Of all the foods consumed today, refined sugar is
considered to be one of the most harmful.
...In 1997 Americans devoured 7.3 billion pounds of
candy. Americans spent an estimated $23.1 billion dollars
on candy and gum. The average American consumed a record
27.3 pounds of candy and gum in the same year-the equivalent
of about six regular sized chocolate bars a week-marking
the fifth consecutive year of increased demand. (1)
...Consumption of processed foods (which are laced
with sugar) cost the American public more than $54 billion
in dental bills each year, so the dental industry reaps
huge profits from the programmed addiction of the public
to sugar products.
...Today we have a nation that is addicted to sugar.
In 1915, the national average of sugar consumption (per
year) was around 15 to 20 pounds per person. Today the
average person consumes his/her weight in sugar, plus
over 20 pounds of corn syrup.
To add more horrors to these facts there are some people
that use no sweets and some who use much less than the
average figure, which means that there is a percentage
of the population that consume a great deal more refined
sugar than their body weight. The human body cannot
tolerate this large amount of refined carbohydrates.
The vital organs in the body are actually damaged by
this gross intake of sugar.
...Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no
proteins, no fats, no enzymes, only empty calories.
What happens when you eat a refined carbohydrate like
sugar? Your body must borrow vital nutrients from healthy
cells to metabolize the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium,
potassium and magnesium are taken from various parts
of the body to make use of the sugar. Many times, so
much calcium is used to neutralize the effects of sugar
that the bones become osteoporotic due to the withdrawn
Likewise, the teeth are affected and they lose their
components until decay occurs and hastens their loss.
...Refined sugar is void of all nutrients, consequently
it causes the body to deplete its own stores of various
vitamins, minerals and enzymes. If sugar consumption
is continued, an over-acid condition results, and more
minerals are needed from deep in the body to correct
the imbalance. If the body is lacking the nutrients
used to metabolize sugar, it will not be able to properly
handle and rid itself of the poisonous residues.
These wastes accumulate through the brain and nervous
system, which speeds up cellular death. The bloodstream
becomes over-loaded with waste products and symptoms
of carbonic poisoning result.
...Sugar also makes the blood very thick and sticky,
inhibiting much of the blood flow into the minute capillaries
that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients.
Therefore, we wind up with diseased gums and starving
teeth. America and England, the two largest sugar consumers,
have horrendous dental problems.
...In 1948, a $57,000 ten-year study was awarded to
Harvard University by the Sugar Research Foundation
to find out how sugar causes cavities in teeth and how
to prevent it. In 1958, Time magazine reported the findings,
which were reported in the Dental Association Journal.
They discovered there was no way to prevent the problem
and their funding immediately disappeared.
...The most significant human study was done
in Sweden, reported in 1954, and known as the Vipeholm
Dental Caries Study. More than 400 adult mental patients
were placed on controlled diets and observed for five
years. The subjects were divided into various groups.
Some ate complex and simple carbohydrates at mealtimes
only, while other supplemented mealtime food with between-meal-snacks,
sweetened with sucrose, chocolate, caramel, or toffee.
Among the conclusions drawn from the study, was that
sucrose consumption could increase caries activity.
The risk increased if the sucrose was consumed in a
sticky form that adhered to the tooths surfaces.
The greatest damage was inflicted by foods with high
concentrations of sucrose, in sticky form, eaten between
meals, even if contact with the tooths surfaces
was brief. Caries, due to the intake of foods with high
sucrose levels, could be decreased when such offending
foods were eliminated from the diet.
But individual differences existed, and in some cases,
caries continued to appear despite avoidance of refined
sugar or maximum restriction of natural sugars and total
dietary carbohydrates. (2)
...Diabetes is another commonly known disease caused
by sugar as well as a high fat diet. Diabetes is caused
by the failure of the pancreas to produce adequate insulin
when the blood sugar rises. A concentrated amount of
sugar introduced into the system sends the body into
shock from the rapid rise in the blood sugar level.
The pancreas eventually wears out from overwork and
diabetes then rears its ugly head.
...Hypoglycemia occurs when the pancreas overreacts
to the large amount of sugar in the blood and releases
too much insulin leaving one with the tired
feeling as the blood sugar level becomes lower than
it should be.
A recent article in the British Medical Journal,
entitled The Sweet Road to Gallstones, reported that
refined sugar may be one of the major dietary risk factors
in gallstone disease. Gallstones are composed of fats
and calcium. Sugar can upset all of the minerals, and
one of the minerals, calcium, can become toxic or nonfunctioning,
depositing itself anywhere in the body, including the
...One out of ten Americans has gallstones. This
risk increases to one out of every five after age forty.
Gallstones may go unnoticed or may cause pain-wrenching
pain. Other symptoms might include bloating, belching,
and intolerance to foods. (3)
...Another serious problem with sugar that is now coming
to the forefront is the various levels of mental problems.
Our brains are very sensitive and react to quick chemical
changes within the body. As sugar is consumed, our cells
are robbed of their B vitamin, which destroys them,
and insulin production is inhibited. Low insulin production
means a high sugar (glucose) level in the bloodstream,
which can lead to a confused mental state or unsound
mind, and has also been linked with juvenile criminal
Dr. Alexander G. Schauss, brings this solemn fact out
in his book, Diet,
Crime and Delinquency. Many mental ward and prison
inmates are sugarholics and erratic emotional
outbreaks often follow a sugar binge.
...Refined sugar, by some, is called a drug, because
in the refining process everything of food value has
been removed except the carbohydrates-pure calories,
without vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, enzymes
or any of the other elements that make up food. Many
nutrition experts say that white sugar is extremely
harmful, possibly as harmful as a drug, especially in
the quantities consumed by the present-day American.
...Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always
Wanted to Know About Nutrition says,
refined sugar-is not a food. It is a pure chemical extracted
from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which
it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose
and its chemical formula is C12H22O11.
It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen
atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer. ...The
chemical formula for cocaine is C17H21NO4. Sugars
formula again is C12H22O11. For all practical purposes,
the difference is that sugar is missing the N,
or nitrogen atom. ...Refining means to make pure
by a process of extraction or separation. Sugars are
refined by taking a natural food, which contains a high
percentage of sugar, and then removing all elements
of that food until only the sugar remains. ...While
sugar is commonly made from sugar cane or sugar beets.
Through heating and mechanical and chemical processing,
all vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, enzymes and
indeed every nutrient is removed until only the sugar
remains. Sugar cane and sugar beets are first harvested
and then chopped into small pieces, squeezing out the
juice, which is then mixed with water. This liquid is
then heated, and lime is added.
Moisture is boiled away, and the remaining fluid is
pumped into vacuum pans to concentrate the juice. By
this time, the liquid is starting to crystallize, and
is ready to be placed into a centrifuge machine where
any remaining residues (like molasses) are spun away.
The crystals are then dissolved by heating to the boiling
point and passed through charcoal filters.
After the crystals condense, they are bleached snow-white
usually by the use of pork or cattle bones. ...During
the refining process, 64 food elements are destroyed.
All the potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese,
phosphate, and sulfate are removed. The A, D, and B,
vitamins are destroyed.
Amino acids, vital enzymes, unsaturated fats, and all
fiber are gone. To a lesser or greater degree, all refined
sweeteners such as corn syrup, maple syrup, etc., undergo
similar destructive processes. Molasses is the chemical
and deranged nutrients that is a byproduct of sugar
...Sugar manufacturers are aggressive in defending their
product and have a strong political lobby which allows
them to continue selling a deadly food item that by
all reason should not be allowed in the American diet.
...If you have any doubts as to the detriments of sugar
(sucrose), try leaving it out of your diet for several
weeks and see if it makes a difference! You may also
notice you have acquired an addiction and experience
some withdrawal symptoms.
...Studies show that sugar is just as habit-forming
as any narcotic; and its use, misuse, and abuse is our
nations number one disaster.
It is no wonder when we consider all the products we
consume daily which are loaded with sugar! The average
healthy digestive system can digest and eliminate from
two to four teaspoons of sugar daily, usually without
noticeable problems, (that is if damage is not already
One 12 oz. Cola contains 11 teaspoons of sugar, and
thats aside from the caffeine. Its the sugar
that gives you quick energy, but only for a brief time
due to the rise of the blood sugar level. But the body
quickly releases a rush of insulin, which rapidly lowers
the blood sugar and causes a significant drop in energy
and endurance. It is easy to see why Americas
health is in serious trouble.
OF SUGAR ON NEUROLOGICAL PROCESSES ...One of the
keys to orderly brain function is glutamic acid, and
this compound is found in many vegetables. When sugar
is consumed, the bacteria in the intestines, which manufacture
B vitamin complexes, begin to die-these bacteria normally
thrive in a symbiotic relationship with the human body.
When the B vitamin complex level declines, the glutamic
acid (normally transformed into go no-go
directive neural enzymes by the B vitamins) is not processed
and sleepiness occurs, as well as a decreased ability
for short-term memory function and numerical calculative
abilities. The removal of B vitamins when foods are
processed makes the situation even more
ABOUT GUM CHEWING? ...Besides the sugar in gum being
damaging to the teeth there is another harmful problem
to consider and that is: teeth and jaws werent
designed for more than a few minutes of solid chewing
per day-far less than the two hours clocked in daily
by hardcore gum chewers. All this chewing results in
inordinate wear on the jawbone, gum tissue and lower
molars, and can change the alignment of the jaws
says Michael Elsohn, D.D.S., in the Medical Tribune.