What is sugar anyway?! Do we know what we are consuming?! What sugars should and can we eat?
Discover the history of sugar, types of sugar and some “scary” numbers.
History of Sugar
The history of sugar goes back several thousand years. It was in India, in the 5th century, that the technique of solidifying the juice extracted from sugar cane and transforming it into granulated crystals was developed. For many years sugar was a rare and expensive delicacy, used for medicinal and as a spice. Its consumption was a luxury for most of the world’s population. This was only found in fruit, some plants, roots and honey – and the body got used to storing it, in the form of glucose, to have reserve energy for periods of starvation. And, there would be no problem if this continued but its excessive consumption is making us obese and sick people.
After the industrial revolution, man began to put aside good sugars (flours and whole grains – slow absorption by the body) and began to opt for refined cereals (simple carbohydrates – sugars that the body quickly transforms into glucose). Even worse after the second half of the 20th century, when sugar became a food additive and entered our daily diet in disguise.
your overconsumption is making us obese and sick people
Sugar Industry
Sugar production has become a very powerful industry. Sugar quickly began to enter the homes of each one of us and to become one of the favorite ingredients of families, sometimes in an explicit way, as hidden, making the foods appetizing and preferable. Its economic impact was so great that it inhibited the possibility of scientific studies in the 1960s showing the harmful effects on health. The conclusion comes from a study conducted by Cristin Kearns of the University of California, according to which representatives of the sugar industry have for decades manipulated research into the effects of this product on health, spreading the idea that some diseases or heart problems are caused only by cholesterol and saturated fats.
A North American group “Sugar Association” was created, representing the interests of the sugar industry. According to documents found in public archives, in 1964 the “Sugar Association” discussed internally ways to deal with the negative global campaign against sugar, after the appearance of some studies that associated the product with the appearance of heart disease. In 1967, the first article appeared in this sequence, which blames saturated fat and cholesterol for the onset of heart disease and obesity.
The hot potato was then gone and sugar was still free from that bad reputation and for a few more decades we had fat as the villain and sugar as a very pleasant one.
Sugar – the poison of today
Refined sugar is a saccharide. After being metabolized by the body, it becomes glucose, providing energy for the functioning of our body. But there are saccharides and saccharides. Sugar is a substance with no nutritional value that provides empty calories, is quickly absorbed, and causes metabolic problems (obesity, high cholesterol, hypertension), high levels of blood glucose and insulin, which can lead to serious illnesses. The saccharides we need come from complex carbohydrates that give us slow-absorbing energy and don’t trigger the famous insulin spikes.
If our diet includes coffee with sugar in the morning, processed hamburgers at lunch, soda to fight the heat, chocolate to drown the sorrows, the result is simple: excess glucose and storage of it in the form of glycogen by the liver. But, with all this excess, these reserves are also not used and that is where the metabolic problems begin visit viagra för kvinnor
What about type II diabetes? Type II diabetes appears exactly in people who consume too much sugar. After consumption of sugar there is a sudden transformation of it into glucose. In turn, the pancreas releases insulin which prevents glucose from accumulating in the blood and which promotes its cellular storage. But if we eat sugary foods in excess and regularly, the pancreas is always producing insulin and storing glucose. The result will be insulin spikes that cause numerous problems. Over the years, inflammation, obesity, diabetes type emerge.
