Have you seen the new low GI cane sugar called LoGICane? It's the talk of the nutrition world as it claims to be a "natural low Glycaemic Index (GI) sugar" and "a healthier alternative to white sugar". Given our already high intake of sugar in this country and the fact that sugar is a nutrient-poor highly-refined food, something that could make it 'healthier' caught my eye.

When I opened my first pack, it looked like raw sugar - golden squarish crystals of sugar just like what we spoon into our coffee. So what's so special?

It seems that during the milling of sugar cane to make white sugar, all the 'goodness' from the cane is stripped out and discarded as waste. This waste is in fact full of fibre and valuable plant antioxidants such as polyphenols.

Rather than discard it, the sugar processor CSR along with Horizon Science has found a way to extract these polyphenols along with organic acids and minerals and incorporate it back into the washed sugar crystals.

The polyphenols from the sugar cane are interesting substances. They slow down digestion and so can lower the Glycaemic Index of the sugar.

A clever invention, but it won't solve the problem of our high sugar consumption as 75 per cent of our total intake comes from manufactured foods (soft drinks, juices, baked good) and so far they don't use LoGIcane.

Let's not get too excited. While it has an official low GI of 50, it's still not that low. It sits at the top of the 'Low GI' category which has a cut-off of 55 or less. It's about 10 points than ordinary sugar at 65 and which is classified as medium but it's not as low as lentils (26) or oranges (45), for example.

And as far as I can tell, it can't be substituted for all forms of sugar.

For instance, it's no good for making the lemon icing that goes over my favourite carrot cake (I need icing sugar for that). Nor could it make a light sponge (castor sugar) or bake Anzac cookies (brown sugar).

On the other hand, it's great to sweeten your coffee, makes great iced tea with lemon and mint, sugar syrups for poached fruit and certain types of cakes and slices. Anywhere that you'd cook with raw sugar before, you can use LoGICane.

It's expensive which is understandable given the huge investment in technology that's gone into its development and manufacture. So you'll pay more for it but perhaps this will limit how much you use - which is not a bad idea.

Catherine Saxelby is a nutritionist and author of Nutrition for Life. Get more healthy eating tips at www.foodwatch.com.au