Can vegans Eat Sugar
Why Can’t Vegans Eat Sugar
Sugar is a plant-based product; it should be vegan friendly, but what is done to it makes it decidedly not vegan. How sugar is made is definitely not vegan; during the separation from impurities, it is processed using bone char. Perhaps you find it difficult to catch, but bone char is charcoal made from animal bones. Yep, you read that right. When an animal is butchered, the whole body and skeletal structure are put to use. In this case, animals like cows contribute indirectly to the production of sugar because their bones are used as charcoal.
This just basically means that sugars that are not “paper white” show they have not been “bleached” and processed to remove their impurities. Those are typically marked as “vegan” or “vegan-friendly.” It would be indicated if a sugar is specially made for vegans or not. Though most vegans don’t know about the whole sugar process, It won’t cause any harm, as most of the junk foods we purchase contain artificial sugar. In a way, even vegans can’t avoid using sugar unless the product they consume is made with vegan sugar.
Because of this whole sugar processing procedure, many vegans now have ethical concerns about the use of refined sugar; it may not contain any animal matter, but certainly animal materials were used in the production process. That said, bone char has become very expensive in the US and Europe, so, in practice, it has been replaced with plant-sourced activated charcoal, and contemporary sugar in those regions is considered vegan-friendly.
What Do Vegans Eat Instead Of Sugar?
Well, there are other sugar alternatives to be on the safe side. Instead of consuming refined and processed sugars, vegans can turn to unrefined or organic sugar. Beet sugar, cane sugar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, date sugar, and coconut sugar are all suitable for vegans. There are actually a variety of sweeteners in place of sugar that are most suitable for vegans. Some vegans do use fruit juice or pureed fruit to sweeten food and beverages, or they may rely on the natural sweetness of whole foods like fruits and vegetables. It’s also worth noting that some vegans may choose to avoid added sweeteners altogether and rely on the natural sweetness of whole foods.
