There was a time when people
eat Healthy homemade sugar (gurr) and live a long, healthy life. Then suddenly a
new scientific approach introduced and it totally put us apart from health and
harmony, in villages specially, and started to produce White sugar. Within few
decades, sugar industry spread, not only in developed, but also in developing
countries and Developed countries always have perfect legislations for
introduction of innovations but this might not be the same in developing
countries, which always accepts innovations with open arms, due to loose
legislation management.
Main Question is where does white sugar come from? The main source of white
sugar is sugar-cane. In history, sugar-cane was reportedly cultivated in around
6,000 BC by the people of New Guinea. They formerly used it for chewing purpose.
From here, it spread to India in 500 BC and then in 11th century it was spread
to China and Africa. Christopher Columbus brought the sugar-cane to New World in
1493 and, in 16th-17th century, to Europeans. In South-Indies, human started
sugar-cane cultivation in between 18th and 19th century. Sugar consumption in
England was increased up to 15%. Now-a-days, refined sugar is used in different
bakery, drinks and industrial products etc.
World Scenario:
In 1950’s, about 12% American were obese and increased up to 35% in weight in
2000’s. Similarly, in United Kingdom, 6% were obese in 1980s now this amount has
increased up to three times. Till 2016, two-third of Britain’s population was
facing obesity (Type-2 diabetes).
In Pakistan:
In Pakistan, sugar production is 6 million tones and the consumption is 200,000
tons (USDA Analysis, May, 2017). Sugar is the 2nd largest industry in Pakistan
after Textile. The estimated per capita consumption of sugar in Pakistan is 25
kg which is highest in Asia comprising China with 11 kg, India with 20 kg and
Bangladesh with 10kg per capita consumption.
Disadvantages:
According to groups of doctors, nutritionist, and biologist, “Sugar is a toxin
that disturbs the Body organs, hormonal cycle, as well as, it is the main cause
of weak willpower, which are the major problem of our generation, now-a-days”
(Mark Batman). Furthermore, major drawbacks of sugar are obesity and metabolic
disorders, like diabetes as one third of American, 12.5 million children are
obese and in 2011 about 12 million American had the illness. Sugar is one of the
major causes of Heart disease and obesity (John, 1972). By combing the two
documents from 1950s and 1960s, Researcher from San Francisco and University of
California reported that Sugar industries diverting the attention of Sugar
consumers away from Heart diseases, fat and cholesterol caused by it, by
promoting and sponsoring the researches in favour of sugar.
The major sources of energy for our body are Fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
The more palatable and useful carbohydrate is sugar. Sugar is also called
childhood alcohol as one third American children are obese. A growing body of
scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to
liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. Robert Lusting said that;
‘Sugar is the alcohol of child, and that’s why children today are getting the
diseases of alcohol-type 2 diabetes and fatty liver diseases’
Here the question arises that our ancestors consume sugar but they never faced
such kind of problems? Simple answer is that Nature never provide them sugar for
whole year, they consume sugar from fruits which was available only for few
months, but now, human is in full access to sugar. Today more than 70%
commodities are sugar based. A lot of countries and cities banned the alcohol
and tobacco at childhood level. But still children have more cases of fats,
obesity, liver and heart diseases why? Because main thing in their diet is sugar
and sugar based commodities. Now-a-days, in many parts of the world, people are
consuming an average of more than 500 calories per day from sugar alone (‘the
global sugar glut’).
Sugar usually causes the diseases related to Metabolic syndrome i.e. diabetes,
hypertension (Today most common in Pakistani new generations), Aging process
enhancement, it also causes toxic effects on liver just as in case of alcohol.
The United States spends $65 billion in lost productivity and $150 billion on
health-care resources annually for morbidities associated with metabolic
syndrome. Seventy-five per cent of all US health-care dollars are now spent on
treating these diseases and their resultant disabilities. Another research
conducted in 2013 including 175 countries clearly showed that sugar intake
directly increases the diabetes risks. The study also found that participants
who consumed approximately 17 to 21 per cent of their daily calories in the form
of added sugar, had about 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular
disease, compared to those who got roughly 8 percent of their total calories
from added sugar.
Recent and mounting scientific evidence clearly proves that sugar — and
flour, which raises blood sugar even more than table sugar — is biologically
addictive. In fact, it’s as much as eight times more addictive than cocaine.