The recent sugar shortage and the hike in its retail price leaves many questions unanswered. What is so great about sugar to the extent it prompts the so called wise consumers to behave like ants each time there is a run for sugar?

This three series article highlights the views on sugar. This is the first of the three series.
       
"Sugar endangers health". "Sugar is poison". "Sugar contributes to chronic diseases." These are the negative narratives relating to sugar. There is even a Malay proverb literally meaning "the ant dies because of the sugar".

Yet, despite the perils due to excessive sugar intake, many of the consumers today are least bothered if the statistics on sugar consumption is anything to go by!

Maybe for some, health is probably not their main concern. The reminders and advice from dieticians or medical practitioners seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

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Facts about Sugar

The refined sugar that humankind is familiar with is indispensible in our daily lives.

According to Wikipedia, the main ingredient in sugar is sugarcane with the yellow and black sugarcane most commonly used.

It is reported that about 107 nations cultivate sugarcane to produce 1,324 million tonnes of sugar. The leading sugar producing nations, according to Wikipedia are Brazil, India, China and Pakistan.

The thick sugarcane stem stores sucrose, which is processed into sugar.

Sugar is Poison

Sugar maybe sweet but there is bitter sweet truth about the commodity!

In 1929, Sir Frederick Banting, the co founder of the insulin hormone (the hormone that regulates the glucose metabolism in the body) found that diabetes was prevalent among the foreign sugarcane plantation owners in Panama while the sugarcane harvesters made up of locals were almost free from this chronic disease.

The reason? The plantation owners consumed refined white sugar in excess while their harvesters only chewed on the sugarcane stem!

The health hazard of the refined white sugar was also emphasised by a leading dietician, Dr William Coda Martin.

Back in 1957, he classified the white sugar as poison! Dr Martin made the classification on medical grounds because sugar is among the elements when applied onto the body, swallowed or processed in the body would or could cause chronic diseases.

He also classified sugar as poison due to the low vitamin and mineral content and only pure carbohydrate is available.

Moreover, sugar drains valuable vitamins and minerals from the human body during its digestion and detoxification process.

Daily intake of sugar causes greater acidity and mineral accumulation in the body and this imbalance has to be rectified.

Do You Really Need Sugar?

Apart from refined white sugar and brown sugar serving as sweeteners, there are other sweeteners like honey and maple syrup and the 'hidden sugar'.

A local dietician, Mary Easaw John, noted that the hidden sugar can be found in bread, ice-cream, chocolate, pastry, pie and other delicacies.

"To make bread, one may need yeasts.  These yeasts need sugar to activate them and ensure the bread rises," she explained.

She pointed out that jelly, jams and kaya have high sugar content.

As for example, 60 percent of the content in jams is sugar.

A piece of kuih, she said, has half a teaspoon of sugar, while carbonated drinks have eight to nine teaspoons of sugar.

Therefore, she pointed out that we in fact do not need additional sugar in our daily lives.

"All that we need to do is change our taste. Even if we are to take refined sugar, six to seven teaspoons will suffice. This excludes the hidden sugar in cakes and other sweet confectionery.

"Excess sugar will be stored as fat in the body, unlike when one consumes vegetable or fruits where the vitamins and minerals are not stored as fat," she told Bernama.

She also advised consumers to be careful when purchasing ready-made food.  

"Take time to glean the food label. Check on the fat and sugar content," she said.

Diabetes Explosion

A Western news agency recently reported, the junk food from West is the cause for the diabetes prevalence in Southeast Asia.

Studies found that about 11 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women in Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam, are not aware that they have been afflicted with diabetes Type 2, excluding 4 per cent of the country's population diagnosed as diabetics.

Diabetes Type 2, is most commonly caused by high levels of fats and sugar in the diet apart from the lack of exercise. In the long term this affliction could lead to kidney and heart failure.

At the global stage the International Diabetes Federation estimates that by 2025 there will be 147 million diabetic patients in the above 60 age group.

The national statistics also point towards rising number of diabetic patients.

In 2009, about 17 percent of the 27 million people in Malaysia were said to be diabetics while the 2006 data indicated that 21 percent of the population were overweight while another 6.2 percent were obese.

Therefore, are we to continue with uncontrolled sugar consumption and end up with chronic  ailments especially in our golden years?



- Bernama