THE ABUSE OF SUGAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21640, 4 November 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE ABUSE OF SUGAR

ITS TO DISEASE Observers are' constantly seeking to explain the variations seen in the frequency of disease, and one of the most recent contributors to the question in an Australian journal is Dr. J. H. P. Paton, who has attacked the excessive consumption of sugar, which is so much a feature of present-day conditions. We are so accustomed to sugar from our infancy that we very rarely realise that it has only been in use in any quantity within comparatively recent times. Dr. Paton proved that in certain boarding schools for girls, the dormitory with .the lowest rate of sugar consumption had a rate of coughs, colds, and-catarrh of 5.5 per cent, while that with the highest sugar consumption had a rate of 24.6 per cent, and the rate itj each of the dormitories was roughly proportional to the amount of sugar taken in. He went to the other end of the investigation, and found that chronic enlargement of the tonsils, chronic nasal catarrh, and several similar conditions which did not respond at all to the usual treatment, showed rapid improvement when sugar in every shape and form was withdrawn from the diet. EFFECT OF TOO MUCH SUGAR It would appear from Paton's work that the excessive consumption of sugar favours an increase in common catarrh, and in order to test the matter further, he investigated the figures for these diseases during the time when the sugar consumption in England was definitely lowered —that is to say, during the war. He found that from the figures compiled at that time there was very definite support for his theory, and he concluded that we eat far too much sugar —in fact, too much carbohydrate altogether—and that this is one of the causes of the frequency of many of our present-day diseases. In childhood, it has long been a tradition that excessive consumption of sweets affects the teeth. It is also a well-know fact that if children are early taught fo eat sweetened foods, they develop a craving for sugar, and will not eat anything unless it is sweetened, and, perhaps, oversweetened. This upsets the balance of the food ration in a way that is often troublesome. Certainly, it is true that in some cases where fats are not well tolerated by the child, barley sugar may bo a useful remedy, but this is the other extreme. „ CAUSE OF ACIDOSIS Because sugar is almost immediately available for energy in the body, people who are living on a poor diet crave it; it provides them at once with the energy-content that they require. On the other hand, its energy is used and gone very rapidly indeed. If ono takes an excessive quantity of sugar, the sugar-controlling apparatus in the must work overtime. By and by this becomes a habit, and if the sugar consumption is reduced, there is a condition of acidosis set up, and this is one of increasing frequency among ,modern children. In the same way, many cases of hypoglycaemia (as the primary condition is called) are now being reported in adults. As age increases this overstimulation of the function is followed by its failure, and the result is diabetes —an increasing frequency of diabetes is very much a feature of present-day life.