Sugar in the Raw is a brand name for turbinado sugar, which is also called raw sugar. "Raw" is a bit misleading, as all sugar is refined in some respects. Raw or turbinado sugar is less refined than white sugar, retaining some of the nutrients and coloring that are removed during the white sugar refining process.
Origins
Raw and refined sugars both come from sugar cane plants. Sugar cane juice is extracted by compressing the plants and then heated to remove the molasses. Because it is less refined than white sugar, some molasses remains in raw sugar, giving it a slightly different flavor and darker color than refined sugar. Molasses contains nutrients of its own, so some of these remain in the raw sugar. The amounts of these nutrients in raw sugar are so far below the USDA's Recommended Daily Allowances, they should not be a determining factor in sugar choice.
Serving
One serving of raw sugar is considered 4 to 5 grams, or approximately one teaspoon, according to popular turbinado sugar manufacturers. However, for measurement purposes, the USDA National Nutrient Database calculates values based on 100 grams. When determining the nutrients in turbinado sugar or baked goods containing this sugar, the serving size needs to be taken into account and calculated accordingly.
Calories
A single teaspoon serving of turbinado sugar contains approximately 20 calories, based on both USDA and manufacturer calculations. These calories are determined using a standard formula based on the amount of protein, carbohydrates and fat in a food, with one gram of protein or carbs equal to 4 calories and one gram of fat equal to 9 calories. Raw sugar contains no fat or protein, so all 20 calories per serving are from carbohydrates. All of these carbohydrates are from sucrose rather than other natural sugar sources, such as fructose, lactose or maltose.
Iron and Calcium
Molasses contains iron and calcium, and turbinado sugar contains traces of these minerals. However, calcium is present only at a rate of 12 milligrams per 100 grams of the sugar, while only 0.37 milligrams of iron are found in that serving. This amounts to approximately 0.5 milligram of calcium and just over a hundredth of a milligram of iron. Both levels are so low that turbinado sugar manufacturers list the nutrients at zero per serving. Plus, eating enough raw sugar to gain significant amounts of these minerals would be unhealthy due to the high sucrose content. For example, to gain just one hundredth of the RDA of calcium, you would need 26 servings of raw sugar, equal to approximately 130 grams of sucrose. This, in turn, is 520 calories, or more than a quarter of the 2,000-calorie daily diet recommended by the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Other Nutrients
Minerals other than calcium and iron are present in raw sugar in trace amounts, but as with the previous minerals, the amounts are so low as to be dietarily insignificant, with many nutrient levels at less than one thousandth of the levels recommended by the USDA's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The mineral present in the highest amount in turbinado sugar is potassium. At less than 1.5 milligrams per serving, it is not a good source for dietary potassium. No vitamins are present in turbinado sugar unless it is artificially fortified with them. The sugar also lacks lipids, amino acids and any other beneficial nutrients.
Comparisons
Despite the fact that turbinado sugar does have trace amounts of some minerals, it is not a significant improvement over granulated white sugar. Granulated white sugar has a slightly lower calorie count at 16 calories per teaspoon, compared to raw sugar's 20 calories, along with even smaller traces of calcium, iron and potassium, according to the USDA.
The standard serving size for honey is 1 tablespoon, approximately 3 times larger than a serving of sugar, but even in a 5 gram serving, it has only about 15 calories that stem from a variety of sugar sources, including sucrose, glucose and fructose. It is still not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, but the iron and magnesium content is comparable to raw sugar, as per the USDA's National Nutrient Database.
Molasses has about 14 1/2 calories per 5 grams from fructose, glucose and sucrose, as well as just over 10 milligrams of calcium, 12 milligrams of magnesium and 73 milligrams of potassium.
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