and also contains small amounts of riboflavin and carotene. Japanese researchers have also extracted a polysaccharide called "molasses" from brown sugar. Experiments have proven that it has strong antioxidant effects and a significant role in anti-aging.
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), brown sugar is warm in nature, sweet in taste, and enters the spleen meridian. It has the effects of replenishing qi and blood, strengthening the spleen and warming the stomach, alleviating pain in the middle jiao, and activating blood to resolve stasis. The elderly gradually reduce their intake of various trace elements and vitamins, so they should pay attention to supplementing them in their diet to maintain normal metabolic function and delay aging. Therefore, experts suggest that the elderly should choose brown sugar when consuming sugar.
In fact, there are many ways to eat brown sugar. For example, it can be cooked with tremella, goji berries, red dates, or with red beans, which has a diuretic effect; cooked with longan and ginger juice, it has the effect of tonifying the middle and nourishing blood; cooked with sweet potatoes and ginger juice, it not only has health benefits but is also a unique and flavorful snack.
However, brown sugar is not suitable for everyone. According to TCM, brown sugar is warm in nature and is suitable for people who are afraid of cold and have a deficient and cold constitution. In addition, people with high stomach acid, including those with stomach pain caused by erosive gastritis or gastric ulcers, and diabetic patients, should not consume brown sugar.