We like sweet. Nature did this so we would be attracted to fruit and berries. They are good for us. Where we get into trouble are with modern refining of natural sugars and commonplace availability of fruits rather than seasonal, intermittent access. Since we abandoned our hunter-gatherer existence in exchange for our grocery store cornucopia we either learn about healthy nutrition or suffer negative consequences.
I am comfortable with natural sugars like real maple syrup and evaporated cane juice, but I also have developed a mental dis-attraction to sugary foods. Easy-sneezy with that awful chemically-refined sugar beet junk or any of the chemists’ sugar substitutes. But even good sugars are too readily available for our own good.
While there are a number of contributors, the outlandish consumption of refined sugar and sugar substitutes are obvious suspects in USofA diabetes and obesity epidemics. Resistance is the best policy when it comes to sweet junk food … or silver-tongued politicians.
10 Reasons Why Fructose Is Bad
Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and can’t be used for energy by your body’s cells. It’s therefore not only completely useless for the body, but is also a toxin in high enough amount because the job of the liver is to get rid of it, mainly by transforming it into fat and sending that fat to our fat cells.
Excess fructose damages the liver and leads to insulin resistance in the liver as well as fatty liver disease. In fact, fructose has the same effects on the liver as alcohol (ethanol), which is already well known as a liver toxin.
Now someone has quantified the negative effects of sugar on children before and after birth. It is not just stupid to eat gobs of sugar…
New Study Warns that Processed Sugar Consumption May be Dumbing Down Young Children
Alex Pietrowski, Staff Writer
Waking Times
In recent years we’ve learned a great deal about the dangers of sugars, even finding out that research was comprimised in the 1970’s, misleading the world about its dangers. It is as addictive as cocaine, it is linked to diabetes and many doctors and scientists believe that it may be the leading cause of cancer worldwide.
In and of itself, that’s a lot of bad press, but a new study serves as a warning to pregnant women and new mothers, suggesting that sugar may actually be to blame for poor childhood cognition. That’s right, sugar consumption may be dumbing down children, negatively affecting cognitive abilities and speech functions.
Published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, a new study looked at the effects of consuming greater quantities of sugar, and the results are startling.
“A new study has determined that poorer childhood cognition occurred, particularly in memory and learning, when pregnant women or their offspring consumed greater quantities of sugar. Substituting diet soda for sugar-sweetened versions during pregnancy also appeared to have negative effects. However, children’s fruit consumption had beneficial effects and was associated with higher cognitive scores.” [Source]
The study primarily focused on the effects of the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and suggests that ‘diet’ versions of drinks and food products are more dangerous than products that contain real sugar. This is not surprising considering supporting research which shows how dangerous sugar substitutes really are. Splenda, for example, is fraught with dangers and can be highly damaging to the gut microbiota and can suppress thyroid function.
