The facts

• Brown bread is more nutritious than white bread - true
• Brown rice is more nutritious than white rice - true.
• Brown sugar is more nutritious than white sugar - false.

Yes indeed, I'm sorry to break it to you all but you can no longer sprinkle brown sugar on your cereal or stir it into your tea thinking that you are getting some added benefit compared to using white sugar.

Don't be disillusioned just because the brown version of things like bread, pasta and rice are better for you. That's because those foods are unrefined and contain more vitamins, minerals and fibre than the white version.

When it comes to sugar however, there is no nutritional difference between white and brown - brown sugar is simply white sugar coated in molasses. Sugar consists entirely of carbohydrate - mainly sucrose, and 100 grams provides about 395 calories.

Sugar can be thought of as 'empty calories' as it does not provide any vitamins or minerals - only calories, which is why it is bad news for those of us watching our weight.

So keep your diet sweet and light and ditch that sugar bowl - be it brown or white, because at the end of the day, sugar is sugar and it's all going to end up in the one place - which will more than likely be on your hips.