Coconut sugar

Coconut sugar is notable for sucrose, FODMAPs, fructose and nickel. Clear on lactose, histamine, gluten, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, tyramine, salicylate and oxalates.

Coconut sugar contains moderate levels of sucrose. Coconut sugar is boiled palm sap, and what crystallises out is mostly sucrose - the same molecule as cane sugar, whatever the marketing says about its glycaemic index.

Coconut sugar contains only low levels of FODMAPs. Coconut sugar is mostly sucrose, and sucrose splits into one glucose and one fructose in equal parts - so the glucose carries the fructose across and no excess is left to ferment. Table sugar answers the same way. It is fructose IN EXCESS of glucose that this axis counts, not fructose as such.

Coconut sugar contains only low levels of fructose. Coconut sugar is mostly sucrose, from boiled palm sap. Sucrose splits in the gut into one glucose and one fructose - equal parts, so the glucose carries the fructose across and no excess is created. That is why table sugar sits below agave or honey here.

Coconut sugar contains only low levels of nickel. Coconut sugar is the one coconut product with a genuine reason not to inherit the flesh's level: it is boiled from the SAP of the flower, a different tissue that never passes through the nut. But it is not a refined sugar either - it is sold on the minerals it keeps, and a sugar that advertises its mineral content is not a plausible zero for a trace metal. No measurement of its nickel has been published: the review of coconut sugar's chemistry calls heavy-metal research on it almost nonexistent, and the nearest figure is the sap itself - palm sap carries 0.06 mg of nickel per 100 ml. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.