DEATH

BY

SUGAR

By

Søren Nielsen

2021

You`ve probably heard sugar is bad for you.

But, how bad is it, really?

Let`s start with the addictive nature of sugar... it`s more addictive than cocaine!

In one study, animals were offered a choice between two feeding levers: one loaded with sugar or saccharin and the other with cocaine.

94% of the time, animals chose sugar or saccharin over cocaine!

Researchers predict the same result for humans, concluding the reward delivered fron sugar can surpass cocaine in even cocaine-sensitized and -addicted individuals.

Our ancestral environment didn’t offer high concentrations of sweet taste. 

Mother’s milk was sweet, which meant, to our brains, anything with that taste was safe. 

This led us to find ways to get more of that taste, a taste we are not adapted to consume endlessly.

Sugar Dangers!

A new study in the British Medical Journal finds a link between sugary drinks and increased risk of cancer.

The study evaluated over 100,000 healthy French adults with an average age of 42. 

Each were followed for 9 years by taking dietary intake questionnaires, including tracking daily consumption of sugary drinks and 100% fruit juices.

The results show that less than 3.5 ounces of a sugary drink daily increases overall cancer risk by 18% and breast cancer by 22%. 

100% fruit juices are also positively associated with risk of overall cancer.

There was no increased risk found in prostate and colorectal cancer, but this may be due to a higher percentage of women (79%) than men (21%) in the study.

Artificially sweetened beverages did not show an increased risk of cancer, but researchers warn this may be because a very small number of participants consumed diet drinks.

The relationship between a diet rich in refined carbohydrates and sugary foods and drinks has been repeatedly linked to weight gain, insulin resistance (leading to increased risk of obesity), type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.

The Sugar Conspiracy.

Sadly, the sugar industry has hidden these facts from the public for decades. 

In 1967, the Sugar Research Foundation (known today as the Sugar Association) paid Harvard scientists the equivalent of $50,000 to publish a manipulated review of research on sugar, fat, and their connection to heart disease.

The review was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, where studies were cherry-picked to downplay the role of sugar in heart disease . . . while pointing the finger at saturated fats.

Blood Sugar: Heart Disease, Dementia + More.

Heart disease, for example, is responsible for 1 in 6 deaths in the US, the leading cause of early mortality in America. 

One study shows that 73% of patients presenting acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) have abnormal blood sugar regulation and 50% have diabetes.

To increase risk of heart disease, blood sugar levels do not have to get that high—prediabetic levels will increase heart health risks. 

In non-diabetics, for example, a 2-hour blood glucose at 96 mg/dL or higher was associated with a twofold increased risk of death from heart disease.

One study concludes the impact of refined sugars on insulin provides compelling evidence that overconsuming added sugars (sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup) may lead to increased risk of coronary heart disease.

A diet of refined foods and sugars increases risk of sugar or glucose molecule glycation (sticking to a protein molecule). 

Glycation has been linked to a host of degenerative and inflammatory health concerns—most notably, age-related cognitive decline, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Top 4 Healthy Blood Sugar Strategies.

1 : Exercise daily, combining resistance and aerobic activity.

2 : Avoid processed and refined food. Eat whole, seasonal foods.

3 : Increase consumption of fresh organic vegetables and reduce meat and animal proteins to 10-15% of your diet.

4 : Get 7-9 hours of sleep.

A History of Sugar.

Our blood sugar epidemic’s beginnings reach back 10,000 years to New Guinea, where sugar cane was first domesticated. 

Chewing on a stalk of sugar cane quickly became known as a "panacea" or "cure-all" for any mood or ailment.

By 1000 B.C.E., sugar cane reached the Asian mainland, and by 500 B.C.E., Indian alchemists figured out how to make the white powder version: the new secret recipe and medicinal cure-all that changed the world. 

Even today, Americans consume 22 teaspoons of sugar per day.

Soon, sugar made its way to the Middle East and then Europe, still being touted as a cure-all 1,000 years later. 

Demand for sugar rivaled gold. 

So rare was access to granulated sugar that it was consumed only by the wealthy.

Don’t forget, sugar triggers dopamine receptors in the brain. 

Dopamine is the gotta-have-it-now hormone. 

Soon, the developing world had to have it.

With the Ottoman Empire in full force in 1400 C.E. 

Europeans had to find new tropical territories to grow sugar cane. Many expeditions were commissioned to find suitable land to grow the white powder plant. 

Columbus took sugar cane plants to the Caribbean on his second trip to the New World.

Soon, island after island was converted into sugar fields, with natives doing all the labor. 

When the natives died, they were replaced with African slaves. 

More than 11 million Africans were shipped to the New World as slaves, where millions died, primarily in the name of sugar.

By the 1700s, sugar was not a luxury spice anymore. 

It had become a staple in high demand worldwide. 

One island after another was depleted of its water table reserves and when the crops dried up, a new island was terrorized with sugar cane and slave traders.

Europeans consumed greater and greater quantities of sugar. 

In 1700, the average Englishman consumed four pounds of sugar per year. 

In 1800, 18 pounds a year. 

In 1870, 47 pounds a year. 

By 1900, the average Englishman was consuming 100 pounds per year—more than today’s average American by 23 pounds.

For centuries, the world’s sweet tooth was satisfied on the backs of African slaves and native people.

Sugar Today.

Today, the average American consumes 22.7 teaspoons of sugar each day:

6 tsp. of white granulated sugar

2 tsp. of high-fructose corn syrup

3 tsp. of other sugars (honey, molasses, maple syrup).

While you might find it hard to believe we could consume so much sugar, it is well hidden in processed foods, breads, fruit juices, and healthy snacks.

In 1980, 5.5 million Americans had diabetes. 

By 2015, that number was up to 23 million!

Interestingly, fat makes up a significantly smaller percentage of the American diet than it did 20 years ago, although the low-carb and ketogenic movements are helping bring good fats back into our diet. 

Even so, the intake of sugar has steadily risen and America has gotten fatter and fatter.

While sugar is our new poison, linked to numerous chronic health issues, processed sugar is even worse. 

Americans consume more than half the world’s supply of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a processed sugar linked to weight gain, cardiovascular issues, and cognitive issues now known as type 3 diabetes.

Sucrose vs Fructose.

Research on the woes of HFCS has lead scientists to understand more about the difference between sucrose and fructose. 

Sucrose, or white table sugar, contains glucose, which the body, muscles, and brain can readily use. 

Fructose has a different story and needs to be understood.

Some 22 million years ago, apes in Africa lived on fruits picked right off trees. 

Around 17 million years ago, the earth cooled and the ice caps grew larger, leaving land bridges where the nomadic apes could migrate north.

As the earth cooled, fruit trees were replaced with deciduous trees, and soon what is now Europe and Asia was filled with starving apes. 

At some point, an intelligent genetic mutation occurred that allowed apes to store fructose as fat to endure long winters, rather than burn it quickly as food and energy. 

Many of these apes migrated back into Africa, passing the fructose-storing gene to the original African apes and possibly enabling them to forage for new sources of food.

According to scientists, this mutation was so powerful that only apes with the mutation survived to become our ancestors. 

Today, we carry this same gene, which has made high-fructose corn syrup our new poison.