Refined Sugar Isn't Healthy
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Refined sugar from any source isn't healthy. You can confirm this with
kinesiology (muscle testing). Holding any amount of refined sugar close to your
body will make you weaker.
Refined white sugar of any variety is not healthy and specifically damaging
to the human body. If you look at the per capita refined sugar consumption of
the countries in the world, you will see the refined sugar consumption rates
approximates the same curve as chronic or debilitating diseases such as cancer,
diabetes, obesity (leading to coronary heart disease and
high blood pressure) in those countries.
It makes little sense to me for a person to use other products to improve
their health and extend their life and not also start curbing their refined
sugar intake.
The per capita consumption of refined sugar in the United States is often
wrongly quoted as being 150 pounds per year. Actually, refined sugar consumption
in the U.S. has been dropping since the late 1970's and was never at that high
level. In 1990, the per capita consumption was approximately 65 pounds annually.
However, corn sugar and syrup have replaced sugar in many commercial products
and its per capita annual consumption in the U.S. is at approximately 75 pounds.
Thus, when we consider both refined sugar and
corn sugar products together we get a number which
approximates 140 pounds annually per capita.
The true danger of sugar seems to be that, due to its
overwhelming appeal to the human taste buds, we eat it
in excess--often displacing other more nutritious
foods from the diet. However, at the current time, no
specific disease can be associated with its use,
especially if taken in moderation.
The greatest potential threat of white sugar stems
from the processing it undergoes. Initially, the
sugarcane plants are washed, shredded, crushed, and
rolled to extract the cane juice. Nothing particularly
bad happening here so far. In fact, the fibrous
residue is often recycled as fuel for the mill
furnaces. However, the cane juice is then "clarified"
by the addition of lime. After evaporation and
centrifugation, it is then further refined though the
addition of sulphur dioxide, phosphoric acid, and
de-colorizers (ground cattle bone powder). These
processes remove all the phyto-nutrients, including
the vitamins and minerals, and leave only the empty
calories behind for us to put in our tea, coffee, and
recipes.
Some studies have claimed that sugar intake is related
to the development of coronary artery disease,
diabetes mellitus, obesity, and dental caries. As of
2002, no direct causative role of sugar in coronary
artery disease or diabetes has ever been established.
But of course most of the studies are paid for by the
sugar industry. As for obesity and overweight,
remember that sugar is essentially pure energy--16
kcal per teaspoon. According to the first law of
thermodynamics, energy cannot be destroyed. Anytime
the amount of energy flowing into our physiology
exceeds the amount flowing out, the remainder is
converted into triglycerides and stored as fat. Excess
energy in the form of carbohydrates, proteins and fats
all contribute to this deposition of fat.
Refined sugar is 'unnatural', or 'not immediately digestible (usable) by the
human body', unlike honey, which is composed of two main sugars, laevulose and
dextrose. These sugars do not need to be broken down by the digestive process,
so the sugars in honey are immediately useable and absorbed into the bloodstream
giving a quick energy boost to the body. Honey also contains protein, enzymes,
vitamins and minerals, but no cholesterol.)
Whereas the molecular structure of refined sugar once
ingested must be converted to glucose before it can be
utilized by the body, this conversion process taxes
several systems in the body. To most people, sugar is
understood to be pure, bleached sucrose--however, to
the nutrition scientist, "sugar" includes a variety of
carbohydrates including glucose, fructose (as in corn
syrup), galactose, lactose, ribose, maltose--and
sucrose. Sucrose is a disaccharide (i.e. composed of
two sugars), some glucose and mostly fructose. The
fructose is eventually converted during digestion into
glucose, so sucrose in effect provides the body with
pure glucose after digestion. This means it provides
the body with essentially pure energy: one teaspoon
(four grams) of table sugar is equivalent to 16
Calories (kcal) and little else.
Personally, I quit refined sugar in tea, coffee,
cereal, juices, etc. a couple of years ago. No more
milk. No more sugared or artificially sweetened
drinks. Now I drink mostly various teas, flower and
herbal teas, and some coffee, but only sweetened with
granulated honey. My previous problems with indigestion, acidity,
a bloated feeling, and about 15 pounds - all went away after about
30 days and have never returned. Once I discovered that they put cattle
bone powder in refined sugar, I swore off refined sugar completely.
In my opinion. it should be a crime for grocery store shelves be lined with
candy masquerading as food -- like granola bars, ketchup, or pizza sauce, all of
which are made with refined sugar. See "Refined sugar use and increase risk
of Breast Cancer" at
http://www.newstarget.com/001673.html
And don't even get me started on the dangers of the artificial sweeteners...
which are even more damaging and harmful than refined sugar.
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