When we first moved into our Neighbourhood on the Northern Beaches, I would often see a man running up our rather steep street. Turns out this man is a retired surgeon experienced in the management of morbid obesity, and that we share a passion for raising awareness about the health impacts of sugar and helping people find ways to cut back on it. He generously provided the below and I'm eager for you all to read as it's, in my opinion, incredibly insightful. Thank you Victor - your advice and insight is greatly appreciated.
From Victor:
What is commonly known as "sugar", is in fact two simple sugars (monosaccharides), glucose and fructose, joined together to form the disaccharide sucrose. Over the past 20 years, the deleterious effects of the extraordinarily high amounts of refined sugar (sucrose) consumed in most western societies - and now increasingly in Asia - have become increasingly apparent to medical researchers.
The average daily intake of sugar in countries like Australia, U.S.A. and Britain is roughly what pre-colonial first nations people, including Australian aborigines, consumed in a year - from natural food sources, mainly fruit, and rarely wild honey. Before the 16th century, this also applied to Europeans; that is, before the age of mass production of refined sugar.
Sugar is known to be a very significant contributor to many if not most of the conditions leading to chronic ill health and early death in our community. These include: Coronary heart disease and stroke. (sugar is "atherogenic" - i.e. causes blockage of arteries with gunk called "atheroma", the cause of heart attacks and stroke) Obesity - which in itself is atherogenic and "carcinogenic" (i.e. cancer-causing) - and it's bed-fellows, type II diabetes and hypertension. The tetrad of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and arterial blockage from atheroma often occur together and this combination is known as Metabolic Syndrome - sometimes called Syndrome X - and is directly related to excessive sugar intake. This syndrome is very common in Australia and comparable countries. Tooth decay (caries) and, even worse, dental root-rot (periodontal disease).
Too much sugar has also been blamed for hyperactivity in children, but this is speculative and unproven.
Most people would be surprised to learn just how addictive refined sugar is - the more we have, the more we want. Some doctors have even described it as: just another addictive white powder, causing as much disease and premature death as ice or heroin - which I agree sounds a bit extreme but there's more than a grain of truth in that comparison. Fortunately sugar addiction is readily overcome - a strict avoidance of all products containing added refined sugar for around 1 - 2 weeks is all it takes for the cravings to abate. *check the sugar content of preserved foods before purchase*
You'll be surprised at just how many products contain large amounts of sugar. The bottom line is this: if we want to reduce the risk of chronic ill health of early death related to obesity, heart attack, stroke, and some forms of cancer - and if we want to keep our teeth as we get older - we should minimise our intake of refined added sugar.
Some sugar, especially in whole fruits, is not a problem. Consuming lots of fruit juice is, however. For example, a single glass of apple juice, which we might down in 10 seconds, contains about as much sugar as 3 large apples. I therefore strongly recommend Daz & Andy's Healthy Lollies products.
What could be more important than protecting our children from getting hooked on sugary lollies, drinks, honey, Tim-Tams and the like? For an excellent take of this subject, watch 'That Sugar Film' - see trailer here
Victor Webster
MBBS(Adel.), FRCS(Eng.), FRACS, Cert.HST(RCS Eng.)
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