Delicious poison

It’s sugar, and it’s dangerous.

Some months ago there was an initiative in the Legislature to enact a “sugar tax” on soft drinks and other sugar-containing beverages. The year before I spoke to members of the Legislature—not only on the dangers of sugar, but on artificially sweetened beverages.

The real problem with sugar is that it tastes good, whether it’s in a can of cola or a slice of birthday cake. We can’t avoid it; it’s everywhere, and it’s usually delicious.

Sugar, particularly high fructose corn syrup, is indeed poison. It contributes to inflammation, obesity, depresses the immune system, fuels cancer cells, and can rot your teeth. It is to be avoided as much as possible, with the possible exceptions of high-quality dark chocolate and pure maple syrup. Raw honey may be used sparingly.

One physician to whom I often refer is Dr. Joseph Mercola. If I have a question about a food or a pharmaceutical I read what he has to say. I have never known him to give wrong information; he’s as smart as they come.

Here is what Dr. Mercola has to say about sugar:

“Fructose: this addictive, commonly used, food feeds cancer cells, triggers weight gain, and promotes premature aging.”

Although there are many varieties of sugar, fructose is the one to avoid. Glucose, however, is essential to produce energy in every cell in your body and brain. You need glucose; you do not need fructose. However, people with diabetes need to monitor their glucose levels every day and adjust their intake of insulin accordingly.

From Dr. Mercola:

“Science has shown us, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that sugar in your food, in all its myriad of forms, can take a devastating toll on your health.

“The single largest source of calories for Americans comes from sugar—specifically high fructose corn syrup. Just take a look at the sugar consumption trends of the past 300 years:

“In 1700, the average person consumed about 4 lbs of sugar per year.

“In 1800, the average person consumed about 18 lbs of sugar per year.

“In 1900, individual consumption had risen to 90 lbs of sugar per year.

“In 2009, more than 50 percent of all Americans consume one-half lb of sugar per day—translating to a whopping 180 lbs of sugar per year.

“Sugar is loaded into your soft drinks, fruit juices, sports drinks, and hidden in almost all processed foods—from bologna to pretzels to Worcestershire sauce to cheese spread.

“And now most infant formula has the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola, so babies are being metabolically poisoned from Day 1 of taking formula.

“Today, 32 percent of Americans are obese and an additional one-third are overweight. Compare that to 1890, when a survey of white males in their 50s revealed an obesity rate of just 3.4 percent. In 1975, the obesity rate in America had reached 15 percent, and since then it has doubled.

“In 1893, there were fewer than three cases of diabetes per 100,000 people in the United States. Today, diabetes strikes almost 8,000 out of every 100,000 people.

All sugars are not equal
“Glucose (sucrose) is the form of energy you were designed to run on. Every cell in your body, every bacterium—and in fact, every living thing on the Earth—uses glucose for energy.

“But in this country, sucrose is no longer the sugar of choice. It’s now fructose.

“If your diet was like that of people a century ago, you’d consume about 15 grams per day (half an ounce)—a far cry from the 73 grams per day the typical person gets from sweetened drinks (approximately 3 ounces).

“In vegetables and fruits, it’s mixed in with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and beneficial phytonutrients, all which moderate the negative metabolic effects.

“Making matters worse, all of the fiber has been removed from processed foods, so there is essentially no nutritive value at all. And the very products most people rely on to lose weight—the low-fat diet foods—are often the ones highest in fructose.

“People are consuming fructose in enormous quantities, which has made the negative effects much more profound. Soft-drink consumption is the major cause.

“Today, 55 percent of sweeteners used in food and beverage manufacturing are made from corn, and the number one source of calories in America is soda, in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

“Too much fructose creates a metabolic disaster in your body

“After eating fructose, most of the metabolic burden rests on your liver. This is not the case with glucose, of which your liver breaks down only 20 percent. Nearly every cell in your body utilizes glucose, so it’s normally ‘burned up’ immediately after consumption.

“So where does all of this fructose go once you consume it?

“Fructose rapidly leads to weight gain and abdominal obesity (“beer belly”), decreased HDL, increased LDL, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood sugar, and high blood pressure—i.e., the classic metabolic syndrome.

“There is yet another problem with sugar—a self-perpetuating one.

“You become ‘sensitized’ to sugar as time goes by, and more sensitive to its toxic effects as well.

“The flip side is, when people are given even a brief sugar holiday, sugar sensitization rapidly decreases and those metabolic pathways become ‘downregulated.’ Research tells us that even two weeks without consuming sugar will cause your body to be less reactive to it.

Are fruits good or bad?
“Bear in mind that fruits also contain fructose, although an ameliorating factor is that whole fruits also contain vitamins and other antioxidants that reduce the hazardous effects of fructose.

“Juices, on the other hand, are nearly as detrimental as soft drinks, because a glass of juice is loaded with fructose, and many of the antioxidants are lost in the processing.”

It is far healthier to eat a whole orange than to drink a glass of orange juice. That is because you are also getting fiber (the pulp) and bioflavenoids, which helps to transport the vitamin C. Another plus is that there is no added fructose in an orange.

In sum: avoid sugar—especially soft drinks—and keep yourself healthy.