A sweetener that has become very popular in the past few years is coconut sugar.
 
This sugar is derived from the coconut palm tree and touted as being more nutritious and lower on the glycemic index than sugar.
 
Regular table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup don't contain any vital nutrients and therefore supply "empty" calories.
 
However, coconut sugar does retain quite a bit of the nutrients found in the coconut palm.
 
Most notable of these are the minerals iron, zinc, calcium and potassium, along with some short-chain fatty acids like polyphenols and antioxidants.
 
Then it contains a fiber called inulin, which may slow glucose absorption and explain why coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than regular table sugar