Sugar, Sugar lobby and Diseases

Last week we talked a little bit about lifestyle and chronic diseases. You must have prepared your health budget for this month(if not, make it today). With our health budget we hope that our desire to live a healthy life and efforts for it will definitely increase.

Today we will talk about Sugar. Visit any grocery store and see the contents of some packed food (biscuits, chips, candies, cakes, chocolates, toffees, breads, bhujias, namkeens, sauces, ketchup, noodles, pasta, package juices, soft drinks, soda- all yummy right?!). You will see sugar written under different names – sucrose, dextrose, barley malt, agave nectar, high fructose, corn syrup, etc. In some products, the amount of sugar may even be hidden. Prior to 1950s, most of our diet wasn’t so ‘sweet’. So from where did our diet suddenly get so much of sugar today? To understand this, let’s get into history of medical research.

In 1950, when life-style and chronic diseases began to grow in Western countries, the medical field began it’s quest to find the causes. The primary finding that came up- fats (oils) were responsible for this. This medical discovery led to troubles for the meat and fat industry. At that time, fat was used as ‘taste-filler’ in food products. Now they replaced fat with high amounts of sugars to keep the food products tasty.  To save these sugary products from meeting a similar fate as fats, an organization called The Sugar Association ran a public relations campaign in 1976. This included influencing and manipulating Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and shifting attention of medical research away from sugars, and diverting it towards fat. Huge sum of money was invested to project fats alone as the cause of increasing diseases and to keep people in the dark regarding the effects of processed sugary products. 

Also it was discovered that sugar has addictive potential. (You can deny the first gulab-jamun, but after eating one gulab-juman, you cannot resist a second one). Circuits in your brain that are for cannabinoids(illicit drugs) are also stimulated when you eat sweet. After this discovery, all the food companies saw a lot of market potential in sugar. They kept this thing away from the public and used this fact for their business. This is a classic example of exploitation of medical research.

Okay that’s fine, but why is sugar bad after all?

Our body converts excess amount of sugar to triglycerides and VLDL. These two accumulate in the liver and are responsible for non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases and also for increase in cholesterol. These triglycerides also reduce the strength of insulin, which is responsible for diabetes. This has also led to an increase in cases of diabetes at an early age. Currently one in 4 adolescents in the United States have prediabetes and childhood obesity is an increasing health hazard in the society. Medical research clearly shows the amount of sugar (processed food) in your daily diet and the relationship between heart attack, brain stroke and diabetes.

Alcohol, sugars and diabetes.

It is now evident that alcoholics are at a higher risk for diabetes, hypertention, heart diseases and stroke. But the countries with the highest incidence of diabetes are- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, and Malaysia. In these Muslim countries alcohol is banned, then why do they have so much of diabetes there? Cold drinks. These coldrinks contain huge amounts of sugar. Because of hot weather and foolproof marketing of the coldrink companies, people have become habituated to cold drinks. Morning, afternoon, evening, kids and adults, men and women, everyone can take a cold-drink anywhere(which is not the case with alcohol-also not glorifying alcohol). This amount of sugar spoils the internal balance of our body. Insulin becomes inefficient- and this is the reason for obesity and an invitation for diabetes.

Recently an experiment was performed in the United States. Two basketball teams, a red team and a blue team were given drinks at the end of their game. The red team was given a sugar-rich drink and the blue team was given a normal drink. Both teams didnt know that they had different drinks. Half an hour later, both teams were called for buffet dinner. Both teams had separate tables with the same food items. The red team who had a sugary drink consumed extra 1000 calories compared to blue team. Which means the suger-rich drink made the red team more hungry than the blue team. Your body has a feedback system which notifies you when you are full. Excess sugar weakens this system. If you reduce your sugar intake, you will eat appropriate.

So what can we do?

  1. Know which food contains excess sugar and artificial sweetners.(Just taking sugar-free tea isn’t diet control, Indians!) Avoid processed food and softdrinks, and if feasible, stop taking them altogether. Your diet can be simple and nutritious and still be tasty. Different such recipes are available online. Give them a try!

  2. With health conscious eyes, check your fridge regularly. Fill it with fruits and vegetables rather than processed and packed food.

 3. When you go to the market, avoid going into the processed food section altogether.

 4. Learn about Sugar Detox online, and try it with your family/friends at least once.

  5. Inculcate the principle of ‘food for health’ in children from a young age. Encourage them to cut down on chocolates and toffees themselves. Help them choose their favourite from fruits and vegetables.

 6. The government and NGOs should increase public awareness and discourage processed food market. As with tobacco, increasing taxation on processed food may reduce consumption by society as a whole.

 The sugar industry puts in lots of thought and research on exactly how much sugar to add to your diet. So you can definitely take these measures for your own health.

  All this I talked about sugar and artificial sweeteners. Not about natural sweets. You may take them in appropriate proportions. Like fruit, dates, honey, etc. are beneficial for health.

Finally thanks to Professor Dr Robert Lustig, who did a lot of research and and spread awareness regarding sugar industry. 

For further information, you may like the BBC’s ‘Truth About Sugar‘ online documentary. 

We will talk about physical activity and exercise next week. Until then, plan your Sugar Detox.

“The problem is we are not eating food anymore, we are eating food-like products”