Sugar Highs & Sugar Lows: Understanding the Body's Response to Sugar

I recently picked up a great little book that a friend lent me a few months back. It's called The All-Natural Sugar-Free Dessert Cookbook and it was published in 1992, even though the cover art is very 70's vintage-esque. It is written by Linda Romanelli Leahy. It's full of sugarless recipes sweetened with some form of fruit. No artificial sweeteners in this book! I knew I had come into a real winner of a recipe book when I found a recipe for Baklava, sugar-free, that made my mouth water.

I want to re-print an important section which happens to be in the Intro of the book. The science is solid and doesn't seem to have changed much over the years, regarding sugar highs. If anything, modern science further validates the information below.


Sugar Consumption Can Give You a "High"--and Low

The term sugar high generally refers to the quick burst of energy you experience when you eat a concentrated simple sugar--a candy bar or other snack made primarily of table sugar--on an empty stomach. What you're really feeling is a rapid, dramatic rise in blood glucose (the digested form of sugar). Your pancreas responds (in the nondiabetic person) to this rise in glucose with a similar outpouring of insulin that brings your glucose level back to the normal range.

This rapid rise and subsequent fall of glucose in the blood has consequences. The energy "high" you experienced in the minutes following ingestion of simple sugar is followed by an energy "low" (this effect can be very pronounced in children, who react quickly and dramatically to biochemical changes in the body).

For some people, the low is accompanied by feelings of irritability, sluggishness, and overall malaise. To counteract these effects, you may decide to help yourself to yet another serving of sugar--which can lock you into a vicious cycle characterized by mood swings and alternating energy peaks and valleys.

A better strategy for maintaining energy is to eat complex carbohydrate foods, which include fruits, [whole] grain products, and vegetables. It takes time for the body to digest these foods and break them down into simpler sugars that can be absorbed into the bloodstream (a simple sugar food is already broken down, so its sugar rushes into the bloodstream almost instantaneously) and from there, into the cells for use as fuel. This relatively slow process permits a steady, more measured flow of sugar into the blood; you avoid energy highs and lows, keep your blood glucose level steady, and generally feel better.

--page xvi Introduction, written by Elliot J. Rayfield, M.D., The All-Natural Sugar-Free Dessert Cookbook

This pretty much confirms my own past with sugar. No wonder it's a volatile relationship--it begins in the body! It seems like the only way to stay high is to not begin eating sugar at all and instead, get high on life. I'm finding in my own exercise routine that I feel exhilarated afterward but I don't "crash" like with sugar. I naturally slow down to a normal pace but my endorphins accompany me throughout the day. I prefer this kind of a high to a closed-loop sugar high. It's easy for me to say, though, since it's been one year and 5 months since I've experienced a sugar high!

Is There Sugar in My Beer? -Special Guest Post

Michael Tonsmeire is a homebrewer and fermentation nerd living in Washington, DC.

Most people love a good beer, but what really goes into making a beer anyway? Sure most people know malt and hops are important, but is that it? With the huge number of microbrews and imports available these days, walking into a well stocked beer aisle can be almost as intimidating as trying to pick out a wine. There are no ingredient lists on the bottles or six packs so how are you supposed to tell if any of them contain refined sugars?

Even though most people drink beer, few people really know how barley and hops end up as an alcoholic liquid. Whether you are brewing a 5 gallon batch of Russian Imperial Stout at home or a 500 barrel batch of Light American Lager at a mega-brewery the general process is the same, even if the equipment and scale are completely different.

Malted (sprouted then dried) barley is crushed, then mixed with hot water. The color and malt flavor of the beer are determined by the amount and type of specialty (roasted or caramelized) malts that are included. This mixture (called the mash) is held at 150 +/-8 F until the enzymes activated in the malting process break down the starches (made up of long chains of sugar molecules) contained in the endosperm. The majority of the resulting sugar is maltose, but glucose, sucrose, maltriose, and unfermentable dextrins are also created. By controlling the temperature of the mash the brewer can control the general distribution of the different types of sugar created (which in turn determines how sweet the resulting beer will be).

Next comes the sparge where more hot water is slowly added to the top of the grain to help rinse out more of the sugars as the sweet liquid is allowed to drain out the bottom. Along with the sugars, malt flavor, proteins, tannins, and nutrients are also extracted and washed into the brew kettle.

The sweet liquid (now called wort) is brought to a boil. Hops (a flower) are added at various points during the boil for their bittering and aromatic qualities. After a 60-90 minute boil the wort is run through a heat exchanger (to cool to ~65 F for an ale or ~50 F for a lager) and then into a fermenter. Yeast (a single celled fungus) and oxygen are then added to the wort. During the next 12 hours the yeast cells use the oxygen to help them to reproduce. Once the oxygen is used up the yeast switch to anaerobic mode and begin to ferment the sugars in the wort.


Fermentation creates energy for the yeast cells and produces ethanol and carbon dioxide as byproducts (the carbon dioxide is allowed to bubble out of the fermenter). Once fermentation is complete the yeast begins to clump together (flocculate) and fall to the bottom of the fermenter where it can be removed and added to a fresh batch of wort.

After 14-21 days fermentation will be complete and the beer will be pretty clear (lagers are then stored for a period of weeks or months at low temperatures to allow for the flavor to mellow further). At this point the brewery has several options on how to package the beer for sale. Many start by filtering or centrifuging the wort to remove any remaining yeast cells and haze causing proteins. To carbonate the beer the brewer has two options, force in carbon dioxide (in the same way a soda is carbonated), or introduce a small amount of fermentable sugar along with some fresh yeast to create natural carbonation.

This is how a basic beer is made. I don't have the space here to go into using fruit, herbs, spices, coffee, dry hops, honey, lactic acid bacteria, unmalted grains, or any other fun stuff. If you want to learn more about these topics check out my blog.

Since the point of this article is supposed to be how refined sugars are used in brewing, I better get to it.

The good news for anyone looking to avoid refined sugars is that most commercial brewers don't use them. Most beers get all of their sugars for fermentation from the whole grains in the mash. In addition to the malted barley this can include malted or unmalted wheat, oats, rye, rice, and corn/maize.

There are some styles of beer which do have some refined sugar added to the wort. Belgian (and Belgian Style) beers are the most notable example. Many strong Belgian beers get 15-30% of their pre-fermentation sugar in the form of refined beet sugar (sucrose), although this sugar is often caramelized before it is added to darker beers. The sugar helps to lighten the body of the beer and improve drinkability. The good news is that the yeast selectively consumes sucrose and glucose before moving on to maltose and the more complex sugars. This may be one of the most important points for some of you, so I will quote George Fix from page 99 of Principles of Brewing Science:

The elementary sugars glucose and fructose are generally the first to enter the yeast cell. They are followed by sucrose. Before entering the cell, sucrose is first inverted, or split, into glucose and fructose units by invertase.
...
Maltose is brought into the cell at a slower rate than glucose or sucrose. Maltose is transported intact into the cell by the maltose permease enzyme (maltase) and then split inside the cell into two glucose units by the enzyme β-glucosidase.

Some of the cheapest American lagers, malt liquors, and cream ales contain a large amount of corn syrup (up to 40% of their fermentables), but if you are the sort of person worried about consuming refined sugars I am guessing you don't drink a lot of cheap beer (I'm talking even cheaper than Bud/Miller/Coors which each contain corn or rice).

If a brewery wants to do natural carbonation (called bottle or cask conditioning if done in the serving vessel) the brewers can choose to add either a bit of unfermented wort or refined sugar (most often sucrose or glucose). If refined sugar is chosen the amount is the equivalent of just ½ tsp per bottle and effectively all of that consumed by the yeast, creating CO2 which is trapped in the beer along with a tiny bit more alcohol.

In the US many breweries are experimenting with other sugar sources which lighten the body while providing some of their own character. Some examples include honey, maple syrup, date sugar, agave nectar, gur, brown sugar, molasses, and unrefined sugars such as turbinado, muscovado, and rapadura. These are rarely used for more than 10% of the fermentables in a standard beer, but a rare style called a braggot is a combination of a strong ale with a large portion of honey.

If you want to know exactly what goes into a beer you are buying you will need to do some research because the US Government does not want ingredient lists or nutritional facts on alcoholic beverages. Apparently they feel that nutritional information would lead people to think that beer should be thought of as food. I think a whole grain beer is much better for you than an ultra-processed soda, so what if it contains alcohol? Making ingredient lists and nutritional labels mandatory would empower consumers allowing them to weigh the information for themselves.

What to remember:
An obscure Belgian style called Faro (a lambic back sweetened with candi sugar after fermentation) is the only beer that I am aware of that routinely contains unfermented refined sugar.

Virtually no other beers contain sugar molecules from refined sugar because even when they are used the yeast converts them into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Some English and American style beers (even lower gravity ones) may have a small proportion of refined sugar added to the wort to help lighten the body.

Due to the influence of the Reinheitsgebot (Bavarian brewing purity law) no German brewers add refined sugar (or anything besides malt, hops, yeast, and water) to their beer.

When in doubt take a look at a brewery's website or email them, most will be happy to answer your questions and let you know which if any, of their beers are brewed with refined sugar.

Hopefully this article has answer many of the questions related to the use of sugar in brewing, but if you have anymore please feel free to email me at madfermentationist@gmail.com

References:
Fix, George. 1999. Principles of Brewing Science. Boulder: Brewers Publication.
Hieronymus, Stan. 2005. Brew Like a Monk. Boulder: Brewers Publication.
Mosher, Randy. 2004. Radical Brewing. Boulder: Brewers Publication.
Palmer, John. 2006. How to Brew. Boulder: Brewers Publication.

How Much Sugar is Too Much?

I have to wonder how much is too much because I've been given different answers from....everybody. As a kid, my dentist used to say, "Eat ALL of your Halloween candy right away and cut down on soda." I never drank soda, but I did used to stash my plastic pumpkin full of candy under my bed for months. You read in the news how "over-consumption" of sodas, desserts and other sugary goods may lead to obesity, type 11 diabetes and heart disease. What is "over-consumption?" To me, more than one glass of pure juice a day would be over consumption, but if I told that to anyone in line at the supermarket, I would be laughed out the door and their liters of soda on the check-out belt would explode.

I ask not only about white refined sugar, but all sweeteners, even the good ones. Even the raw honeys and maple syrups and dried fruits can be eaten in excess....so, how much is too much? How much were we meant to be eating? Does a craving ever justify what I do with a craving? Is my craving physical, like my body needing more balance, or is it a learned response to the thought of sugar, which begins producing endorphins and increasing the pleasure portion of my brain, thus rewarding me for having the thought in the first place?

In most cases, I have learned to trust my intuition when I eat. What I eat and how much is mostly obvious to me now because I have taken extreme efforts to see past what's marketed at me. Though the junk food at the grocery store sings like a siren for my attention, I have learned to trust the quiet fruits and silent vegetables. This being said, I can say now while I am not in the middle of a freak sugar craving, that yes, I should carefully limit even my natural sugar intake. However, when the sugar-craving-moment strikes, I often have no gauge as to how much is too much. I've never seen it in writing and I don't give myself a limit because I am usually in such control of things like that. It's those days when I am feeling awful and stressed beyond belief that it would be helpful to have this problem of how much is too much issue solved once and for all. It would be nice to have something in writing to fall back on when I am not sure that I can trust myself.

Here are some samples of what I found. I am sharing this because I find it interesting that there are so many different ideas roaming around out there. To me, it's obvious that we would all be better off if we didn't eat ANY sugar (well, maybe sometimes something natural like dried fruit or raw honey...) but the way for most people is to try to moderate their over-consumption of white table sugar. A great blog that I enjoy reading, A Life Less Sweet, is all about cutting out high fructose corn syrup. It is very informative and most recently someone has blogged as a guest, regarding, "How much sugar is too much for kids?" I highly recommend reading this article.

Andrew Weil, M.D. has this to say about eating sugar in moderation:

• "Your own response to sugar is the best test of how much you can handle. In some people, sugar triggers mood swings - it brings on a rush of energy followed later by a "crash" into lethargy and depression. Others don't get the rush; they just feel logy and sleepy after consuming sugar. And, of course, some people don't notice any physical or mental effects at all.

• I recommend cutting down or eliminating sugar if you experience mood swings, fluctuating energy levels, suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, or have frequent vaginal yeast infections. You may notice an improvement in your moods, a lessening of your arthritis symptoms and the frequency of yeast infections when you reduce or eliminate the sugar in your diet."

The American Heart Association has a great take on why to reduce our intake of sugars:

"The primary reasons to reduce the intake of beverages and foods with added sugars are to lower total calorie intake and to get enough of the nutrients your body needs. People who consume large amounts of beverages with added sugars tend to consume more calories. Some experts believe that calories consumed as liquid are not as satisfying and filling as calories consumed as food. This may have a negative effect on people who are trying to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight."

How much sugar is too much? Is there a way to justify or support your answer? I would love to hear from you on this.

Carbohydrates = Sugar

I've been doing more research on sugar. What is it, really? What foods break down into sugars? How much is too much? What do carbohydrates have to do with blood sugar? Should we cut out all carbs?

I came across a very informative article by Harvard's School of Public Health.

How are carbohydrates and sugar related?

• "Carbohydrates are found in a wide array of foods—bread, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, soft drinks, corn, and cherry pie. They also come in a variety of forms. The most common and abundant forms are sugars, fibers, and starches.

• The basic building block of every carbohydrate is a sugar molecule, a simple union of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Starches and fibers are essentially chains of sugar molecules. Some contain hundreds of sugars. Some chains are straight, others branch wildly.

• Carbohydrates were once grouped into two main categories. Simple carbohydrates included sugars such as fruit sugar (fructose), corn or grape sugar (dextrose or glucose), and table sugar (sucrose). Complex carbohydrates included everything made of three or more linked sugars. Complex carbohydrates were thought to be the healthiest to eat, while simple carbohydrates weren't so great. It turns out that the picture is more complicated than that.

• The digestive system handles all carbohydrates in much the same way—it breaks them down (or tries to break them down) into single sugar molecules, since only these are small enough to cross into the bloodstream. It also converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar), because cells are designed to use this as a universal energy source.

• Fiber is an exception. It is put together in such a way that it can't be broken down into sugar molecules, and so it passes through the body undigested. Fiber comes in two varieties: soluble fiber dissolves in water, while insoluble fiber does not. Although neither type nourishes the body, they promote health in many ways. Soluble fiber binds to fatty substances in the intestines and carries them out as a waste, thus lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad cholesterol). It also helps regulate the body's use of sugars, helping to keep hunger and blood sugar in check. Insoluble fiber helps push food through the intestinal tract, promoting regularity and helping prevent constipation."

What is insulin, and how does it relate to sugar?

"When you eat a food containing carbohydrates, the digestive system breaks down the digestible ones into sugar, which then enters the blood. As blood sugar levels rise, special cells in the pancreas churn out more and more insulin, a hormone that signals cells to absorb blood sugar for energy or storage. As cells sponge up blood sugar, its levels in the bloodstream begin to fall. That's when other cells in the pancreas start making glucagon, a hormone that tells the liver to start releasing stored sugar. This interplay of insulin and glucagon ensure that cells throughout the body, and especially in the brain, have a steady supply of blood sugar."

What is the glycemic index? What is the glycemic load?

• "A new system, called the glycemic index, aims to classify carbohydrates based on how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar compared to pure glucose.

• Foods with a high glycemic index, like white bread, cause rapid spikes in blood sugar. Foods with a low glycemic index, like whole oats, are digested more slowly, causing a lower and gentler change in blood sugar.

• One of the most important factors that determine a food's glycemic index is how much it has been processed. Milling and grinding removes the fiber-rich outer bran and the vitamin- and mineral-rich inner germ, leaving mostly the starchy endosperm.

• That's why researchers developed a related way to classify foods that takes into account both the amount of carbohydrate in the food and the impact of that carbohydrate on blood sugar levels. This measure is called the glycemic load.

• You can't use the glycemic index to rule your dietary choices. For example, a Snickers bar has a glycemic index of 41, marking it as a low glycemic index food. But it is far from a health food. Instead, use it as a general guide. Whenever possible, replace highly processed grains, cereals, and sugars with minimally processed whole grain products."

Lastly, the article ends with an emphasis on
"Good Carbs, not No Carbs."

• "For optimal health, get your grains intact from foods such as whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole grain pasta, and other possibly unfamiliar grains like quinoa, whole oats, and bulgur. Not only will these foods help protect you against a range of chronic diseases, they can also please your palate and your eyes."

-"The Nutrition Source: Carbohydrates: Good Carbs Guide the Way," by Harvard School of Public Health
(http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/carbohydrates-full-story/)

"Genes Remember Sugar"-an interesting study

Here is another undeniably good reason to give up the white stuff: Your genes may remember the sugar it had and alter your DNA.

Not in a good way. It will not alter your DNA to look like a Sugar Disneyland. Rather, the Australian research study found that, "cells showed the effects of a one-off sugar hit for a fortnight, by switching off genetic controls designed to protect the body against diabetes and heart disease." Read more, here.

Granted, this is one study. It was done by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute. In my opinion, it's worth taking note of until further studies confirm these findings. Trust me, I wish research studies found that white sugar was good for us. I could go back on the white stuff and never look at another food label again--it would save me several minutes at the grocery store. I could go back to eating my favorite cereals. I could stop writing to companies--or keep writing them and instead ask for more sugar in their products. I could buy a package of Oreos, confident that the sugar rush I would experience is actually good for me! This is what I would like to be the truth.

The fact is, sugar has been a problem for generations, and because it has found its way into more and more products (black beans and toothpaste...), we are ingesting more and more of it and our national health issues (especially diabetes, obesity and heart disease) have grotesquely increased.

I have no idea what researchers will find in the next several years as the effects of sugar will continue to be studied. My guess is that what they find will not be good. My body (and yours, too) can attest to the fact that refined sugar is not good for it. To get even more ridiculous, I will use the Garden of Eden arguement: if we were meant to eat something, it was readily available in that garden. Sugar cane, yes. White refined sugar, no. Honey, yes. Corn syrup, no. (Using this reasoning I can't help but wonder if I'm being duped by the "health food" industry in buying products like brown rice syrup, agave nectar, molasses....)

Next on my list of things to do is research universities. There is only so much I can say at my current level of education. There is only so much I can say about sugar with a Psychology degree and massage therapy license. I am willing to pay a hefty price for a Public Health degree combined with a Registered Dietitian license to earn the right to make certain statements. Especially to doctors that continue serving green Jell-O to their patients (sorry, I can't let that go.)

press release: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090116/hl_afp/healthaustraliageneticssugar;_ylt=At8juaZrV2AoHEmOvom1Hj4PLBIF
Journal of Experimental Medicine: http://jem.rupress.org/
*Full article is not published yet at the time of this post.

More News on Coke Lawsuit (VitaminWater)

If you don't know what this story is about, click here or see my previous post.

I picked up a bottle of VitaminWater today at a cafe. No wonder this product is the subject of so much controversy. It's full of sugar and contains no fruit juice or less than one percent. The problem is, its labels imply that it is a healthy product. In my opinion, even if there were all the vitamins you ever needed in a drink, but still 33 grams of sugar added, forget it.

Decide for yourself whether you side with Coca-Cola, or with the main organization behind the class action lawsuit, Center for Science in the Public Interest. Here are some excerpts taken from different publications/websites, which I have provided links to:

"...how should consumers decipher punchy buzzwords like "triple antioxidants" and "definitely au natural" on some of the bottles' labels?" -US News & World Report

*

"Vitaminwater has been a huge success for Coke which is facing declining soft drink sales as concerns over obesity bite. Last year it beat its sales forecast to sell 24 millon bottles, retailing for about $3.50 each.

Each 500 millitre bottle contains half the sugar of a can of Coke and less than 1 per cent fruit juice.

Coke denied it ever marketed Vitaminwater as a healthy drink. 'It's an option between a soft drink and a water. It's more of a lifestyle brand than a hard health drink,' the spokeswoman said." -The Sydney Morning Herald

*

"Glacéau vitaminwater is a great tasting, hydrating beverage with essential vitamins and water, with labels showing calorie content," said Coke spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante. "Consumers can readily see the nutrition facts panels on every bottle of glacéau vitaminwater, which show what’s in our product and what’s not." -Chicago Tribune

*

"Coca-Cola bought Glaceau's VitaminWater for $4.1 billion in June 2007. At the time, it was considered a coup for the company, which was competing for customers who were buying less and less soda.

VitaminWater has been good for Coke's bottom line since the acquisition, with sales rising by a double-digit percentage in the third quarter.

'It truly shocks the conscience that a company like Coke would try to keep customers by selling them a soft drink and telling them it's a vitamin,' said Stephen Gardner, director of litigation for the group." -The Associated Press

Coke Sued for Fraudulent Claims

"Coke Sued for Fraudulent Claims on Obesity-Promoting VitaminWater"--To read the entire article about this class action lawsuit, click here.

This is very important information. I highly recommend that you read this. I will give you a brief synopsis of what this is about, but reading the entire article will shed more light on what is happening.

Basically, Coke has been promoting their product, VitaminWater, to be a healthy source of vitamins, using words like "defense" and "rescue" and "energy" and "endurance". The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has called Coke out for making deceptive claims. In case this is your favorite drink, check this out: there are 33 grams of sugar in each bottle, and between zero and one percent of actual juice, despite the yummy juice flavors labeled on the bottles like "grape" "kiwi strawberry" etc. You have been buying sugar water!

This is just one example of why it is so important to check the ingredients of products that you are buying.

ALWAYS CHECK THE INGREDIENTS!

Do not be fooled by a healthy label implied on the front of a product. The truth is, the label might be deceptive, but no matter what, the label has been created to sell you a product. Companies selling packaged foods are in the business of making money. Many of these companies could care less about your health. Grocery stores sell products that make themselves money, so even your local grocery store does not necessarily have your health in mind. If you are not sure, just walk through a grocery store and look at the products on the shelves. When it comes to the end of the month sales, the products that are high in demand (we as consumers have control over this by what we choose to buy and not buy!) will be stocked on the shelves again.

If in doubt as to what companies to buy from, which products are healthiest--buy fresh produce and/or ingredients to make your own food. If you do not have enough time to do this or to check ingredients in foods, consider re-examining your priorities. What we ultimately care about is what we end up doing. In my opinion, it is never a sacrifice to be sure that I am eating the right foods. If you know a health-nut, ask that person their opinion to save you some time.

I love what the Executive Director of CSPI says, "My advice to consumers is to get your vitamins from real food. If you have reason to believe you have a shortcoming of one vitamin or another, perhaps take an inexpensive supplement. But don't seek out your vitamins in sugary soft drinks like Coke’s VitaminWater."
(-http://cspinet.org/new/200901151.html)

My Greedy Little Taste Buds

Here is a drawing of my greedy little taste buds. Not pretty. I wonder if this represents how they look when they are excited by sweetness, or when they are just hanging out?
Sweetness
"Sweet is one of the five basic tastes and is almost universally regarded as a pleasurable experience. Foods rich in simple carbohydrates such as sugar are those most commonly associated with sweetness, although there are other natural and artificial compounds that are much sweeter, some of which have been used as sugar substitutes for those with a sweet tooth. Other compounds may alter perception of sweetness itself.

The chemosensory basis for detecting sweetness, which varies among both individuals and species, has only been teased apart in recent years. The current theoretical model is the multipoint attachment theory, which involves multiple binding sites between sweetness receptor and the sweet substance itself.

Examples of sweet substances
A great diversity of chemical compounds, such as aldehydes and ketones are sweet. Among common biological substances, all of the simple carbohydrates are sweet to at least some degree. Sucrose (table sugar) is the prototypical example of a sweet substance, although another sugar, fructose, is somewhat sweeter. Some of the amino acids are mildly sweet: alanine, glycine, and serine are the sweetest. Some other amino acids are perceived as both sweet and bitter.

A number of plant species produce glycosides that are many times sweeter than sugar. The most well-known example is glycyrrhizin, the sweet component of licorice root, which is about 30 times sweeter than sucrose. Another commercially important example is stevioside, from the South American shrub Stevia rebaudiana. It is roughly 250 times sweeter than sucrose. Another class of potent natural sweeteners are the sweet proteins such as thaumatin, found in the West African katemfe fruit. Hen egg lysozyme, an antibiotic protein found in chicken eggs, is also sweet.

Interesting facts about the sweetness receptor
Sweetness perception may differ between species significantly. For example, even amongst the primates sweetness is quite variable. New World monkeys do not find aspartame sweet, while Old World monkeys, apes and humans all do.[8] Felidae like cats cannot perceive sweetness at all."
-(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetness)

My Resolution
I'm afraid that I may have to go another year, at least, without sugar. No more donut dreams for this girl! I simply can not justify going back onto sugar. If I did, it would be for all of the wrong reasons.

Are Cane Juice and Raw Sugar the Same as White Sugar?

I am again attempting to find out at which steps of the sugar refining process we get these products. Also, what is their nutritional value?

• Evaporated Cane Juice
• Cane Juice
  
• Organic Sugar
• Turbinado
• Raw Sugar
• Molasses

I posted something about this earlier in the year, but I want even more details, from more sources. The cold, hard facts. I can not get the best information from any source that is selling something. Unfortunately, I am having a difficult time finding this information elsewhere!

I have many people asking why I don't eat some of the above listed sugars. I do eat molasses. A naturopathic doctor once recommended that I eat one tablespoon of molasses a day. I was eating vegan then. I haven't touched the other sugars all year because I believe they are much more refined products of sugar cane/sugar beet than molasses. Molasses is full of iron and other vitamins and minerals. You really can't overeat the stuff--it's so strong! It makes a wonderful sweetener, especially in my favorite gingersnap cookies.

I think that the other sugars listed are advertising "gimmicks" to get us health-concious folks to think a product is okay. I really don't believe that there is a big difference between white table sugar and evaporated cane juice, cane juice, raw sugar and turbinado. If the differences are microscopic, then I think they hardly count. I think the differences should be as obvious as molasses compared to white table sugar. If there are "trace" amounts of nutrition in cane juice or turbinado, does that really make it healthy?

The research that I am looking for is harder to find than I thought. All I want is a chart that shows the sugar refining process, with these different sugars listed at the point at which they are a final product. Ideally, these different sugar products would then be charted according to their nutrition. Do these charts exist? I've looked on both sugar websites and "anti-sugar" websites.

Wikipedia apparently agrees with me, "Evaporated cane juice is used more widely across the globe and is gaining currency as a euphemism for refined white sugar." I think "euphemism" is a loose term, and definitely not a scientific term, but nevertheless...

I'm finding the same thing on most websites, "[Evaporated cane juice] may also be known by a variety of other names including dried cane juice, crystallized cane juice, milled cane sugar and direct consumption sugar."(1)

If you've heard of Sunspire Natural Chocolates, they also have something to say about raw sugar, "Raw sugar is coarse, tan to brown-colored sugar (sucrose) which results from the first processing of cane or beet sugar. True "raw sugar" cannot be sold in the USA because it contains impurities such as soil, mold yeast, bacteria, and wax. When further processed to remove the impurities it is sold as turbinado sugar."(2)

Here is an interesting perspective written by Nutritionist Vimlan VanDien, "One hundred grams of dried cane juice is pretty much the same thing as 100 grams of other sweeteners, no matter what you call it," says Vimlan VanDien, a nutritionist at the respected Bastyr University, in Seattle, Washington. "When people call these sugars something other than sugar, it's deceptive in a way if the market is uninformed. Because dehydrated cane juice is sugar. It simply sounds like a whole food."

VanDien feels that calling these sweeteners something other than what they are is a way that some consumers can sugarcoat their consciences too.

"To a certain extent," she explains, "when people buy products with so-called alternative sweeteners, it gives them an excuse to eat sugar. They'll say, Oh, it's organic, so it's O.K.' Or, It's a whole food.' But it's not whole food. If you wanted the whole food, you'd go out in the field and eat the sugar cane, and get all the fiber and nutrients it has." (3)

I found a sugar refining website (4) that talks about the process of sugar refining, but leaves out when the various sugar products are produced. The sugar refining process is very interesting to me. It reminds me that sugar is in no way a whole food. What once was a beautiful green sugar cane (sold at open markets in Hawaii and fun to chew on) ends up an embarrassed little pile of tiny white, nutrition-less crystals.

Ah, I should write a children's book about the sugar refining process from the sugar cane's point of view. Poor guy.


(1) (-http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=120)
(2) (http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ExecMacro/nspired/sunspire/faq.d2w/report#gsweet)
(3) (http://organicanews.com/news/article.cfm?story_id=23)
(4) (http://www.refinedsugar.org/)

Obesity and Junk Food

This looks like an important list of statistics compiled by "Parents Against Junk Food":

1. Nine out of 10 schools offer junk food to kids.

2. One of every five calories in the American diet is liquid.

3. Researchers calculate that for each additional soda consumed, the risk of obesity increases 1.6 times.

4. The USDA supplies schools with the same commodity foods as prisons.

5. More than 32% of youths are overweight and nearly 74% are unfit.

6. About 19,000 public schools, 1 in every 5, sell branded food in the cafeteria.

7. Teenagers' milk consumption decreased by 36% between 1965 and 1996, while soda consumption increased by more than 200%.

8. Vending machines are in 43% of elementary schools and 97% of high schools.

9. Only 29% of adolescents meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.

10. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control declared obesity the most important public health issue in the United States.

I remember when I first became aware that my after-school snack was junk food. I was in the 8th grade, sitting on the couch with my brother and watching Duck Tales. We were both eating Oreos. I remember each bite was a crunchy, heavenly experience until I started thinking about my figure. All of a sudden, my teenage mind wondered, "If I want boys to like me, I had better stay nice and thin and not get fat eating junk food." To this day I have no idea where that thought came from. I remember my immediate dilemma was finding a healthy snack food that had the *crunch* that I enjoyed so much. I dug through the refrigerator and came up with a handful of carrots. I chose the biggest carrot of the bunch and peeled it. Then I rejoined my brother on the couch and ate my carrot like Bugs Bunny.

I've been a health nut ever since.

New Energy Efficient Process Turns Sugar into Gasoline

Check out this exciting article. I feel much better about sugar going into my car instead of my mouth.

Stock, anyone?

Red Robin Restaurant and a Little Known Sugar Fact

I love gardenburgers. My husband loves Red Robin. It's a treat for him to go, so I found something that I like there, too. In highschool and college I used to go with friends to eat their gigantic mud pie. It has peanut butter and chocolate and an oreo cookie crust. It has been years since I have eaten one of those, and it was years that I had eaten at a Red Robin at all until I met my meat-eating husband. Since, I have found a healthy, sugar-free menu item and I order it every time. I get the gardenburger in a lettuce wrap with tomato, instead of a bun. Who ever enjoys the bun? It is simply a handy delivery system, but is made with white flours and sugars. My husband and I agreed that if people got the "burger" wrapped in lettuce, or just plain, no one would miss the bun or ask for it afterward. It is simply a "refined" (pun intended) way to eat the burger.

Recently, we were eating at a Red Robin in Coeur D'Alene and we ordered our bunless burgers. They of course always come with big fat french fries. I don't care for their fries because they are too big, not greasy enough, and for some reason hard to swallow. If I do eat some, I usually choke a little. This particular afternoon I felt like eating a couple of fries, and so I grabbed the famous Red Robin shaker of spicy salt. I completely covered my fries with it and my husband sat across the table staring at me.

"I need more salt in my diet," I said.

"Have you checked the ingredients?" he said with major emphasis on the word ingredients.

"Why should I? It's salt!" I said, feeling my palms starting to sweat.

"But you check the ingredients of everything!" he said, looking at me surprised.

"Okay, I'll check. It just didn't cross my mind to check this. It's salt..." My palms were sweating and I was fearing the very worst. What if I was eating sugar? How could they add sugar to the spicy salt?

"Please, oh please, oh please..." I said to myself as I grabbed the salt shaker and began reading ingredients.

"Whaaaaat?! No way!!" My palms stopped sweating but I felt my insides sinking. "I can't believe this. Why would they do this?!"

There it was, in black, bold letters, "dextrose", another word for sugar. It is very similar to table sugar, and is absorbed into the bloodstream at the same dangerous speed as table sugar. It is an ingredient on my No-No list, because it is basically the same thing as sugar.

"Bummer...." was all I could say. It's not like I really wanted to eat those chokingly thick fries anyway. They were just sitting there and I was still a little hungry. "Well, now I know," I told myself.

Coca-Cola's New Stevia Product: "Truvia"

You won't believe this. The Coca-Cola Company has come out with a "healthy" sweetener that is now available to consumers. It is a stevia-derived sweetener that has no calories, and is now being marketed as "Truvia: A healthy alternative to artificial sweeteners." "Rebiana" is the trade name for this sweetener, probably named after the compound Rebaudioside A, which they isolated from the stevia plant. The reason they have isolated this compound is because it is apparently the sweet part of the plant separated from its usual bitter aftertaste. I do not know how much processing is involved in turning the stevia leaf into "Truvia", but I am guessing from the tiny, pure white granules that there is quite a bit of processing involved. Could we be looking at the same sort of processing that goes on with sugar cane and sugar beets? These are healthy plants--until they have been processed to death!

What I find highly amusing is that stevia has been used as a sweetener for years (for centuries in some countries) and has health benefits including: treating obesity, high-blood pressure, glucose intolerance and diabetes, to name a few. The amusing part is that despite stevia's health benefits and ability to be used as an alternative sweetener, in 1991 it was ousted by the FDA. The FDA labeled stevia "unsafe" and banned it until 1994 when the Dietary Supplement Health & Education Act got the FDA to revise their stance. Even then, however, it was only considered safe to be used as a dietary supplement, not a food additive!

Here is what has happened over the years: Coca-Cola comes out with soda in the late 1800's. It is loaded with sugar and two main ingredients: cocaine and caffeine. They reconfigure the ingredients after 1904. The company is under the constant watch of nutritionists because of the links between its soda and diabetes, obesity, caffeine addiction and other health issues. In 1985 Coca-Cola switches its formula again. They now no longer use white refined sugar. It is now cheaper to use high fructose corn syrup. They are still under careful watch because corn syrup has its own list of negative side effects. The company is still under careful watch for using other controversial ingredients like sodium benzoate. In 2005 they come out with a soda containing Splenda and aspartame. Artificial sweeteners. Coca-Cola is currently working on phasing out the ingredient sodium benzoate, which has been linked directly to DNA damage and hyperactivity in children. They say they will phase it out as soon as they find an alternative ingredient to use in its place. Now, it's 2008 and they have produced Truvia, which sounds like a nice, natural sweetener to get the health nuts out there to lay off. But, not so fast! How is this processed? What are the effects of consuming this product, short term and long term? Is it still capable of being a health tool and treating obesity and diabetes? Or have those constiuents been left out because of the mildly bitter aftertaste?

What has happened is that Coca-Cola can not last without revamping their product model. It is common knowledge that their ingredients are less than desirable, have been studied to show health risks, and they don't want to be sued! They are going to jump on the "natural sweetener" gravy train, if you will, and offer a product to people who will believe they now have unprecedented rights to consume all they want without any risk. Imagine the FDA banning stevia now. It's never going to happen now that the giant, multi-billion dollar Coke company has begun using it. How they have been using it is still in question.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia -http://truvia.com/

Cereal, Sugar and You: A Health Food Person's Worst Nightmare!

I have been reading a lot about cereal lately, and thought I should further investigate the ingredients of mainstream, popular cereals, their advertising campaigns, and the result of eating cereal regularly as part of a daily habit. I'll start by saying that since I have given up refined sugar, it has been extremely hard to find cereal without any sugar. Sugar comes in the form of: corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, organic sugar, raw sugar, organic cane sweetener, etc. Most of these ingredients you will find in "healthy" varieties of cereal, otherwise, the ingredient label will most likely just read, "sugar". I have recently decided to eat only whole grains for breakfast and no more packaged cereal. I just know better but have been lazy! I mean, I have been eating cereal with no sugar, but even then, I know it's not as healthy as fresh sprouted grains and fresh fruits.

Cereal was brought to my attention by (http://paynowlivelater.blogspot.com/2008/08/worst-sugar-pushers-of-all-health-food.html) including that even health food stores don't discriminate much when it comes to packaged food ingredients. You may find that there are no "trans fats" (very trendy words right now) and maybe even no corn product, but you will most likely be sure to find sugar as an ingredient. The marketing behind the cereal/sugar pushers is outrageous! They are so good at making their product look good, that I find myself doing a double take when I see advertisements like this one: http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/specialk/challenge.aspx, which is called "Kellogg's Special K Challenge", where they advocate eating two bowls of their cereal to help you lose weight! Let me tell you that Special K does not care about the health of their customers! If they did, they would promote whole foods, vegetables and fruits at every meal, and would not try and sell crap in a box (here are the ingredients in an American sold box: Rice, wheat gluten, sugar, defatted wheat germ, salt, high fructose corn syrup, dried whey, malt flavoring, calcium caseinate, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), reduced iron, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin B1), vitamin A palmitate, folic acid, and vitamin B12.). What I think is so interesting, is that Special K changes their ingredients for different countries. Although they include "sugar" as an ingredient for all countries, the UK and Australia do not have the "high fructose corn syrup" that we have. Weird! Special K is a giant marketing beast and care only about monetary gain. How they get that money is through very believable, expensive marketing.

I don't mean to pick on any one cereal company, in fact, there are plenty of "healthy" cereals that are doused with loads of sugar! It is so ironic to me. You can't trust any one store, or any one brand. I would say trust your instincts, but I guess if we truly did that, we wouldn't eat anything packaged to begin with!

Sugar and Your Teeth

Who enjoys going to the dentist? Who looks forward to having their teeth drilled on?
Here are some reminders of how sugar affects our oral health. What I find most interesting is not how much sugar we consume but how often we consume it. So I imagined eating 20 candy bars all at once, versus little bites of one throughout the day!

"For dental health, the frequency of sugar intake is more important than the amount of sugar consumed.^[54] In the presence of sugar and other carbohydrates, bacteria in the mouth produce acids which can demineralize enamel, dentin, and cementum. The more frequently teeth are exposed to this environment, the more likely dental caries are to occur. Therefore, minimizing snacking is recommended, since snacking creates a continual supply of nutrition for acid-creating bacteria in the mouth. Also, chewy and sticky foods (such as dried fruit or candy) tend to adhere to teeth longer, and consequently are best eaten as part of a meal. Brushing the teeth after meals is recommended. For children, the American Dental Association and the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry recommend limiting the frequency of consumption of drinks with sugar, and not giving baby bottles to infants during sleep.^[82][83] Mothers are also recommended to avoid sharing utensils and cups with their infants to prevent transferring bacteria from the mother's mouth.^[84]

It has been found that milk and certain kinds of cheese like cheddar can help counter tooth decay if eaten soon after the consumption of foods potentially harmful to teeth.^[54] Also, chewing gum containing xylitol (wood sugar) is widely used to protect teeth in some countries, being especially popular in the Finnish candy industry.^[85] Xylitol's effect on reducing plaque is probably due to bacteria's inability to utilize it like other sugars.^[86] Chewing and stimulation of flavour receptors on the tongue are also known to increase the production and release of saliva, which contains natural buffers to prevent the lowering of pH in the mouth to the point where enamel may become demineralised.^"

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_caries

Sugar Beets

Do you know where your sugar comes from? "Sugar cane!" you might say. Actually, there is a high probability that your white refined sugar does NOT come from the sugar cane plant! Much of our sugar actually comes from sugar beets! What is a sugar beet? A sugar beet "is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose... Beet sugar accounts for 30% of the world's sugar production... The United States is one of the world's three largest sugar beet producers."-Wikipedia. For more information about the sugar that may be sitting on your table, go here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_beet
http://www.idahofb.org/commodities/sugarbeets.aspx

Today I called a local sugar beet factory and asked if they gave tours. I would love to see with my own eyes the steps involved in the sugar refining process, be it sugar cane or sugar beets. There is probably a slight difference in the refining process of each. I was told that since 9/11, they are no longer able to give tours for bio-terrorism reasons. Shucks! I asked if someone who worked there would be interested in an interview and was given the name and phone number of two people at corporate headquarters. Cool! The outcome of this interview is TBA!

Let's not leave out sugar cane. Here is a link to information about sugar cane:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_cane

Glycemic Index and The Difficulty in Being Sugar-Free

In my quest to research all I can about sugar and use alternative, "healthy" sweeteners, I have come across a lot of variables having to do with health. One example is honey. It is natural. I eat it non-pasteurized so that it still contains active enzymes/bacteria that have proven health benefits. (The downside with non-pasteurized honey is that it crystallizes sitting on the shelf, but can be heated to liquefy it again.) However, I did some research this morning and found that honey has a high glycemic index--(which, as a reminder, "the glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers—the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response," courtesy of http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm).

Certain organizations promote honey as only having a glycemic index (GI) of 5o, which is considered low. Others have found that honey is about as bad as white refined sugar in this respect, with a GI of 83, which is high. Here is an interesting piece of research I found: http://www.mendosa.com/diabetes_update_22.htm. Scroll down to where it says, "Is Honey Really Low Glycemic?" There are some great leads to research that has been done on this. My concern is that I have found honey to be a great alternative to white refined sugar, but if it causes my blood sugar to sky-rocket, is it really a healthy alternative to sugar?

If you would like to see the USDA's breakdown of nutrients/types of sugars in honey, go here: http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/cgi-bin/list_nut_edit.pl. It is fascinating! I had no idea that honey contained sucrose, glucose, fructose, maltose and galactose!

Also, I looked up a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition, which concludes, "...there is often no difference in responses [blood sugar responses] between foods containing added sugars and those containing naturally-occurring sugars," http://journals.cambridge.org/action/quickSearch#.

Is my plight in vain? Am I cheating myself of the benefits of a "sugar-free" diet if I continue to eat other kinds of sweeteners that aren't much healthier? Part of my goal was to see how easy/hard it is to achieve eating food without refined sugars in them. I have found that most packaged foods contain sugar and that it is very difficult to be sugar-free in an uncontrolled food environment like a restaurant, cafe, someone else's house, group function, etc. My hang-up at the moment is do I cut out other sweeteners that are practically as bad as white sugar? I wonder how I would feel if I only ate fruit and vegetable sugars and not honey or maple syrup or other sugar substitutes? Could I go without the desserts that those sweeteners have allowed me so far? I have to think about it. I could really use suggestions/comments at this point! Help!

French Fry Ingredients

McDonald's French Fries:
"Potatoes, vegetable oil (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor (wheat and milk derivatives)**, citric acid (preservative), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), dimethylpolysiloxane (antifoaming agent)), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil ((may contain one of the following: Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness), dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent). **CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK (Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients.)"
http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.ingredients.index.html
Wendy's French Fries:
"Potatoes, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: soy, canola, cottonseed, partially hydrogenated soy and/or cottonseed), Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate (color protector), Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Dextrose. Cooked in Vegetable Oil. Note: may be cooked in the same oil as Fish Fillets and French Toast Sticks (where available), Crispy Chicken Nuggets, Crispy Chicken Patty. Seasoned with Salt."
http://www.wendys.com/food/Nutrition.jsp
Burger King French Fries:
Potatoes, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Rice Flour, Potato Dextrin, Salt, Leavening (Disodium Dihydrogen Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Dextrose, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate added to preserve natural color.
http://www.bk.com/#menu=3,3,-1
Carl's Jr. French Fries:
Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (to promote
color retention), dextrose.
http://www.carlsjr.com/nutrition/
Dairy Queen
I could not actually find an ingredients list for their french fries. They list nutritional facts, but not ingredients. However, I read something on their main web page that I think is especially funny, "The dietitians at International Dairy Queen, Inc. are registered with the American Dietetic Association. They are available to answer your questions regarding any of DQ's delicious products." I didn't know that fast food restaurants had dietitians!
http://www.dairyqueen.com/us-en/eats-and-treats/

By definition, a dietitian is, "According to the US Department of Labor, Dictionary of Occupational Titles, one who applies the principles of nutrition to the feeding of individuals and groups; plans menus and special diets; supervises the preparation and serving of meals; instructs in the principles of nutrition as applied to selection of foods." I always thought a dietitian meant someone who promoted the healthiest food options. Boy, was I wrong!

Sugar Addiction

The first seven minutes of this video is about sugar and it is fantastic. My blog is not about a vegan or vegetarian diet, so if you watch more than seven minutes of the video, please note that I have only posted this for the relevant information in the first section. Enjoy!

Glycemic Index, Oh My!

I may be going about this all wrong. Not that I shouldn't have given up sugar. That was a good thing. But it has been brought to my attention lately that one of the key factors why sugar is so bad for our health is its "glycemic index". Here is the definition:

"The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health."

Here's more:

"Recent studies from Harvard School of Public Health indicate that the risks of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease are strongly related to the GI of the overall diet. In 1999, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended that people in industrialised countries base their diets on low-GI foods in order to prevent the most common diseases of affluence, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and obesity." (http://www.glycemicindex.com/)

The irony is that if you research causes of diabetes on a diabetes website, they are always defending sugar for some reason, as not a cause for diabetes. Like this: "Myth #3: Eating too much sugar causes diabetes. No. Diabetes is caused by a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors." (http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-myths.jsp)

While I agree that one thing is probably not responsible for causing diabetes, including sugar, it seems inherently linked. But that is not my area of expertise.

I write about glycemic index because I think it is closely related to why I chose to go without sugar in the first place. I don't want to ingest foods that ..."with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels." This means I should be aware of other foods that have a high glycemic index. These include refined foods like white flour, various forms of sugar, and other grains that are not "whole" grains. Not that I would venture to go without all refined foods, but I am most curious about the glycemic index of foods, now. It seems inherently important to my overall goal which is to make wise food choices based on nutritional value.