4 - Is Sugar A Memory Killer?
Sugar is a non-food. It is a pure carbohydrate that offers illusion of energy, only to cause a downhill slump after the initial burst has worn off. Sugar further contributes to emotional upset because it "sops up" the Vitamin Bcomplex during metabolism.
These vitamins nourish the nervous system. As has been pointed out, a deficiency may lead to emotional upset. Sugar, by its depleting action, may cause a deficiency. By upsetting the delicate blood-sugar levels, it may cause a mind-bending, mind-destroying action. It has been reported to distort mentality, trigger erratic behaviour and memory loss.
Joseph Wilder, M.D., writing in The Nervous Child, blames excess sugar consumption for the fact that so many children display neurotic symptoms. Youngsters, according to Dr. Wilder, consume a lot of sugar in their cravings for sweets and so are more susceptible to these emotional disorders. Because of this, they face a serious threat in their mental health "for the importance of nutrition for mental (and physical) functioning is much greater in children than in adults".
An excess of sugar, says Dr. Wilder, is emotionally hazardous. "In adults faulty or insufficient nutrition may alter or impair specific or general mental functions, and eventually cause reparable or even irreparable structural damage of the central nervous system. In children, we face a serious additional factor. The development of the brain may be retarded, stopped, altered, and thus the mental functions may become impaired in indirect and not less serious ways".
Sugar metabolism leaches out the nerve-breeding vitamins and distress signals are noted. The person overeats or does not want to eat at all. Often, memory is impaired. Nightmares, sleepwalking, poor learning, absent-mindedness, mischievousness, inability to get things done — all these may result.
"Laziness may be caused by hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)," says Dr. Wilder, "with mental fatigue, dullness, indifference, lack of initiative and above all, severe inability to make decisions".
A serious condition of an overloaded sugar system may lead to violence. Dr. Wilder explains, "The child may be neurotic, psychopathic or have criminal tendencies and be subject to anxiety, running away tendencies, aggressiveness, a blind urge to activity and destructiveness, with impairment of moral sensibilities like shame.
"In its simplest form, it is the tendency to deny everything, contradict everything, refuse everything at any price ... It is no wonder that a considerable number of criminal and semi-criminal acts have been observed in children in ... [low blood sugar] states, ranging from destructiveness or violation of traffic regulations all the way to arson and homicide".
Dr. Wilder also says that "the well-known problem of the relation of poverty to crime calls for an investigation from the angle of hypoglycemia ... In such an investigation, we must also keep in mind the possible irreparable anatomical damage and arrest of development in young brains caused by malnutrition in childhood, even if the patient or criminal does not present any metabolic abnormalities at the time of investigation".
In an article in The Handbook of Correctional Psychology, Dr. Joseph Wilder offers a number of cases of criminal acts performed by individuals who had a history of high sugar intake and showed symptoms of hypoglycemia. The crimes included homicide, arson, mutilation.
Throughout Dr. Wilder's report are statements like this:
"After the patient's arrest, his family physician notified the defense that two years prior to the crime, a sugar tolerance curve (blood sugar test) had shown a tendency to hypoglycemia".
Hitler has been called a "sugar drunkard" and this may have been one reason for his being a triggerbrained, raving, rabble-rousing maniac. His over consumption of sugar may have created a low blood sugar condition and the consequent screaming fits of rage.
Hitler's Love for Sweets. Ernst Hanfstaengl, the Fuhrer's personal pianist, in his book, Unheard Witness, tells how Hitler loved sweets and favoured whipped-cream cakes. There was always a box of candy around. The pianist writes that Hitler could not drink wine unless he put sugar Into it! In his early years, when he was in jail, his friends deluged him with boxes of candy, knowing of his addiction.
Hanfstaengl writes, "Hitler ... had the most incredibly sweet tooth of any man I have ever met ..."
While there certainly were many other factors involved in Hitler's distorted mind, his sugar consumption may have been the hypoglycemia "trigger" that exploded other symptoms.
Sugar is an artificial creation. The sugar molecule is something like Cn H<2>n On (Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen). It has no nutrients. It is water soluble and rushes into the bloodstream, spending little time in the digestive system. It is regarded as a chemical compound and disrupts normal health patterns of the biological system. It could well cause an abnormal strain on the mental processes.
H. Stutte, M.D., a court physician to officials in Marburg, Germany writing on the problems of excess sugar in Das Neue Zeitalter, alerts us to the possibility of a connection between low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) and some auto accidents:
"A person with hypoglycemia who is suddenly overcome in the thickest of the traffic in a large city with disorders of his vision or a state of weakness ... who reacts incorrectly as a result of loss of initiative or blurred consciousness, this person can easily provoke an accident in which he himself or another person can be the victim."
This condition "threatens special danger when it overcomes the driver at the steering wheel and — as is often the case — this person is not conscious of the fact that he is disturbed and continues to drive ... When a car suddenly cuts out into the opposite lane and has a collision where there are good lighting conditions on a curve that can be seen well or for that matter even on a straight highway, one should not satisfy himself with the laconic statement 'going too fast', but also think about the possibility of hypoglycemia ..."
Dr. Sutte would like to see medical tests given in such cases:
"An intensification of the investigation of the causes (in the area of medicine as well as in the area of technology) would probably be of essentially greater value for the prevention of accidents than the continual increase of punitory regulations."
The Sugar Energy Fallacy.
There is a popular -and erroneous— theory that sugar supplies energy. Here is what Dr. Michael J. Walsh, a nutritionist, has to say about this, in Modern Nutrition.
"Acting on the false-to-fact identification that sugar is energy, people eat more and more sugar in the naive belief that they are going to get more and more energy. Instead of more and more, they are likely to get less and less energy — if the more and more sugar is in the form of the 'concentrated, refined, fermentable carbohydrates' which includes sugar out of the sugar bowl, sweetened gelatin desserts, sweetened breads, rolls, doughnuts, pastries, cookies, pies, cakes, sweetened alcoholic beverages, sweetened processed cereals, syrup from canned fruits, etc."
Dr. Michael Walsh explains that this type of sugar reduces energy because it is "not likely to be accompanied by sufficient quantities of other factors (such as Vitamin B1) which are needed to ensure the completion of the intermediate stages of carbohydrate metabolism ... A consequence of failure to complete the energy transformation is fatigue ..."
Consumer Bulletin had the following item of interest regarding the so-called energy power of sugar:
"The 'quick energy' that comes from carbohydrates and is so much praised in advertising of the sugar interests is short-lived. The malnourished Child who is fed much sugar will quickly lose interest in activity after his bottle of soft drink or an ice cream soda, and soon sink back into his prior passive state".
Many parents may be guilty of inducing mental sluggishness in a child by allowing him to overload his system with sugar-containing foods.
A Sugar-Free Program For Marital Problems.
A California physician has suggested that many marital conflicts could be resolved if the couple went on a sugar-free diet. Cecelia Rosenfeld, M.D., writing in the medical journal New Medical Materia declares:
"One of the prime causes of marital discord — nutritional deficiency — is too often overlooked. In my own practice, I have found that a surprising number of 'broken marriage' spouses suffered from a blood-sugar imbalance.
"Many of these husbands and wives showed symptoms of irritability, violent temper, abnormal sensitivity and extreme fatigue. In most cases, there was no evidence of organic disease. Corrective nutritional guidance dispelled these unpleasant symptoms for many spouses and in the process often bolstered their crumbling marriages."
The doctor tells of the case of Mrs. R.L, a 34-year-old secretary. The woman was tired, showed poor concentration and suffered from chronic emotional depression. Her home life had deteriorated, and she was separated from her husband. Dr. Rosenfeld treated her with nutritional-therapy. It was four months before any improvement was noted, but soon after she was able to rejoin her husband and try again for a happy life. It is believed she still follows the natural food program and has eliminated sugar from her food program.
Mr. T.E., a 53-year-old business executive, suffered from nervous tensions, including pounding migraine headaches. The man's wife said he was the victim of such chronic irritability and nervous unrest that no one could live with him. They were on the verge of a divorce.
Dr. Rosenfeld put them both on an all-natural nutritional program — with no white sugar. In two months, the husband's headaches ended and he became easier to live with. He and his wife not only didn't get a divorce, they took a six-month voyage around the world!
Obviously many other factors may enter into marital discord. But know that improper sugar metabolism and resulting hypoglycemia can make an individual emotionally unstable, incapable of reasoning out basic differences. It is gratifying that more and more doctors are checking out the possibility of low blood sugar as a contributing factor when an unhappy man and wife seek help.
Only a healthy body can build a healthy mind. Together, they add up to a healthy marriage!
Sugar And Psycho-Neurotic Disorders.
In his book, Body, Mind and Sugar, Dr. E.M. Abrahamson tells the story of a 48-year-old woman, P.J., who suffered from claustrophobia, loss of memory and other emotional disorders. She had undergone expensive psychoanalysis, shock treatments, injections of insulin. She was so depressed, she no longer wanted to live.
When she came to Dr. Abrahamson he noted from various tests that she was a sugar-holic. He put her on a high-protein, low-starch and very low-sugar program.
"Within a week, she began to feel better, both physically and emotionally. In two weeks she was able to travel alone, which had been impossible for her for years."
Through nutritional therapy, P.J. was able to recover from emotional distress when other, more traditional, treatments failed.
Remember, sugar is not an energy-builder, it is an energy destroyer. Play it safe. To satisfy your sweet tooth, select fresh fruits. To sweeten a beverage, try honey, molasses, maple syrup. With some minor and tasty adjustments, you too can help feed yourself a healthful personality.