Sugar, whether we stir it into our coffee, drink it in our sodas or consume it in the many processed foods that surround us, is certainly harming our health - possibly in ways that many people do not know about.
Most people understand that over-consumption of sugar plays a role in obesity and in Type II Diabetes. However, they may not understand how little sugar you need before you cross the threshold of over-consumption. They also may not realize that sugar has been linked to many more health problems - irritable bowel syndrome, depression, alzheimer's, high blood pressure, to name a few.
Cross over the orange ribbons to explore some of the diseases that sugar has been linked to, to see some of the methods that the sugar industry has employed to suppress this information (called worse than the tobacco industry by some). Then, on a personal note, I will give some information on my own efforts to give up sugar.
Reducing your intake of sugar may be one of the most important steps you can take to improve your health.
Diseases and Conditions Linked to Sugar
This is not meant to be a medical diary, but from what I have seen, sugar causes inflammation at a cellular level within the body, which in turn links it to many other diseases.
Mother Jones and article on Alzheimer's
Egged on by massive food-industry marketing budgets, Americans eat a lot of sugary foods. We know the habit is quite probably wrecking our bodies, triggering high rates of overweight and diabetes. Is it also wrecking our brains?
That's the disturbing conclusion emerging in a body of research linking Alzheimer's disease to insulin resistance—which is in turn linked to excess sweetener consumption. A blockbuster story in the Sept. 3 issue of the UK magazine The New Scientist teases out the connections.
Psychology Today and depression and anxiety
Research has established a correlation between sugar intake and anxiety. In a 2008 study, rats that binged on sugar and then fasted displayed anxiety, and in a 2009 study rats fed sucrose compared to high-antioxidant honey were more likely to suffer anxiety. While dietary changes alone cannot cure anxiety, they can minimize symptoms, boost energy and improve the body’s ability to cope with stress.
Responsible for cholesterol problems
Excess sugar is known to contribute to obesity, diabetes, and other conditions linked to heart disease, and now new research links it to unhealthy cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
People in the study who ate the most added sugar had the lowest HDL, or good cholesterol, and the highest blood triglyceride levels. People who ate the least sugar had the highest HDL and the lowest triglyceride levels.
Eating large amounts of added sugar more than tripled the risk of having low HDL, which is a major risk factor for heart disease.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
There is some emerging research that points to a surprisingly high correlation between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and sugar (lactose, fructose and sorbitol) intolerance. If you suffer from IBS, learning about the results of this research may help you to determine if a sugar intolerance is playing a part in your symptoms.
Think that's everything? Not at all. The list goes on and on. To see what one woman has put together, go here to see her compilation of
more than 140 sugar-linked diseases.
The Corporate Conspiracy
Why haven't you heard about this? Conspiracy, of course! At least we can say that many companies get a lot of their profits from selling products with high doses of sugar. We know this will include soda companies, candy companies and companies that manufacture breakfast cereals. You may not realize how addicted to profits from sugar other sectors are. Restaurants have high margins on products with sugar such as soda, because soda takes a long time to go bad. The same may be true of grocery stores, convenience stores
This article is more than ten years old but it is a great example of the pressure exerted by the sugar industry, this time on the World Health Organization:
Published on Monday, April 21, 2003 by the Guardian/UK
Sugar Industry Threatens to Scupper WHO
by Sarah Boseley
The sugar industry in the US is threatening to bring the World Health Organization to its knees by demanding that Congress end its funding unless the WHO scraps guidelines on healthy eating, due to be published on Wednesday.
The threat is being described by WHO insiders as tantamount to blackmail and worse than any pressure exerted by the tobacco lobby.
Go to this Mother Jones article to see the timeline of the efforts of the sugar industry. One thing the industry did was to deflect the problems caused by sugar and blame it on fats and cholesterol. I will not attempt to say how much fat and cholesterol you should eat, but your own habits may be worth reviewing. Another thing the sugar industry did was to make it difficult to understand how little you should be consuming.
Now the recommendation seems to be down to about six teaspoons a day, which comes out to less than a single can of soda.
In draft guidelines proposed this week, WHO is encouraging people to consume less than 5% of their total daily calories from sugars. The organization's current guidelines, published in 2002, recommend eating less than 10% of your total daily calories from sugars.
Most Americans still consume much more.
Our sweet tooth increased 39% between 1950 and 2000, according to the USDA. The average American now consumes about three pounds of sugar each week...
For an adult at a normal body mass index, or BMI, eating 5% would be around 25 grams of sugar -- or six teaspoons. That's less than is typically found in a single can of regular soda, which contains about 40 grams of sugar.
We can't know what politics and pressures are still out there, so maybe the number is supposed to be even less?
A flurry of articles came out at the beginning of February, which led to:
My own sugar reduction diet
February 4, 2014
Husband warns me of the dangers of sugar according to an article in paper. Decide to cut out my sugar, which is not so great. I drink about one or two sodas per year, if that, and only when other options do not exist. Tend to cook nearly everything from scratch. Admit I eat bread occasionally and I put ketchup on a few things (buy ketchup without HFC). However, it takes me several years to work through a single bottle.
However, I have one weakness/indulgence. I put sugar in my coffee, and I drink a lot of coffee. It could be that I am getting five or six teaspoons a day through this.
I might not have been motivated by the article except that I was at the dentist the day before, and I did not like the blood pressure reading (130/85). I have also not liked the weight creep of the last few years, although I am still far thinner than nearly all my cohorts.
So, on February 4th I consume my last cup of coffee with its regular dose of sugar. I nervously try a cup without any sugar at all (but I do add half and half). It is not so bad!
February 5
Just a little sugar in one cup. Then stopped.
February 9
Still off the sugar
Skin seems better
Withdrawal symptom: Took enormous nap in the afternoon
Withdrawal symptom: Very crabby
February 12
Incredibly productive
Mood better – has this been causing the underlying depression? Hard to tell, but possible
February 27
Running errand at the drugstore. Use the BP cuff there to measure the BP. Reading is 122 over 80. Significant improvement from the 130 over 85. I know that BP varies a lot and perhaps even by instrument, but, hey, it sure is better than data going in the other direction.
Early March
Something I did not want to write about was diarrhea. I’d been having it during the last six weeks. Not all during the day, but nearly every morning, once or twice, at about the same time that I used to have my bowel movement. The accompanying gas, too, was extremely uncomfortable.
Since my problem had only been around for a few weeks, and I thought I might have picked up something while traveling, I didn’t attribute it to sugar. However, after a few weeks of not taking sugar in my coffee, it stopped. I still don't know for sure if my problems were due to sugar - having only a single data point does not yield reliable scientific results - but, personally, it is such a relief to be regular again! So much more comfortable!
March 17
Consumed a Starbucks bottle of frappucino while conducting a long drive, and discovered that it was way too sweet!
Current situation:
I am still off the sugar. My energy levels are better; my system is regular; I may have lost about 2 pounds (but I was not overweight). My blood pressure is better and my eyesight is better - distant objects were getting blurry and now they're sharp again. Mood seems better but that is subjective.
Additional thoughts and comments.
Sugar lurks in many foods. High fructose corn syrup is a variant that is considered awful by many, but is used a lot in the US because it extends the shelf life of processed foods. Study the ingredients: anything ending in -ose should be treated with suspicion.
Giving up sugar may be a lot harder for many than it has been for me - I was not consuming that much - so if you decide to do it, you may want to time it in such a way that you can get through the withdrawal without inconveniencing your life and friends too much.
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Tired of politics? Need to escape? Try one of my Greek-mythology based novels, either the story of Jocasta: The Mother-Wife of Oedipus or a trilogy about Niobe, or one of the first examples of civil disobedience, Antigone and Creon. Or, if you like mysteries and/or Jane Austen, treat yourself to The Highbury Murders: A Mystery Set in the Village of Jane Austen’s Emma very positively reviewed at the Daily Kos Monday Murder Mystery blog or my newest offering, Academic Assassination.