Sugar

These excerpts are from an article in the August 1996 Vegetarian Times Magazine.

The Carbohydrate Question

Refined foods, stripped of micronutrients, vitamins, minerals and fiber, at least generate enough caloric energy to keep the average person vertical and semi-mobile for awhile. Eventually, though, an inevitable slide begins. The body becomes sluggish, the brain begins to be less efficient, memory is impaired and obesity and/or the early stages of diabetes gradually set in. Many experts beleive this is already happening to the majority of Americans, and they don't even know it.

The human body is designed to break down the complex carbohydrates found in whole grains and fresh fruit and vegetables into glocuse, slowly releasing it into the bloodstream while absorbing vital nutrients. Glucose, the sugar that fuels our bodies, needs insulin, a harmone released by the pancreas, to do its job. A body that's functioning correctly spends most of its time breaking down food, triggering gradual release of glucose, along with little spurts of insulin, into the bloodstream. The process keeps a healthy person humming along, with energy levels stable, elimination functioning regularly, and both mind and body feeling sated and nourished.

This is a far cry from the metabolic peaks and valleys most people go through daily, as their blood sugar surges and crashes between meals of refined foods. A breakfast of one jelly doughnut, for example, is so devoid of nutrients that the body bypasses the absorption process and starts turning it into energy. Glucose instantly floods the bloodstream, sending the pancreas into red alert to produce enough insulin to handle the excess. The renegade sugar saturates the blood stream, creating a momentary "high" until the insulin patrol rounds the glucose up. Afterward, the body is worn out and depleted. Not only is it crying out for nutrients, it needs a rest after the sugar rush. The "sugar low" sets in, the body is starving, and it's time to eat again.

The more sweets and refined foods a person eats, the more insulin must be produced to manage it. Insulin promotes the storage of FAT, making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, which could lead to heart disease. Over time, the pancreas gets so overworked that insulin production grinds to a hlat, and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or diabetes sets in. Either way, the body is getting little or no fuel from the food you eat and tries to convert muscle and fat into energy. Without medical attention, these conditions can lead to blindness, nerve damage, kidney failure, gangrene and death. Although heredity, genetic defects and even pregnancy can all contribute to this desease state, the American diet is the primary culprit: "We know that the abuse of refined foods, excess fat, poor fitness and junk food are all the ingredients in the recipe for diabetes."

Sweet Treat or White Death?

Remember Sugar Blues, the influential 1976 best seller that compared sugar with heroin and blamed its consumption for society's ills? On the back, "before" and "after" photos of author William Difty showed his evolution- from a fat slob with a lecherous smirk to a chisel-chinned Adonis with a thoughtful expression- simply by shaking his sugar addiction.

Is sugar really so bad for otherwise healthy people? We know that "simple" refined white and brown sugars, honey and turbinado are empty calories with almost no nutritional value. As a result, they increase the body's need for some vitamins and minerals. And sugar definitely elevates blood sugar levels, creating the "surge and collapse syndrome" familiar to anyone with a sweet tooth.

Unrefined fruit sugars, i.e. fructose, have less impact on the body's chemistry. Grain sweeteners, such as molasses, barley malt and brown rice syrup, as well as maple syrup, all contain complex carbohydrates; they get metabolized more slowly, lessening the blood sugar shock. Most taste less sweet than sucrose.

Sugar definitiely promotes tooth decay and some chronic diseases, especially diabetes. Some medical experts argue that refined white sugar contributes to a host of human maladies, including high cholesterol, kidney failure, sterility, colon cancer and various psychological disturbances, and should be eliminated entirely. Many others think the evidence is inconclusive, and that moderation is the key: "There are times for celebration that call for sweets," says Paul Pitchford, author of Healing with Whole Foods (North Atlantic Books, 1993). "A little refined sweetener can be more balancing than too much of a better one."

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