Good and Bad Sugars: Which to Choose and Which to Avoid?
Is fruit sugar bad for blood glucose?
Are honey and maple syrup really better than white sugar?
And what about stevia, monk fruit, and substitutes like erythritol?
For a long time, we've lumped all sugars into the same category. However, eating a whole apple is vastly different from drinking a sugary drink or adding several spoons of white sugar to food.
To understand which ones to prioritize, we need to look beyond just the number of grams of sugar: where does it come from? Is it naturally present in a whole food? Does it come with fiber? Has it been added? And most importantly, how much of it are we consuming?
Are all sugars bad for your health?
No.
Our bodies use glucose as an energy source, and carbohydrates are naturally part of many nutritious foods.
What is particularly important for our metabolic health is the form in which these carbohydrates arrive, their quantity, their frequency, and what accompanies them.
We distinguish between complex sugars, naturally present in whole fruits and vegetables, and simple sugars. The latter include sugars added to foods, as well as those naturally present in honey, syrups, and fruit juices.
This is an important distinction.
Is fruit sugar bad for blood glucose?
A fruit naturally contains sugars. But it also contains water, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and a multitude of plant compounds.
This food matrix changes many things.
Fiber helps to slow down the digestion and absorption of carbohydrates. A whole fruit also requires chewing and generally provides more satiety than juice.
Eating a whole orange is therefore not the same as drinking its juice.
In juice, the fruit's structure is altered, and it becomes very easy to quickly consume the equivalent of several fruits.
For the vast majority of people, whole fruits therefore have a perfectly valid place in a diet that supports metabolic health.
What about vegetables? The same principle applies: there's no reason to fear the small amounts of naturally occurring sugars in a whole carrot, beet, or tomato.
Honey and maple syrup: are they better than white sugar?
Honey and real maple syrup are natural products and contain various plant compounds and micronutrients in small quantities.
They can certainly be chosen for their origin, taste, and less refined character.
But one thing must be kept in mind: they remain sources of free sugars.
Maple syrup therefore doesn't become without consequence for blood glucose just because it comes from a maple tree. The same applies to honey.
They can certainly have a place in our diet, but in reasonable quantities.
Let's think more about pleasure and quality than "healthy sugar in unlimited quantities."
What about coconut sugar?
Coconut sugar is often presented as a more interesting alternative to white sugar because it is less refined and retains small amounts of minerals and plant compounds.
Its glycemic index is sometimes presented as lower, but the data on this subject are variable and this is not enough to make it a particularly favorable sugar for blood glucose. It is largely composed of sucrose and remains an added sugar.
One can therefore choose it for its slightly caramelized taste or because one appreciates its origin, but metabolically, it deserves the same moderation as honey, maple syrup, or other added sugars.
Natural does not mean without effect on blood glucose.
Why reduce white sugar?
White sugar, or sucrose, primarily provides simple carbohydrates (easy to absorb) and energy, with no fiber and very few micronutrients.
The problem is not the occasional spoonful of sugar.
Rather, it's the amount of added sugars that can accumulate throughout a day: sugary drinks, pastries, cereals, desserts, flavored yogurts, sauces, bars, snacks, and numerous ultra-processed foods.
High consumption of added sugars can contribute to excessive energy intake and is associated with various metabolic health problems.
Our approach: less often and less sweet, rather than considering an occasional food as forbidden.
Stevia and monk fruit: good sugar alternatives?
When you want to add a sweet flavor without adding a lot of sugar, stevia and monk fruit can be interesting options.
Stevia
Stevia comes from the Stevia rebaudiana plant. The steviol glycosides extracted from it have a sweetening power much higher than that of table sugar and are used in very small quantities.
They therefore make it possible to obtain a sweet taste without providing the same amount of carbohydrates as sugar.
Monk fruit
Monk fruit, also called monk fruit, mainly owes its very sweet flavor to compounds called mogrosides.
Like stevia, it provides a sweet taste with very little sugar.
An important detail, however: read the ingredient list.
A product sold as “stevia” or “monk fruit” may contain other ingredients or bulking agents. Therefore, just because these words appear on the front of the package does not mean that the product is composed solely of this sweetener.
Are sugar substitutes healthier?
Not necessarily.
Aspartame, sucralose, saccharin, acesulfame-K, and sugar alcohols are different substances. It would therefore be incorrect to state that all substitutes have the same effects or that they are all dangerous.
They can be useful in certain situations to reduce the amount of sugar consumed.
But there is another extremely simple strategy: gradually reduce our need for sweet taste.
By sweetening our food less, our palate adapts. A plain yogurt with berries, for example, may eventually seem perfectly sweet to us.
The goal is therefore not necessarily to systematically replace every gram of sugar with an intense sweetener.
Erythritol: what do new studies say?
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol widely used in "sugar-free" or low-carbohydrate products. It provides very few calories and has little direct impact on blood sugar.
However, for some years now, certain research has raised questions about its potential cardiovascular effects.
A study published in 2025 with over 4,000 older adults observed that higher blood concentrations of erythritol were associated with more cardiovascular events.
However, caution must be exercised with this observation: it does not demonstrate that erythritol consumption is the cause. Our body produces erythritol itself, and other metabolic factors may explain part of the observed association.
Another study published in 2025, conducted this time on cerebral small blood vessel cells in the laboratory, observed some unfavorable changes linked notably to oxidative stress and vascular function after exposure to erythritol.
These results are in addition to small experimental studies that have raised questions concerning platelet activation.
These are signals that deserve to be investigated.
Until further research provides more information, it may be reasonable not to make it our primary daily choice when there are other ways to reduce sugar.
Are sweeteners a solution for weight loss?
Replacing sugar with a sweetener can reduce the amount of sugar and sometimes the energy intake of the food concerned. But this does not automatically mean that its long-term consumption improves metabolic health or helps control weight.
Another approach is simply to gradually re-accustom our palate to eating less sweet food.
What sugars should we prioritize daily?
Our first choice remains extremely simple: whole foods.
Whole fruits and vegetables to benefit from their matrix, fiber, and all accompanying nutrients.
When we want to sweeten without adding sugar, stevia or monk fruit can be interesting options.
When we truly want sugar, a little honey or real maple syrup can integrate very well into a healthy diet, while remembering that they remain free sugars.
What about white sugar, sugary drinks, and foods very high in added sugars? Limit them as much as possible in our daily lives, without turning an occasional consumption into a disaster.
How to reduce sugar consumption simply?
Start with foods that contain a lot of it without us necessarily realizing it.
Drink water instead of sugary drinks. Choose unsweetened foods more often. Read ingredient lists. Eat fruits rather than drink them. Add berries to plain yogurt. Gradually reduce the amount of sugar in coffee, recipes, and snacks.
And most importantly, rediscover the natural taste of food.
Because the best strategy may not be to find the perfect sugar, but to make our diet simply need less sweetening.
References
- Abushamat LA, Yu B, Hoogeveen RC, Sun C, Cheng C, Hartig SM, Herman MA, Balasubramanyam A, Reusch JE, Selvin E, Ndumele CE, Nambi V, Ballantyne CM. Erythritol, Erythronate, and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Older Adults in the ARIC Study. JACC Adv. 2025 Mar;4(3):101605. doi: 10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.101605. Epub 2025 Feb 20. PMID: 39983608; PMCID: PMC11889355.
- Berry AR, Ruzzene ST, Ostrander EI, Wegerson KN, Orozco-Fersiva NC, Stone MF, Valenti WB, Izaias JE, Holzer JP, Greiner JJ, Garcia VP, DeSouza CA. The non- nutritive sweetener erythritol adversely affects brain microvascular endothelial cell function. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2025 Jun 1;138(6):1571-1577. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00276.2025. Epub 2025 Jun 3. PMID: 40459966.
- Wölnerhanssen BK, Meyer-Gerspach AC, Arduini A, D'Alessandro A, Gronda E, Carugo S, Bonomini M, Gallieni M, Masola V, Angelillo-Scherrer A, Prosdocimi T, Lopaschuk GD. Sweeteners: erythritol, xylitol and cardiovascular risk-friend or foe? Cardiovasc Res. 2025 Aug 14;121(9):1319-1329. doi: 10.1093/cvr/cvaf091. PMID: 40444390; PMCID: PMC12352310.
