SUGAR AND HONEY
In 1882, the average American ate 2 teaspoons of sugar per day. In 1870, it was 11 teaspoons per day. In 1980, we consumed 35 teaspoons of sugar per day; and now the average is over 42 teaspoons per day. (See chart on Sugar Content of some popular foods).
WHAT IS SUGAR?
Sugar is a carbohydrate that occurs naturally in various forms in all living things. In its natural form, sugar, as found in the sugar cane or sugar beet, is combined with a large amount of fiber, and also contains iron, potassium, calcium, B vitamins, etc.. These nutrients are needed to digest the sugar that is in the sugar beet or sugar cane, However white sugar, as we get it today, has been robbed of almost 100% of these nutrients. White sugar is so pure and refined that it basically has nothing in it but 'empty calories'.
Concentrated, pure sugar is a drug, unrelated to anything that occurs naturally, and is very harmful to your body. According to John Yudlin, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Nutririon at London University, "If only a small fraction of what is known about the effects of sugar was revealed in relation to any other food additive, that material would be promptly banned".
Sugar throws off the calcium-phosphorous balance, and disrupts the entire important phase of your body machinery. Because refined sugar has been robbed of the B vitamins that are necessary for its assimilation by the body, it latches on to these wherever it finds them - namely, in your digestive tract, so that the person who eats refined sugar is bound to be short on the B vitamins. Result? Nervousness, skin troubles, digestive trouble, and a host of other disorders which lead to much more serious problems later on.
The more sugar you eat, the lower your body's resistance to disease becomes. To have good health we must have a strong immune system. Sugar lowers our body's immune system, making it weak instead of strong. In our body we have white blood cells, which are called warrior cells. These attack and destroy bacteria. However, when we eat refined sugar, it causes our white blood cells to become sluggish, causing them to lose their ability to destroy as many bacteria.
In a healthy body, where no refined sugar is eaten, one white blood cell can destroy 14 bacteria. If a person then eats 12 teaspoons of sugar (a 12 oz. bottle of Cola has 10 teaspoons), one of their white blood cells will only be able to destroy 5.5 bacteria. If a person eats 24 teaspoons of sugar (a banana split has 25 teaspoons of sugar), one of their white blood cells will only be able to destroy 1 bacteria. This weakening effect on the white blood cell usually lasts for approximately 5 hours. To keep our body's immune system strong, we must leave sugar alone.
Refined sugar drains out the mineral salts of the blood, bones, and tissues. It causes hyperactivity and dental caries. It causes obesity, diabetes, low blood sugar, high blood pressure, duodenal ulcers, fatty livers, coronary and vascular disease, gout, dermatitis, and cancer. According to the American Journal of Hypertension (3:560-562, 1990), sucrose (sugar) intake may increase the blood pressure. Other studies have indicated that the intake of refined carbohydrates produces an increase in the blood pressure.