Refined Sugar Destroys Health
Chronic Conditions Cancer, Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease
In the last 20 years, sugar consumption in the U.S. has increased from 26 pounds to 135 lbs. per person per year! Chronic Conditions such as Heart disease and Cancer were virtually unknown in the early 1900's. Prior to the turn of this century, the average per person consumption of sugar was only 5 lbs. per year!
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)is being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and those "quick-fix" microwave meals.
Refined Sugar Consumption
The average American consumption of sugar is a horrific amount of 2-3 pounds of sugar each week. Highly refined sugars include:
- Sucrose(table sugar refined from Cane and Sugar Beets)
- Dextrose (refined from corn)
- Fructose (refined from fruit and corn)
The "glycemic index" indicates how quickly the sugar is utilized and absorbed. The lower the rating, the slower the absorption and digestion process. Consuming "complex carbohydrates" found in foods such as fruits and vegetables, results in a more gradual, healthier absorption of sugars into the bloodstream. A high rating means that blood-glucose levels are increased quickly. This stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. Rapid fluctuations of blood-sugar levels are not healthy because they place a great amount of stress on the body.
Sugar raises insulin levels. This inhibits the release of growth hormones, which in turn depresses the immune system. Depressing the immune system is not something you want to happen if you want to remain free from Chronic Conditions and Disease.
Allowing rapid influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body's blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin. Insulin is what the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. Insulin also promotes the storage of fat. When you eat sweets high in sugar, you will gain weight rapidly and elevate the triglyceride levels. Both of these negative consequences of a diet high in sugar have been linked to Heart Disease.
Effects of Refined Sugar on Vitamin C
In the 1970's researchers found that Vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so they could "phagocytize" (the cellular process of eating, the purpose of which is to eliminate debris and pathogen, as opposed to taking in fuel for cellular processes) viruses and bacteria. Inside the white blood cells it is required to have 50 times the concentration of Vitamin C as outside of the white blood cell. The white blood cells have to accumulate Vitamin C.
The "phagocytic index" tells you how rapidly a particular "macrophage" (macrophages phagocytose [engulf and then digest] cellular debris and pathogens either as stationary or mobile cells, and stimulate lymphocytes and other immune cells to respond to the pathogen) can gobble up a virus, bacteria, or Cancer cell.
Did you know that Glucose and Vitamin C have similar chemical structures? What happens when the sugar levels go up? They compete with each another upon entering the cells. The determining factor which allows the entry of glucose into the cells is the same factor that determines the entry of Vitamin C into the cells. If you have more glucose in your system, there will be less Vitamin C allowed into the cell. It doesn't take much: a blood sugar value of 120 reduces the "phagocytic index" by 75%. When you eat sugar, your immune system slows down to a crawl.
The Roots of Disease
It doesn't matter what disease we are talking about - the common cold, Heart Disease, Cancer or Osteoporosis - the root cause is always going to be at the cellular and molecular level. Habitual ingestion of sugar creates results which are certain to occur. Refined Sugar has been found to aggravate asthma, stimulate mood swings, make personality changes, cause mental illness, feed nervous disorders, form gallstones, and begin the onset of Diabetes, Heart Disease, Hypertension, and Arthritis.
Refined Sugar lacks minerals and vitamins. So it "steals" micro-nutrient stores from other parts of the body so it can be metabolized into the system. Metabolization of cholesterol and fatty acid is impeded when storehouses of vitamins and minerals are depleted. This promotes higher blood serum triglycerides, higher cholesterol levels, and Obesity due to higher fatty acid storage around organs and in tissues beneath the skin.
Refined Sugar Is One Of The 3 Major Causes Of Degenerative Disease
Refined Sugar is devoid of minerals, vitamins, AND fiber. It has a deteriorating effect on the endocrine system, so much so that major researchers and major health organizations (American Dietetic Association and American Diabetic Association) agree.
If you think that substituting honey for refined sugar is the answer, think again. Honey is a simple sugar. 96% of honey's composition is simple Sugar, so use it sparingly.
Effects of Refined Sugar on our Health
- Depresses the immune system
- Upsets the body's mineral balance
- Contributes to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children
- Produces a significant rise in triglycerides
- Causes drowsiness and decreased activity in children
- Reduces helpful high density cholesterol (HDLs)
- Promotes an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs)
- Causes hypoglycemia (Low Blood Sugar)
- Increases the risk of coronary heart disease
- May lead to chromium deficiency
- Causes copper deficiency
- Interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium
- Promotes tooth decay and gum disease
- Creates excess acid in the stomach (Acid Indigestion and Acid Reflux Disease)
- Raises adrenaline levels in children (ADHD)
- Speeds the aging process, causing wrinkles and grey hair
- Increases cholesterol levels
- Contributes to weight gain and obesity
- Increases the risk of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
- Contributes to diabetes
- Contributes to osteoporosis
- Leads to decreased glucose tolerance
- Causes Heart Disease
- Causes food allergies
- Causes "free radical" formation in the bloodstream
- Causes Toxemia (elevated water retention and high blood pressure) during pregnancy
- Contributes to eczema in children
- Overstresses the pancreas, causing damage
- Causes atherosclerosis (Hardening of the Arteries)
- Breaks down the lining of the capillaries
- Causes liver cells to divide, increasing the size of the liver
- Increases the amount of fat in the liver
- Increases kidney size and produces changes in the kidneys' cell stucture
- Causes depression and other mental problems
- Increases fluid retention
- Causes hormonal imbalance
- Causes high blood pressure
- Causes headaches, including migraines
- Causes an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind's ability to think clearly
- Increases the "stickiness" of blood platelets which increases risk of blood clots and strokes
- Increases bacterial fermentation in the colon (Candida Yeast Infections)
Refined Sugar and Cancer
There are well over 4 million Cancer patients being treated in the U.S. today. Not surprisingly almost none are given guidelines as to their dietary needs to help get rid of Cancer cells.
Most Cancer patients would have a major improvements if they were told that they should control the supply of Cancer's preferred food - Sugar. Cancer patients could make it possible for their immune systems to catch up to the disease by controlling their blood-glucose levels through diet, exercise, supplements, meditation and prescription drugs( if necessary).
Otto Warburg, Ph.D. (1931 Nobel laureate in medicine), first discovered that Cancer cells have a different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. His Nobel thesis stated:..."malignant tumors frequently exhibit an increase in ‘anaerobic glycolysis’ (a process whereby glucose is used by cancer cells as a fuel with lactic acid as an anaerobic by-product) compared to normal tissues. The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from the cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate creates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid build-up. Larger tumors tend to exhibit a more acidic pH."
