Table sugar (sucrose; with 2 molecules, one each of glucose and fructose) is most common form of sugar consumed. In this article, the nomenclature ‘Sugar’ will be used to describe the table sugar (sucrose). From breakfast till dinner, sugar is our constant companion. In the previous posts on glucose metabolism and fructose metabolism, we have seen how high consumption of glucose and fructose can stress our liver and pancreas. Table Sugar (or Sugar) combines the adverse effects of both the compounds. Fructose is absorbed much faster in presence of glucose and the combination becomes much more deadly than glucose or fructose consumed alone. Its can be postulated that prolonged and high consumption of table sugar is injurious to health. High consumption of sugar causes, Faster Glycation, Insulin Resistance in liver and cells, Leaky Gut, Diabetes, NAFLD, Hypertension and Dementia.
Toxicity Goes Unrecognised by Main Stream Science
In 1960s when Ancel Keys first gave his cholesterol hypothesis, John Yudkin a British doctor, said that sugar might be responsible for increase in heart disease and not the cholesterol. Ancel Keys also accepted in his paper that sugar may be responsible. But with passage of time other opinions were silenced and the cholesterol hypothesis became widely accepted as the cause of cardio vascular diseases (CVD). With recommendation of low fat diets by US Govt, Sugar had a great run. Industry used sugar to add palatability and increase the self life of products. Yudkin, wrote the book “Pure White and Deadly” highlighting sugar toxicity. Later on, Journalist Gary Taubes authored two books ; “A Case Against Sugar” and “Good Calories, Bad Calories”. He became a prominent voice on sugar toxicity. Earlier, expert bodies like FDA, WHO, AHA were not ready to accept that sugar is toxic, but it appears that they are diluting their stand. Latest guidelines of WHO advises people to restrict calories from added sugars to 10% or less. Up to nine tea spoonful of sugar ( for Males) and six tea spoonful (for females) is considered safe. Experts believe that this dose of sugar is still on higher side. Best is to avoid table sugar at all. I recommend not more than three tea spoonful of sugar in a day (to sweeten the beverages like tea, coffee).
With increasing trend of consumption of bakery products, sugar sweetened beverages, breakfast cereal, candies, and other over the counter available items, the sugar consumption has gone up pretty high. All packaged foods like breakfast cereals, sauces, jam and jellies, commercial fruit juices and bakery products are full of sugar. Thanks to the aggressive marketing, mothers have been giving their children malt foods (bournvita and complan etc) which are high in of sugar. If one mixes two tea spoonful of such malt foods, in a glass of milk, the whole day quota of sugar is consumed. Since sugar content is mandatory to be displayed, industry has been using all alternate names for sugar; agave sugar, natural sugars, fruit sugar etc, to misguide people. Table below gives you the sugar content of some popular foods and drinks (data compiled from images of food labels images in the internet)
Table: Sugar Content Of Commonly available Products
| Item (1 tea spoonful (tsf) is 5 gms) | Sugar |
| Bourn Vita li’l Champs (100 gm or 20 tsf) | 73 gm or 3.65 gm per tea spoonful |
| Complan (100 gm) | 26.5 gm 0r 1.3 gm per tea spoonful |
| Pepsi (100 ml) | 11 gm or 2.5 tsf |
| Coca Cola (100 ml) | 10.6 gm 2 tsf |
| Aloe Fruit juice (100 ml) | 12.44 gm 2.5 tsf |
| Frooti tetrapack | 13.3 gm or 2.6 gm tsf |
| Tomato Sauces per serve (15 gm) | 4.8 gm or 2 tsf |
| Commercial Yoghurt (per serve (150 gm) | 17 gm or 3 tsf |
| Biscuits (100 gm) | 62-27 gm (12 tff-5 tsf approx) |
| Sugar per biscuit | 4.5-9 gm or 1-2 tsf approx) |
The issue of sugar toxicity is more to do with politics and industry. US govt has to look after the interest of sugar cane farmers and sugar industries, so toxicity issue was never encouraged. As early as 1950s, the issue of role of sugar in heart diseases was raised. Sugar industry tried to confuse the issue using Tobacco Industry tactics. Consumption of sugar rose unabated and so the heart diseases, diabetes and other chronic diseases. E Kearns published a review of internal documents of Sugar Researched Foundation (SRF) and concluded that in 1960s and 1970s , SRF sponsored a research program to cast doubts about the role of table sugar in CVD. It was in the interest of sugar industry that cholesterol and low fat diets remain central to CVD control.
Now Cholesterol hypothesis has been doubted by large number of scientists. A review by Uffe Ravanskov showed that LDL does not have role in CVD. In spite of widespread use of statins (cholesterol lowering drugs), the incidence (new cases) of heart attacks has not come down. Only the death from heart attacks have come down, that too due to better diagnostic and treatment.
The Message is Clear
Sugar is a sweet poison. Experts may disagree, but as a common man, we should minimise our sugar intake, specially once doubts have been raised regarding long term usage of sugar as a sweetener. The blue zones population had one thing in common that their sugar consumption was almost nil. When these communities adopted western food habits, they also started suffering from all the diseases.
Limit Sugar If you want to Be Healthy
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