Sweet, Natural Uses for Sugar

Finally! Permission to raid the sugar bowl, but not for your morning cereal or coffee. Learn how the sweet stuff naturally does wonders for dry skin, scrapes, etc.

A little sugar can stretch the staying power of your fresh flowers, says Rita Azar, owner of Rita Flora flower shop in Los Angeles. Make any fresh-cut blooms last longer by adding 1 teaspoon of sugar to the water in a vase.

Sugar is an all-natural exfoliant, so treat rough skin to this scrub from The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa in Asheville, North Carolina: Mix 1/2 cup sugar with 1/4 cup canola oil and 3 drops lavender essential oil; apply in a circular motion.

A spoonful of sugar really does make the medicine go down. According to a study in Pediatrics, infants who were fed a 1-to-4 sugar-water solution before immunizations coped better with the pain from the shots than children who received only water.

No first aid kit on hand? Treat minor cuts and scrapes with a sprinkle of sugar. The ancient germ buster is naturally antibacterial, and it speeds up healing as well, says Lillian Beard, MD, author of Salt in Your Sock and Other Tried-and-True Home Remedies.