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Like refined grains, Refined sugar is considered one of the most
harmful foods consumed today. In 2006, Americans devoured 7.7 billion pounds of
candy.i Consumption of processed foods, which are laced with sugar,
costs the American public more than $54 billion in dental bills each year. The
dental industry reaps huge profits from our addictions to sugar
products.
In 1915, the national average of sugar
consumption per year was 15 to 20 pounds per person. On average, we now consume
our weight in sugar each year, plus over 20 pounds of corn syrup. Some people
consume much less than the average figure, which means that there is a
percentage of the population that consumes a great deal more refined sugar than
their body weight each year. This large amount of refined carbohydrates causes
considerable damage in the body.
A Damaging
Ingredient
Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no
proteins, no fats, and no enzymes—only empty calories. When we eat refined
sugar, our bodies must borrow nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the
incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium are used up in making
the sugar useable. Many times, so much calcium is used to neutralize
the effects of sugar that we can get osteoporosis. Decay also occurs in our
teeth.
If our bodies lack the nutrients used to metabolize sugar, we
cannot properly deal with poisonous waste. These wastes accumulate in our brains
and nervous systems, which causes our cells to die faster. Our bloodstreams
become overloaded with waste products, which often makes us sick.
Sugar
also makes our blood very thick and sticky, inhibiting blood flow into the tiny
capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. Therefore, we
wind up with diseased gums and starving teeth. America and England, the two
largest sugar consumers, have horrendous dental problems.
GreenFacts
Digest, an independent, non-profit organization that summarizes scientific
reports on various topics for the general public and reports the consensus, says
this about sugar:
Sugars are the most important dietary factor in the development
of dental caries. Worldwide studies on human populations show an association
between sugar consumption and level of dental caries. Isolated communities that
consume a small amount of sugar have a very low level of this disease. Groups of
people with a high exposure to sugars have a higher level. A strong correlation
exists between both the amount and frequency of sugar consumption and the
development of caries, even in countries that use preventative measures such as
water fluoridation. In addition to solid foods, consumption of sugary drinks
also increases the risk of developing dental cavities. Studies have shown that
starches are generally a much lower risk factor in developing dental caries than
sugars. However, when starches are cooked or combined with sugars, the risk is
greater. As part of a normal mixed diet, there is little evidence that fruit
causes caries or diabetes. Animal studies have shown that when fruit is consumed
in very high frequencies (e.g. 17 times a day) it may induce caries. The link
between dietary sugars and dental caries is supported by a large body of
evidence.ii
Diabetes is caused when our pancreases can’t produce enough insulin when
our blood sugar rises. We can literally wear out our pancreases by poor dietary
choices, and diabetes will set in. Diets high in processed foods have high
refined sugar and saturated or hydrolyzed fat content, and they usually are high
in high glycemic foods. The latter are those which quickly are converted by the
body into glucose, a form of sugar. Almost always, those foods are processed
foods. A concentrated amount of high glycemic index foods introduced into the
system shocks our bodies and overwhelms their capacity to deal with the influx.
Over time, breakdown and disease results.
Hypoglycemia, another
pancreatic problem, occurs when our pancreases overreact to all the sugar in our
blood and release too much insulin. This leaves us feeling tired.
Refined
sugar may also be a major factor in gallstone disease. The body’s efforts to
digest or eliminate such an unnatural product can result in the upsetting of the
mineral balance in our bodies. In an effort to rebalance itself, some minerals
either form deposits somewhere in the body or are drawn from body parts where
they’re needed. Calcium can deposit itself in our gallbladders and become
toxic.iii Gallstones may be the result; they are composed of fats and
calcium.
The Sweet Drug
Some call
refined sugar a drug, because in the refining process everything of food value
has been removed except the carbohydrates. Refined sugar has no elements that
make up food. Many nutrition experts say that white sugar is extremely harmful,
possibly as harmful as drugs, especially in the quantities currently consumed in
North American.
One of the keys to orderly brain function is glutamic
acid, a compound is found in many vegetables. When sugar is consumed, the good
bacteria in the intestines that manufacture B vitamin complexes begin to die.
When the B vitamin complex level declines, the glutamic acid is not processed
and sleepiness occurs. This also causes a decreased ability for short-term
memory function and problem solving.
Dr. David Reuben, author of
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition, says, “White
refined sugar is not a food. It is pure chemical extracted from plant sources,
purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is
sucrose and its chemical formula is C12H22O11.
It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely
nothing else to offer.”
Compare sugar’s formula with cocaine’s:
C17H21NO4. For all practical purposes, the
difference between the two is that sugar is missing the nitrogen
atom.
Mental problems may also be caused by high sugar intake. Our brains
are very sensitive and react to quick chemical changes in our bodies. As we
consume sugar, our cells are robbed of their vitamins, and insulin production is
inhibited. Low insulin production means a high sugar level in our bloodstreams,
which can lead to a confused mental state. This has also been linked with
juvenile criminal behavior. Many mental ward and prison inmates are
“sugarholics.” Erratic emotional outbreaks often follow a sugar binge.
Where Does Refined Sugar Come
From?
Refining means to make pure by a process of extraction or
separation. Sugar is commonly made from sugar cane or sugar beets. Through
heating and mechanical and chemical processing, every nutrient is removed until
only the sugar remains. The sugar cane and sugar beets are first harvested and
then chopped into small pieces. Then the juice is squeezing out and mixed with
water. This liquid is then heated, and lime is added. Moisture is boiled away,
and the remaining fluid is pumped into vacuum pans to concentrate the juice. By
this time, the liquid is starting to crystallize and is ready to be placed into
a centrifuge machine where any remaining residues or byproducts, like molasses,
are spun away. The crystals are then boiled and passed through charcoal filters.
After the crystals condense, they are bleached—usually by the use of pork or
cattle bones.
During the refining process, 64 food elements are
destroyed. All the potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphate,
and sulfate are removed. The A, D, and B vitamins are destroyed. Amino acids,
vital enzymes, unsaturated fats, and all fiber are gone.
All refined
sweeteners such as syrups undergo similar destructive process. Corn syrup has
even been found to contain mercury residues from processing.
Sugar
manufacturers are aggressive in defending their product. They have a strong
political lobby, allowing them to sell a deadly food item that, by all reason,
should not be allowed in the American diet.
The Final Word
Studies
show that sugar is just as habit-forming as any narcotic. The average healthy
digestive system can digest and eliminate from two to four teaspoons of sugar
daily without noticeable problems. However, one can of cola contains 11
teaspoons of sugar. Sugar gives us brief increases in energy due to the rise of
the blood sugar level, but the body quickly releases a rush of insulin, which
rapidly lowers the blood sugar and causes a significant drop in energy and
endurance.
If you have any doubts about the harmful nature of refined
sugar, take it out of your diet for several weeks and see if it makes a
difference! You may also notice you have acquired an addiction and experience
some withdrawal symptoms.
Read about two other addictive substances: coffee and nicotine
i www.candyusa.com
ii www.greenfacts.org/en/diet-nutrition/l-2/9-dental-caries.htm#3
iii Nancy Appleton, Lick The Sugar Habit (New York: Warner
Books, 1985): 73-74.
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