Sugar - sweet but deadly

Sugar cubes

As the year swings through the last quarter and onto the end of year Christmas and New Year festive celebrations (and considerable sweet indulgences), it's worth recalling the health impact of that most addictive crop, sugar. Spreading across the world since AD 500 originating first from New Guinea then moving into Asia and thence to the Middle East in the 15th Century, sugar has become a staple part of people's diets worldwide. As it has taken hold however, increasingly negative effects for overall health and well being have been uncovered. Sucrose or table sugar as it's known has two constituents in roughly equal parts, glucose and fructose with quite differing effects in the human body - where as glucose is metabolized throughout the body, in contrast fructose is processed mainly in the liver which, when there is a heavy intake of sugary products, produces fats termed triglycerides. These fats either remain in the liver and/or are pushed out through the blood stream with the resulting risks of obesity, hypertension, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The introduction of High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as a food additive has only added to the risks of intake as HFCS is 55% glucose. As the focus on fat levels in food gained momentum, manufacturers replaced fats with sugar simply switching one problem with another.

How much sugar is consumed by the average person ? In the United States, an individual consumes around 77 pounds (or 34.9 Kg) of added sugar annually with a similar measure for the United Kingdom. The solution, like most health related issues, is simple - reduce sugar intake from candies, sweets, cakes, pastries and soft drinks (a typical small soft drink has usually 10 teaspoons of sugar in it). The application of this solution is another story altogether.