Once upon a time, refined white sugar was considered a luxury item. To enjoy a slice of cake or a cup of tea with real white sugar was a commodity that only lords and ladies could afford. As far back as 300 BC, when Alexander the Great discovered the well-kept secret of sugar cane in India and brought it back to the Persian Empire with him, sugar was considered a priviledge of the upper class and may even have been used to try to fight infections in war, although the evidence for that claim is rather inconclusive. Soldiers were fed sugar to give them energy before a long battle. And, unsurprisingly, when governments around the world realized just how valuable this "white gold" was, they began taxing it heavily.
For centuries, the investors and corporations behind the industry have touted the benefits of sugar to the general population. When the British tax on sugar was finally abolished in the 1800s, the price of sugar became so low that it wasn't hard to convince people to buy it. It was so cheap, in fact, that an attempt was made to feed sugar to livestock in an effort to fatten up cows and pigs without the high cost of the grains that animals need. Needless to say, the attempt was unsuccessful, if not downright disastrous.
According to the book Sugar Blues by William Dufty, the "sugar pushers" have used several tactics even within the past 100 years or so to convince people to buy their product. In the 1920s, the caloric value of sugar was considered a huge benefit - sugar is nothing but calories. Consumers were urged to use more sugar in their diet as a way to get enough daily calories at a cheap price. It was also advertised as being "pure", which is still on labels of refined sugar today. As Dufty put it, "So effective is the purification process which sugar cane and beets undergo in the refineries that sugar ends up as chemically pure as the morphine or the heroin a chemist has on the laboratory shelves." It has also been lumped into the category of "carbohydrate", making it sound like a necessary nutrient, and was even labeled "made from natural ingredients" during the age of the hippies in the '60s and '70s. Read an excerpt from this compelling book at the Global Healing Center.
The Dangers of White Sugar
Today, refined sugar is generally regarded as safe in small amounts, and there is no distinction between "pure" refined sugar, or sucrose, and other forms of sugar, such as glucose or fructose. In an era when counting calories is used to lose weight rather than gain energy, sugar in all its forms is advised to be taken in moderation. WebMD quotes nutrition professor Rachel K. Johnson as saying, "A calorie of sugar is a calorie of sugar, so whether you're getting it from white sugar or some other type of sweetener, you're still adding empty calories to your diet," referring to other sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup.
From a purely caloric standpoint, of course, Johnson is right. What she fails to grasp, or at least fails to mention, is that sweeteners like honey, maple syrup, or even coconut sugar have not been stripped of all redeeming nutrients, as refined white sugar has. Dufty explains it this way:
"Sugar is worse than nothing because it drains and leaches the body of precious vitamins and minerals through the demand its digestion, detoxification and elimination makes upon one's entire system. So essential is balance to our bodies that we have many ways to provide against the sudden shock of a heavy intake of sugar. Minerals such as sodium (from salt), potassium and magnesium (from vegetables), and calcium (from the bones) are mobilized and used in chemical transmutation; neutral acids are produced which attempt to return the acid-alkaline balance factor of the blood to a more normal state."
In other words, the sugars found in natural sweeteners like honey come with the nutrients needed to digest them. White sugar is devoid of nutrients, so your body has to pull these nutrients from other sources to make it usable.
Dufty mentions another reason why refined sugar is detrimental to health, aside from its inherent need to deplete the body of necessary nutrients. When taken with other carbohydrates, such as the wheat used to make cakes and cookies, sugar causes these carbs to break down improperly. The same is true of sugar taken with protein. In essence, refined sugar, which does not linger in the stomach when taken alone but goes straight to the small intestine and from there into the blood, causes your food to ferment in your stomach when it is forced to stay there with starches and proteins. Carbon dioxide and alcohol are two of the many by-products of such fermentation - ingredients that are not supposed to be in your body and lead to indigestion, excess gas, and stomach upset, among other things.
Sugar Pushers Today
With nutritionists claiming on renowned health websites that honey and maple syrup are no better than refined sugars, it is easy to see why the majority of Americans still keep white sugar in their pantries. Add to that such organizations as Sugar Knowledge International, or SKIL, who make the refining process of sugar cane and sugar beets look interesting rather than deadly, and the problem is even further compounded. SKIL has even claimed to be environmentally friendly, using leftover fiber from the sugar cane (bagasse fuel) to power sugar factories:
"When a large power station produces electricity it burns a fossil fuel [once used, a fuel that cannot be replaced] which contaminates the atmosphere and the station has to dump a lot of low grade heat. All this contributes to global warming. In the cane sugar factory the bagasse fuel is renewable and the gases it produces, essentially CO2, are more than used up by the new cane growing. Add to that the factory use of low grade heat [a system called co-generation] and one can see that a well run cane sugar estate is environmentally friendly."
Modern sugar pushers are just as cunning and decietful as the bigwigs who sold sugar centuries ago. Publicly advising that sugar should be taken in moderation, claiming to be good for the environment, and skimming over the fact that the phosphates used in the bleaching process are possibly linked to cancer, sugar pushers today are also just as successful.
But, all in all, the use of refined sugar in any home is a recipe for disaster. While its use does not guarantee obesity, gastritis, diabetes, heart disease, tooth decay, or any other health problem, the risk for all of these increases significantly in homes that have a bag of sugar in the pantry. Natural options like honey, maple syrup, stevia, and coconut sugar are more easily digestible by the body, and provide nutrients rather than stripping them away. Yes, they may still add to your calorie count for the day, but they are infinitely more healthy and nutritious than the refined sugar that is the emptiest calorie of them all.
No comments:
Post a Comment