Got sugar?

Oh, the sweet luscious calling of sugar. Not many people realize how addictive it is, let alone destructive. Refined sugar is one of the most harmful foods on the planet. Americans plow through over 8 billion pounds of candy a year. Consumption of processed foods (most of which have sugar in them) cost the American public more than $54 billion in dental bills each year, so the dental industry reaps huge profits from the sugar addicted public. In 1915, the national average of sugar consumption (per year) was around 15 to 20 pounds per person. Today the average person consumes his or her weight in sugar, plus over 20 pounds of disgusting genetically modified corn syrup. The human body cannot tolerate this large amount of refined carbohydrates. The vital organs in the body are actually damaged by this gross intake of sugar.

Refined sugar contains zero fiber, minerals, proteins, fats and enzymes, only empty calories. When you eat sugar, your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts of the body to make use of the sugar.

Many times, so much calcium is used to neutralize the effects of sugar that the bones become osteoporotic due to the withdrawn calcium. Likewise, the teeth are affected and they lose their components until decay occurs and hastens their loss. If sugar consumption is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct the imbalance. If the body is lacking the nutrients used to metabolize sugar, it will not be able to properly handle and rid itself of the poisonous residues. These wastes accumulate through the brain and nervous system, which speeds up cellular death. The bloodstream becomes over-loaded with waste products and symptoms of carbonic poisoning result.

TOOTH DECAY

Sugar thickens the blood and makes it sticky, inhibiting much of its flow into the minute 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.

In 1948, a $57,000 10-year study was awarded to Harvard University by the Sugar Research Foundation to find out how sugar causes cavities in teeth and how to prevent it. In 1958, Time magazine reported the findings, which were reported in the Dental Association Journal. They discovered there was no way to prevent the problem and their funding immediately disappeared.

”The most significant human study was done in Sweden, reported in 1954, and known as the Vipeholm Dental Caries Study. More than 400 adult mental patients were placed on controlled diets and observed for five years. The subjects were divided into various groups. Some ate complex and simple carbohydrates at mealtimes only, while other supplemented mealtime food with between-meal-snacks, sweetened with sucrose, chocolate, caramel, or toffee.

Among the conclusions drawn from the study was that sucrose consumption could increase caries activity. The risk increased if the sucrose was consumed in a sticky form that adhered to the tooth’s surfaces. The greatest damage was inflicted by fidyl foods with high concentrations of sucrose, in sticky form, eaten between meals, even if contact with the tooth’s surfaces was brief. Caries, due to the intake of foods with high sucrose levels, could be decreased when such offending foods were eliminated from the diet. But individual differences existed, and in some cases, caries continued to appear despite avoidance of refined sugar or maximum restriction of natural sugars and total dietary carbohydrates.”

DIABETES

Diabetes is another commonly known disease caused by sugar as well as a high fat diet. Diabetes is caused by the failure of the pancreas to produce adequate insulin when the blood sugar rises. A concentrated amount of sugar introduced into the system sends the body into shock from the rapid rise in the blood sugar level. The pancreas eventually wears out from overwork and diabetes then rears its ugly head.

Hypoglycemia occurs when the pancreas overreacts to the large amount of sugar in the blood and releases too much insulin leaving one with the “tired” feeling as the blood sugar level becomes lower than it should be.

GALLSTONES

An article in the British Medical Journal, entitled The “Sweet Road to Gallstones,” reported that refined sugar may be one of the major dietary risk factors in gallstone disease. Gallstones are composed of fats and calcium. Sugar can upset all of the minerals, and one of the minerals, calcium, can become toxic or nonfunctioning, depositing itself anywhere in the body, including the gallbladder.

”One out of ten Americans has gallstones. This risk increases to one out of every five after age forty. Gallstones may go unnoticed or may cause wrenching pain. Other symptoms might include bloating, belching, and intolerance to foods.”

MENTAL ILLNESS

Another serious problem with sugar that is now coming to the forefront is the various levels of mental problems. Our brains are very sensitive and react to quick chemical changes within the body. As sugar is consumed, our cells are robbed of their B vitamin, which destroys them, and insulin production is inhibited. Low insulin production means a high sugar (glucose) level in the bloodstream, which can lead to a confused mental state or unsound mind, and has also been linked with juvenile criminal behavior. Dr. Alexander G. Schauss brings this solemn fact out in his book “Diet, Crime and Delinquency.” Many mental ward and prison inmates are “sugarholics” and erratic emotional outbreaks often follow a sugar binge.

° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° ° °

Refined sugar is called a drug by some because in the refining process everything of food value has been removed except the carbohydrates. Many nutrition experts say that white sugar is extremely harmful, possibly as harmful as a drug, especially in the quantities consumed by the present-day American.

Dr. David Reuben, author of “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Nutrition” says, “White refined sugar is not a food. It is a 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.” The chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. For all practical purposes, the difference is that sugar is missing the “N”, or nitrogen, atom.

Sugar is commonly made from sugar cane or sugar beets. Through heating and mechanical and chemical processing, all vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, enzymes and indeed every nutrient is removed until only the sugar remains. Sugar cane and sugar beets are first harvested and then chopped into small pieces, squeezing out the juice, which is then 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 (like molasses) are spun away. The crystals are then dissolved by heating to the boiling point and passed through charcoal filters. After the crystals condense, they are bleached snow-white, usually by the use of pork or cattle bones (vegetarians beware). 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. Sugar manufacturers are aggressive in defending their product and have a strong political lobby which allows them to continue selling a deadly food item.

If you have any doubts as to the detriments of sugar (sucrose), try leaving it out of your diet for a while and see if it makes a difference. You may also notice you have acquired an addiction and experience some withdrawal symptoms. Studies show that “sugar” is just as habit-forming as any narcotic and its use, misuse and abuse is our nation’s number one disaster. It is no wonder when we consider all the products we consume daily which are loaded with sugar. The average healthy digestive system can digest and eliminate from two to four teaspoons of sugar daily, usually without noticeable problems, (that is, if damage is not already present). One 12 oz. Cola contains 11 teaspoons of sugar, and that’s aside from the caffeine. It’s the sugar that gives you quick energy, but only for a brief time 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.

There are many alternatives to sugar. Cravings for sweets can and should be satisfied by fresh fruits, which are sweet, easy to digest and contain lots of vital nutrients. The Basic Nutritional Guide Table in “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” by James F. Balch, M.D. ,and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C., gives alternatives to refined sugar in order to maintain good health. It lists barley malt or rice syrup, small amounts of raw honey, pure maple syrup and unsulfured blackstrap molasses. So, put on your bakers hat! Your sweet tooth never had it so good.