Sugar Addiction 
By Walter Sorochan

Posted April 14, 2012; updated November 16, 2021.   Disclaimer  The information presented here is for informative and educational purposes only and is not intended as curative or prescriptive advice.

 "Sugar is bad for you for three reasons: it is addicting, it feeds cancer cells and it prevents you from losing fat weight! 

This article presents documented information about the dangers of eating sugar in foods or by itself.

Health Educators like Yudkin have been saying that sugar is bad for you for years Book by Yudkin: Book 1986 is no longer active., but Registered Dieticians [RD's] have been denying it because of their connections with the food and beverage industry. What makes matters worse is the that the Department of Agriculture is attempting to control nutritional information in the US; and has already specified misinformed words or sugar terms that the food industry can use in many supplements and foods. The truth is hard to find!

The World Health Organization released a report a few years ago detailing the hazards of sugar and fat, but the American sugar lobby suppressed its release in the United States.

Real causes of obesity and chronic diseases 12mns:  

Source Robert Lustig: The-Skinny-on-Obesity-Ep-1-An-Epidemic-for-Every-Body

Sugar Addiction Theory:   Dr. Nicole Avena of Princeton and the University of Florida co-authored a book with John R. Talbot that theorizes that not only is sugar addictive, but also that you cannot cure one addiction without curing them all. The reason many people have trouble stopping alcohol drinking or smoking tobacco is because when they try, they substitute other forms of addiction like caffeine or soft drinks and so their bodies never get over the addictive cycle of cravings, satiety and withdrawal. Researcher Avena proved this theory with lab rats.   Talbot: 60 mns video. vs sugar addiction  Rubaum: sugar addiction 2009

This may be the prime reason most recovering addicts and even most dieters relapse. Incredibly, stopping eating sugar is not only the key component to a successful weight loss diet, it is the key to ending many of the bad habits we may have wanted to but were unable to stop in the past.   Talbot: 60 mns video. vs sugar addiction

Ashley Gearhardt  -- New science about sugar toxicity U-Tube 27:08 mns:

Source: Gearhardt 2013

Although scientists don't fully understand the link between fructose and behaviors that lead to obesity, the fact that the brain scans show the sugars affect some regions differently supports the idea that such a link exists, according to study researcher Dr. Jonathan Purnell, a professor of medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. Article by Rowan: brain different sugar responses is no longer active.

There is a lot of sugar in the food we eat:  

colas sugar oj sugar shake
soft drinksJuices, mayonnaisemilk shakes

Kinds of sugar: 

All of us are familiar with white refined granular table sugar.  This sugar was originally made by plants as carbohydrate or sucrose, by photosynthesis.  Sugar is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. There are various types of sugar derived from different sources:

Table sugar, chemically called sucrose, is composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen [referred to as a disaccharide]. The sugar rings are called glucose and fructose [simple sugars], and they're chemically bonded together to form sucrose. This is illustrated on the right side of the diagram below.  Sugar: chem formula

sugar table chemformula
Article about Sugar: hem formula is no longer active.

Table or granulated sugar most customarily used as food is sucrose, a disaccharide, is illustrated on the left side of the diagram above. Other disaccharides include maltose and lactose. Wiki: sugars

When you eat sugar, your body uses an enzyme called sucrase to split the glucose and fructose apart, and your intestine then absorbs them. Hendrickson: sugar vs corn syrup 2010  Glucose can also be converted called dextrose; the human body’s primary source of energy.

Fructose is found in fruit and honey. Sweetest natural sugar. Trehalose [ a sugar formed from two glucose units ] is not produced by the human body, but rather within insects and fungi, though the human body contains the enzyme to digest this sugar, demonstrating that we evolved eating this sugar which we seldom eat today in the Western Diet.

 Fructose adds to overeating   because it does not trigger chemical messengers that tell the brain the stomach is full and to stop eating! Instead, the brain tells you that you are still hungry. Eat More! and then a little more! Now, don't the extra calories feel good, especially around the stomach? Your brain remembers this and the next time you go out to eat, your brain says "Hey, get me that corn syrup food!" Your brain sends you a message to eat the food again! It seems that the corn syrup has conditioned your brain into eating corn syrup again.... " a possible addiction??" Sorochan: hidden corn syrup 2010

The end result is that our bodies are essentially tricked into wanting to eat more and at the same time, we are storing more fat. Severson: Corn syrup & obesity 2004   It becomes easy now to link corn syrup to obesity. People eating foods and drinking beverage drinks with corn syrup eat more; they take in more calories than their body needs and store the excess calories as body fat. Numerous researchers have confirmed that there is a relationship between corn syrup and the obese. Severson: Corn syrup & obesity 2004

High fructose corn syrup [HFCS] starts off as corn, which is made up of lots of cornstarch, or amylose.  Process manufacturing plants use enzymes to break amylose into glucose or regular corn syrup and then use another enzyme, called invertase, to convert in corn syrup into 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose, resulting in high fructose corn syrup.  The FDA in 2008 classified HFCS as a synthetic compound, forcing big food and beverage makers to forgo the lucrative “natural” label. Article by Weatherby: FDA corn syrup unnatural is no longer active.

Corn syrup is used in soft drinks, baked goods, jelly, syrups, fruits and desserts.  Individuals who consume lots of high fructose corn syrup have higher rates of obesity and higher likelihood of type 2 diabetes than those who use less of the syrup.  Another concern with regard to high fructose corn syrup, which is not a concern with table sugar, is that the extensive processing of high fructose corn syrup results in mercury contamination, as noted in a 2009 study in "Environmental Health." Mercury is a neurotoxin, meaning that it adversely affects the nervous system and brain. Particularly in children and developing babies, mercury exposure can lead to mental deficits and other health issues.  Hendrickson: sugar vs corn syrup 2010

Government subsidies for corn syrup: Instead of growing food for people, government subsidies pay farmers to grow corn as animal fodder, for ethanol [Ethanol gasoline fuel commonly called E10 ] and to make the sweetener corn syrup. Very small amount of corn as food is grown. 90 % of “ subsidies “ corn grown today cannot be eaten by humans. Instead most of this corn is used for animal feed, to produce ethanol and corn syrup.  Article about Government subsidies & corn syrup is no longer active.  Article by Weatherby: FDA corn syrup unnatural is no longer active.

Sugar is similar in biochemistry to vitamin C:  Vitamin C [ascorbic acid] is found in plants and animals where it is produced from glucose. Animals must either produce it or digest it, otherwise a lack of vitamin C may cause scurvy, which may eventually lead to death. Many animals are able to produce it, although some primates, guinea pigs, teleost fishes, bats, some birds and humans cannot although require it as part of their nutrition. Wiki: Vit C

Need more scientific information that sugar is poisoning us, addicting us and making us fat? Well, there is plenty of support that sugar is causing many of our health problems.  Davis: Sugar linked to cancer 2014  Finer: Lancet Fat Chance 2013   Fraser: corn syrup-diabetes II  Haspel: Sugar poison debate 2013  Hutchison: type of sugar addicts  Video by Gupta: 60 mns sugar addiction script is no longer active.  Lenoir: sweetness addiction  Article by McClellan: sugar vs cocaine is no longer active.  MacPherson: Princeton study  Pikul: Give up sugar 2014  Article by Rowan: brain different sugar responses is no longer active.  Article by Rubaum: sugar addiction is no longer active.  Sorochan: hidden corn syrup 2010  Talbot: 60 vs sugar addiction  Book by Yudkin: Book is no longer active.

Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 1

lustig fat chance

Robert Lustig:  "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 2

Robert Lustig:  "Sugar is a Toxin" - Part 3

Conclusion: Do you think Halloween and Birthday treats addict children to sugar?

Childrens-party-012

References:

Davis Malden, "Scientists crack why red meat is linked with cancer - and SUGAR may be to blame," DailyMail, December 30, 2014.   Davis: Sugar linked to cancer 2014

Finer Nick, "Book: Fat Chance." The Lancet, Editorial, 2013.  Finer: Lancet Fat Chance 2013 

Fraser Jessica, "Sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and type II diabetes," Natural News, July 07, 2005.   Fraser: corn syrup-diabetes II

Haspel Tamar, "Is sugar a toxin? Experts debate the role of fructose in our obesity epidemic," The Washington Post, September 2, 2013.   Haspel: Sugar poison debate 2013

Hendrickson Kirstin, "What Is the Difference Between Real Sugar & High Fructose Corn Syrup?" LiveStrong.com, Nov 6, 2010.  Hendrickson: sugar vs corn syrup 2010

Hutchison Courtney, "Is Your Sweet Tooth an Addiction?" ABC News Medical Unit, June 10, 2010. Hutchison: type of sugar addicts

Gearhardt Ashley, "New Science of Sugar Addiction," Yale and Rudd Center for Policy and Obesity, 2011. [ explores what makes certain foods capable of triggering an addictive process. ]

Gearhardt Ashley, Michael Roberts, and Marice Ashe, "If Sugar Is Addictive…What Does It Mean for the Law?" Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Supplement [ 2012 public health law conference: practical approaches to critical challenges • spring 2013]   Article by Gearhardt Sugar legislation is no longer active.

Government subsidies: Instead of growing food for people, government subsidies pay farmers to grow corn as animal fodder, for ethanol [Ethanol gasoline fuel is commonly called E10 ] and to make the sweetener corn syrup. Very small amount of corn as food is grown. 90 % of “ subsidies “ corn grown today cannot be eaten by humans. Instead most of this corn is used for animal feed, to produce ethanol and corn syrup. Article about Government subsidies & corn syrup is no longer active.

Gupta Sanjay, " Is sugar Toxic?" CBC 60 minutes, April 01, 2012. Video by Gupta: 60 mns sugar addiction script is no longer active. 

Lenoir Magalie, Fuschia Serre, Lauriane Cantin, Serge H. Ahmed, "Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward,"  Lenoir: sweetness addiction "Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. Virtually all rats preferred saccharin over intravenous cocaine, a highly addictive drug."

Lustig Robert, "Sugar is a toxin Utube comments,  Book “Fat Chance: Beating the Odds [ Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease ” makes the case that sugar is almost single-handedly responsible for Americans’ excess weight and the illnesses that go with it. ] 

McClellan Marisa, "Sugar found to be more addictive than cocaine," Huntington Post, August 27, 2007.  Article by McClellan: sugar vs cocaine is no longer active.

MacPherson Kitta, "Sugar can be addictive, Princeton scientist says," Princeton University, December 08, 2008.   MacPherson: Princeton study

Pikul Corrie, "Give Up Sugar: The One 'Crazy' Thing All Nutritionists Agree Is a Good Idea," Huffington Post, January 29, 2014.   Pikul: Give up sugar 2014

Rowan Karen, "Brain's response to sugars may explain obesity," MSNB Health News, February 10, 2011. Article by Rowan: brain different sugar responses is no longer active.

Rubaum-Keller Irene, "Is Sugar Addictive?" Huff Post, June 18, 2009.   Rubaum: sugar addiction 2009

Severson, Kim, “ Sugar coated: We're drowning in high fructose corn syrup. Do the risks go beyond our waistline? “ San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2004.Severson: Corn syrup & obesity 2004

Sorochan Walter, "Hidden corn syrup is bad for you," freegrab.net, 2010.  Sorochan: hidden corn syrup 2010

Sugar: addiction and dangers  Sugar: addiction and dangers

Sugar, "Chemical formula for sugar," Cemical Formula.   Article about Sugar: chem formula is no longer active.

Sugar Snacks Article about Sugar Snacks: amount sugar in foods is no longer active.

Talbot John R., "60 Minutes Gets It Right That Sugar Is Addictive and May Be Killing You," Huff Post, April 2, 2012.  Talbot: 60 mns video. vs sugar addiction

Taubes Gary, "Is sugar addictive," New York Times, April 13, 2011.Taubes: Sugar is addictive 2011

Velez-Mitchell Jane, Addiction Nation, February 5, 2011.   Velez-Mitchell: Interview on book Addiction Nation

Weatherby Craig, “High-Fructose Corn Syrup Declared Unnatural,” Vital Choices, April 21, 2008 VOLUME 5 ISSUE 211.Article by Weatherby: FDA corn syrup unnatural is no longer active.  [ FDA classifies HFCS as a synthetic compound, forcing big food and beverage makers to forgo the lucrative “natural” label. ]

Wikipedia, "Sugar."   Wiki: sugars

Wikipedia, "Vitamin C."  Wiki: vit C   

Yudkin John, Pure, White and Deadly. Penguiin Books, 1972, 1986.   Article by Yudkin: Book is no longer active.