Obesity And Sugar

Look around at the youth of today; obesity among children is escalating at an alarming rate and reaching epidemic proportions. To make matters worse, obese children become sick children who develop disease. The disease we once called Adult-Onset Diabetes has now begun to turn up in kids as young as eight and ten. Although epidemiological and nutritional researchers alike rush to pin the blame on dietary fat and lack of exercise, however research is proving otherwise.

Real data shows that amazingly children like most Americans have been eating less fat in recent years. Even more amazing, the children who were the fattest were the children who ate the least amount of fat. If fat can’t be blamed, nor lack of exercise can’t adequately explain the sky rocketing of obesity and the onset of type II diabetes, what can?

The answer is short and sweet, literally. The real culprit is the addictive white powder sugar in the amount it is consumed by our children. Sugar has always been around, but never before consumed at such a rate. The most recent estimates peg the intake of sugar in the US at 150 lbs per person per year. This equates to ½ a pound of sugar a day for every man, woman and child. Compare this to the 2 lbs of sugar per person per year at the turn of the Century, it is no surprise our bodies are revolting against the sugar.

A study published in the March 1999 Issue of the Journal of Pediatrics showed what children eat for breakfast, and lunch will set the tone for their desire to eat the rest of the day. If you feed them quickly absorbable carbohydrates they will eat twice as much later. A folk, even a carbohydrate is a form of sugar, and sugar in all forms consumed at high levels is disastrous to the body.

Due to revelations of sugar’s harmful effects artificial sweeteners now exist in abundance. Saccharin, cyclamate, aspartame, and sucrose all strive to look like sugar, taste like sugar, sweeten like sugar, and even cook like sugar, but have no calories, which is true, and have no adverse health consequences. So, the only negative effects of artificial sweeteners, are stimulation of the pancreas, risks of cancer, and risks to the brain. Actually, Folks the effects of artificial sweeteners are not known yet, conclusively, so they could be even more harmful than predicted once proven scientifically.

The addiction to sweetness represents an enormous departure from the diet of our ancestors, and one that will continue to create a health care crisis. As long as sugar is found as a main ingredient in practically every food found in our diets today, we will continue to struggle with these consequences.

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