I am no water chemist, but I believe that since sugar does not
disassociate when dissolved, this is not true. Salt is NaCl, which
means that when you put it in water, it becomes Na+ and Cl-, thus
increasing the number of ions. Sugar is a covalent compound, which
means it remains as-is in dissolution.

That being said, I'm not sure I understand the connection between the
solvency of water and the addition of ionic impurities. Maybe I'll look
that up in my Chemistry book.

Steve

Alex Chaihorsky wrote:
> When we steep things in water we extract. Extraction is dependant on
> dissociative abilities of water and it improves with the presence of free
> ions. That is why sometimes a tiny pinch of salt is added to water when
> making coffee or tea.
> Sugar, being dissolved, may work in the same way.