What about Sugar?

When I first heard that white sugar was made white, by the use of animal bones, I thought it was a joke. As it turns out, not exactly. Refined sugar, that is made with sugar cane, is sometimes bleached and filtered by bone char. Brown sugar, confectioners sugar, and to a lesser extent, fructose, can also be processed by the use of bone char.

Bone char is charcoal that is made from the bones of cattle. It is pretty difficult to tell if any given sugar is processed by bone char. The exception to this is if the sugar is organic. Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar is a popular organic brand, but any sugar that is organic will not be processed by bone char.

According to the Vegetarian Journal, there are no bone particles in the finished product. However, the use of bone char does involve dead animals.

While considering sugar, I learned that refined sugar causes tooth decay because it feeds harmful bacteria in your mouth. I was surprised to learn that Xylitol, a birch tree alcohol sugar, stops the growth of harmful bacteria and Candida. It starves harmful bacteria because it can't use this alkaline sugar as food. Consequently, healthy bacteria, which helps prevent cavities, takes it's place.

I'm going to try to starve some unhealthy bacteria with Xylitol. I'll let you know how it's going in two weeks.