dark side of white sugar: diabetes, hypoglycaemia, insulin, sweeteners, aspartam

Natural sugar is not an enemy per se. It has undeniable virtues (such as fighting diabetes with its GTF, glucose tolerance factor) as long as it not refined, not eaten alone and in large amounts.
Indeed the human body does not specifically need sugar; it is the reason why you should choose foods with no added sugar and avoid the fake solution offered by artificial sweeteners such as aspartame which are even more toxic than refined sugar.
Sugars are food components and play a major part in food metabolism. Sugar metabolism disorders go far beyond mere weight or diet issues. Indeed these disorders affect a large range of body functions.
Among the numerous parts that sugar plays, one of the most important ones is to indicate the identity of cells and molecules. As they are sign posts for the protein to be properly oriented towards their destination and since white refined sugar is mainly indirectly eaten, you have to take extra care about the quality of food in general. Healthy eating and organic foods are the indispensable factors for this...

see food refining (soon)

WHOLESOME NON REFINED SUGAR

Dr. Max-Henri Beguin’s works proved that only non refined sugar (including all its molasses) is healthy. The so-called “brown sugars” are not good enough (some brown sugars are only coloured white sugar). In fact, this sugar is very similar to white processed sugar and choosing it over white sugar is self-delusory.
NON REFINED CANE EXTRACT is a dehydrated cane sugar liquid extracted with a traditional method. The liquid is stored for one or two days in large ceramic pots under which a wood fire burns. The dried solid, a brittle and sweet-smelling mass, which remains at the bottom of the pot constitutes this famous integral whole sugar.
This sugar is an organic product.
It called WHOLE SUGAR because it has undergone no processing or refinement and retains all the minerals, vitamins and amino acids of sugar cane; it is therefore a genuine and flavoursome food.

see sugar refining (soon)

Components		Minerals (tot: 1400 à 3100mg)		Vitamins
Water	1,5 à 7 g	potassium	10 à 13 mg	provit. A	200 mg
Saccharose	72 à 78 g	calcium	40 à 100 mg	vit. A	3,8 µg
Fructose	1,5 à 7 g	magnesium	70 à 90 mg	vit. B1	0,012 mg
Glucose	1,5 à 7 g	phosphorus	20 à 90 mg	vit. B2	0,065 mg
		sodium	19 à 30 mg	vit. B5	0,01 mg
Protein	280mg	iron	10 à 13 mg	vit. B6	0,0105 mg
Amino Acids		copper	0,1 à 0,9 mg	vit. C	7,00 mg
Glycocol	240 mg	zinc	0,2 à 0,4 mg	vit. D2	6,50 µg
Aspartic Acid	31 mg	manganese	0,2 à 0,5 mg	vit. E	111,30 µg
Arginin	4 mg	fluor	5,3 mg	vit. PP	7,00 mg

FRUCTOSE

Fructose is a simple sugar which acts like a slow-release sugar. It has higher sweetening powers than white sugar. It is therefore recommended to use only half the quantity of white sugar we would use.
The body does need to secrete any insulin to metabolise it. It can be prescribed in some cases, under medical supervision, for example to diabetics.
Fructose is an extremely important sugar for athletes and people who want to lose weight. It is useful part of a healthy diet. However, it is recommended to use it with moderation.

MAPLE SYRUP
It takes forty litres of maple sap to produce one litre of syrup.
This syrup is a highly concentrated natural sweetener with a delicate flavour and a mild taste. It is one of the best food for people who want to give up sugar and refined sweeteners. Because of its high sweetening power, we only use it in small quantities.

BARLEY MALT
It is produced by the malting of barley grains and by reducing the resulting liquid. Rich in diastases, barley grain malting implies a pre-digestion of the cereal starch; it is the reason why it is a preferred ingredient in cooked semolina for infants. Because of its thick and syrup-like consistence, we can use barley malt as honey, although it is milder and less sweet than honey..

HONEY
It is important to stress that honey is a highly concentrated food and that we have to use with great moderation.
See article on the beehive (honey, propolis, royal jelly, pollen).

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Adored by some who gave it all virtues, banned by others who were blaming it for all evils, sugar has been a very controversial subject since its arrival in Europe at the 11th century. Medical snobbery, puritan phobias as it was seen as a forbidden pleasure, idealistic convictions, so-called scientific beliefs, etc; of all arguments, only the ones motivated by economic interest prevailed.

CHEMISTS' MEDICINE
The history of sugar is closely related to the boost of international trade (colonisation, slavery).
Originating from South Pacific prior to our time, sugar cane largely spread in China. It is then used in India, where it is fashionable to grow it in private gardens, extract its juice and use its fibre added to bread.
The Western civilisation will discover sugar through the Crusades, as the Sultan of Persia generated a large income through selling it. Sporadically grown in Spain for Arab invaders, cane sugar immediately contaminated the New World when Christopher Colomb, giving in to Queen Isabel’s pressure, took some with him in its second trip to America to be cultivated.
As it was thought to have therapeutic properties, sugar was solely sold by chemists until the 18th century. From the 17th century onwards, it was also used for its cooking properties. The British, large consumers of sugar, used it for pretty much everything.
As it was a quite expensive food, rich people substituted it for honey. Later the choice criterion was its refining, the white color.

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A PERVERT FOOD IN THE 18th CENTURY
Towards the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, the first sugar-phobic controversies appear. Two complaints were simultaneously made:
- First about danger : an inadequate medecine, contrary to humoral balance, acceptable only in small dosis but otherwise extremely unhealthy.
- The other argument was philosophical: "sugar was an intrinsically pervert food".
Nevertheless, after the end of the 18th century, sugar happily pursued its economical career. The former oriental spice had become a colonial product of which the exploitation was very profit making. Little before the French Revolution, sugar was still a luxury item only for the privileged few who could afford it. Used sparingly even by rich people, its annual consumption per person was 0,6 kg.

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20 th CENTURY DRUG
Due to the continental block in 1805, France was suddenly deprived from cane sugar colonial imports. Napoleon decided then to find substitute for cane sugar and encouraged scientists to discover the sugar extraction process with beetroots.
It only was beetroot more profitable than cane sugar but also, and this was the main difference, its price cost was fairly low. Therefore, everybody could afford sugar.
- By the end of the 19th century, the annual sugar consumption per person was 8kg. This is when the University started to worry as they notice an increase in diabetes proportional to the consumption rise, and sugar is made responsible for the rare cases of obesity then noticed.
- In 1900, annual consumption per person reached 17 kg. Leading sugar-phobics, Dr Paul Carton notices a real addiction and accuses sugar, calling it a real drug: “a dead industrial food”, as dangerous as alcohol.
- 1930, annual consumption per person reached over 30 kg. Since the first quarter of the 20th century, the alarm bell was frequently activated by health care professionals, who, each time they could, vehemently denounced the negative effects of sugar and the dangers deriving from the generalisation of its consumption.

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DIRECT AND INDIRECT CONSUMPTION
These worrying arguments, denounced as alarmist by eternal optimists, have always cleverly been answered to by sugar making lobby companies that were as daring and gifted for publicity as they were rich.
- 1990, annual sugar consumption per person stabilised itself at 35kg and reached over 45 kg in 1965. With over 50 kg in the UK, and over 63 kg in the United States (the word record), France registers the smallest consumption of sugar in the western world.

Even though the ones most aware of the negative effects of sugar are trying to reduce their consumption, the problem is that they do not achieve this because we eat a lot of hidden sugars. It is indeed necessary to see the difference between the sugar we put in our coffee or yoghurt i.e. direct consumption that we can monitor, and the indirect consumption of sugar in industrially processed foods ( 1 l. of Coca Cola ™ contains the equivalent of three cups of coffee and 22 refined sugar lumps) or in legal drugs.
- In 1979, direct sugar consumption was of 30% and 70% of hidden sugars.
- In 1979, direct sugar consumption was of 30% and 70% of hidden sugars.
- In 1991, proportions were 18% for direct consumption and 82% for indirect consumpt????
The industrial process which insidiously increases the sugar content of foods is based on three 3 motivations:
* disguise bitterness or acidity in foods,
* improve food preserving,
* most of all, please the consumer’s taste as consumers choose foods if they are sweeter

Since 1983, sales of sweet foods have been booming.
However, we know that, as a paradox, the human does not need any sugar (saccharine) and its real fuel, glucose, is obtained by the consumption of starch-based complex carbohydrates, which, by the way, do not taste sweet at all.

By way of addiction, sugar has for consequence hypoglycaemia, which first goes unnoticed, and then sooner or later obesity, various types of neurosis, constant fatigue (physical and mental), headaches, fast heartbeats, aches, muscular pains, shakes, losses of consciousness, paralyses, troubled vision…and even alcoholism.
Mental symptoms give hypoglycaemia the profile of a neurosis: irritability, nervousness, moodiness, anxiety, fears and phobias, perception troubles, memory losses, concentration problems.

IMPOSED INTOXICATION
The modern diet, with its white colors ie highly refined sugars and flours and energy-empty industrial foods is at the root of all evils. These refined sugar-laden foods stimulates suprarenal glands, forces the pancreas to secrete insulin in excess. Suprarenal glands are then constantly used to force the liver to convert glycogen (and therefore its sugar reserves) in glucose.
This constant stimulation eventually deregulates the whole mechanism, resulting in frequent severe drop in blood sugar during the day, leading to reactive hypoglycaemia. The brain, which feeds itself with large quantities of glucose, is therefore deprived and the consequence is a general state of nervousness and fatigue that can lead to losses of consciousness.

The body cannot cope with an insufficient blood sugar rate (low glycaemia or hypoglycaemia). Dizziness, cold sweats and hunger are defence mechanisms used by the body to warn of danger and to say that it urgently needs sugar, otherwise it will not function.
Hypoglycaemia is a medical emergency. The body cannot cope with a glycaemia higher than normal either. Some sugars, with a high glycaemic index, create hyperglycaemia and its partner, insulin secretion. Insulin inserts sugar in fat cells, increasing thus its volume using circulating fats. Insulin is so fast, so efficient and in such quantity that, one hour later, all the sugar is stored and there is low blood sugar. The body immediately feels deprived, which results in hunger therefore more food and this way, we have a phenomenon of intoxication.

VITAL PROCESSES
Sugars can be degraded to provide energy but they can also be combined in complex sets, to be then fixed on other molecules (protein or fats). These other molecules modify sugar’s function, determine its identity or destination. Fixed on the cells’ membranes, they play a part in the contacts that determine cell interaction and moves. Sugars appear either under a simple form, such as glucose or galactose, either more frequently under a complex form. Under this latter form, they can be made up of two elements, such as sucrose (table sugar made up of glucose and fructose) and lactose (milk sugar, made up of glucose and galactose). They can also be made up of a dozen elements and form linear or branch sets. In this case, chemistry can be extremely complex, as a small number of molecules can associate themselves in a great number of different combinations. This set of molecules is what we call either sugars or carbohydrates. For more complex structures, we sometimes use the term polysaccharides. Their role in vital processes is such that most sugar metabolism disorders lead to serious diseases, some of which deadly and most of which incurable.

Hypoglycaemic people think they find a cure to their problems with the burst of energy provided by coffee, tea, sweets, chocolate or, even worse, tobacco or alcohol. Drugs and alcoholic drinks have for consequence a strong increase in glycemia followed by a feeling of mental and physical alertness. Unfortunately, despite a temporary stimulating effect, these intakes worsen the person’s state as they experience a reactive drop in blood sugar which aggravates the symptoms of hypoglycaemia and depression.
Hypoglycaemia has an immediate effect on the brain, generating fatigue and symptoms usually related to spasmophilia. When observing these symptoms, it is easy to think that the person is suffering from depression and that tranquillisers or antidepressants are required. The intake of these medicines usually does not improve the person’s condition in any way. Only a better diet will help the person leave the vicious circle of sugar.

see SUPPLEMENTATION

see contents dark side

see general summary

DIABETES

The most famous and common sugar metabolic disease is diabetes. Diabetes affects nearly 100 million people in the world. It is caused by anomalies in the production of a hormone, insulin. Insulin controls the use of glucose, or the cells’ response to glucose.

TYPE I DIABETES
This is typically a type of diabetes affecting young people. Type I diabetes is, as far as we know, insulin-dependent. We cannot avoid a therapeutic intake of insulin to compensate for the pancreas failure to secrete insulin. However, this does not imply that a strict diet is not required.

TYPE II DIABETE
Type II diabetes, also named non insulin-dependent diabetes is a type of diabetes affecting older people. It appears and worsens with age, and it is not treated with insulin but with oral anti-diabetes medicines. It is characterised by certain symptoms:
- Premature obesity, principally android
- High blood pressure
- “Diabetic” retinopathy with troubled vision
- Cardio-vascular troubles : increased risks of heart attack and sudden death.

see SUPPLEMENTATION

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SUGAR DISEASES

However, most sugar-related diseases are not caused by hormonal disorders but by a lack of enzymes needed in the degradation or synthesis of sugar and are hereditary and therefore scarce and not severe. These diseases can equally affect people from diverse ethnic origins, or on the contrary affect particularly certain types of people. For example, TAY-SACHS and GAUCHER syndromes particularly affect Ashkenase Jewish people, and most people suffering from FUCOSIDOSIS have ancestors in Southern Italy.

If degradation disorders prove the role of sugar in the marking and routing of proteins, glycosilation disorders highlight their function in the identification, interactions and mobility of cells.
The immune system is another physiological area where cell interactions are needed. They control cell migration towards the infected zone, and the proper response to it. In this case too, a glycosilation disorder can result in very severe troubles.

Finally, if hereditary glycosilation disorders prove the diversity of roles and structures involved in sugars, there is a rather more common glycosilation disorder, which is also fatal: cancer. Indeed, the anarchical multiplication of tumour cells is related to a modification of social interactions of cells. In vitro, cells usually stop to multiply when they are completely surrounded by other cells : this is a phenomenon called contact inhibition, which implies surface sugars. Numerous works prove that these sugars are altered in cancer cells. Moreover, some sugars, by controlling the link to blood capillaries, enable the migration of cancer cells in the blood stream. They could therefore play a part in the colonisation of other tissues and consequently in the formation of metastasis. Nevertheless, it is difficult to know whether glycosilation disorders are the cause or the consequence of cancers.

- The first thing to do is to track down and ban refined sugars and refined foods in general.
(white sugar, white flour, refined vegetable oils, refined salt, etc.)
- Choose organic wholegrain sourdough bread, wheat germ and wholemeal wheat flour (the skin of grains contains a high quantity of chromium, which favours a healthy blood sugar / GTF Glucose Tolerance Factor)
Wholesome foods are rich in fibre and their complex carbohydrates are a good source of balance for blood sugar.
- No alcohol
- Never skip breakfast
- We get good results with a diet rich in vegetables and protein
(Careful, avoid protein diets such as Dr Seale Harris which substitutes an abundance of animal protein for refined foods, this diet is characterized by a high number of meals exceptionally rich in protein. After three months, the excess of animal protein results in other health issues reactivating the state of hypoglycaemia)

see chromium (in file oligo-elements)- soon

see food refining

voir sourdough organic bread (soon)

see vegetable proteins (soon)

SUPPLEMENTATION

- vitamins C, B6, and B15,
- brewer’s yeast rich in GTF
The GTF, Glucose Tolerance Factor, also present in non-refined sugar, is linked to insulin in its transport towards cell receptors. It allows insulin to be fixed to thiols in cell membranes, by the formation of disulfuric links.
- oligo-elements Chromium (also present in the GTF) and Magnesium
- gluconate (association of Zinc - Nickel - Cobalt)

A daily physical activity is also needed.

DIABETES

Nutritional supplementation is needed for both types of diabetes, since it focuses not only on the disease but also on its major consequences, particularly at arterial level, and these consequences are present in both types of diabetes.
The interest and the possibilities of active prevention of the evolution of non-insulin dependent diabetes is a privileged field for nutritional supplementation in France, because many patients (300 to 400,000) who are not diagnosed and therefore not treated could be taken out of these risk groups.

Even more numerous are the patients wrongly diagnosed that we name today hyperinsulinemic or “insulin resistant”. These patients’ tissues and cells, which do not properly metabolise insulin, will eventually exhaust the pancreas and result in diabetes.

When they also present
- A hypercholesterolemia with decrease of HDL cholesterol (the “good cholesterol”) and/or hypertriglyciredemia,
- An excess of weight, even low, but in android distribution, that is to say with waist/hip ratio higher than 0,8 for women and 1 for men,
- High blood pressure, even moderate.
We group all these symptoms under the name “Syndrome X” (high cardio-vascular risk).

DIETETIQUE

- Avoid all refined sugars, alcohol, and fast-release sugars with high glycaemic index (G.I.) such as pastries, sweets, honey, jam, etc
- Reduce intake of saturated animal fats (meat and cheese) : avoid combining meat and cheese, increase fish and sea food intake, one vegetarian meal a day combining if possible cereals and pulses
- Progressive intake (up to 20 - 30g/ day) of soluble fibres (apple pectin, vegetables) and insoluble fibre (wholegrain cereals, supplementation of cereal fibres).
- Use of fructose to sweeten cooking preparations.

see vegetable proteins (soon)

SUPPLEMENTATION (prevention / cure):

- Intake of brewer’s yeast sprinkled onto vegetables, soups and cereals to increase the Glucose Tolerance Factor or GTF (see above)
- Trivalent chromium salts (most people in Europe and the USA suffer from a lack of chromium).
Chromium acts as co-factor of various enzymes involved in sugar metabolism (the concentration of chromium in the blood increases or decreases in parallel to insulin). Chromium is an essential element needed for the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats. A lack in chromium is related to mature diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases.
- Association of Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), Zinc Sulphate and Manganese (low levels for diabetic people).
- Magnesium, as co-factor of glycolisis, it slows down the development of diabetic retinopathies (AEP calcium or Vitamin Mi, also recommended in this case).
- Vitamin C (1000 mg/day),
- Bioflavonoids
- Vitamin B3/PP/Niacin
- Antioxidants (vitamin E, selenium, coenzyme Q10), help to fight against free radicals and the atheromateuse development significantly increased by an insulin-sugar balance disorder
- Fatty acids Omega 6 (EPO Evening Primrose Oil – borage tea) : they stimulate the metabolism of prostaglandins PGE1 and prevent the cardiac and neural complications of the disease.
- Fatty acids Omega 3 (fish oils): against insulin-resistance.

In not too developed states of diabetes, we can recommend a combination of Zinc orotate / organic selenium / chromium orotate / magnesium orotate / and DL carnitine.

Promoters of industrial sugar always say this product (this remanufacture !) is harmless for our health, except for tooth decays. However, the studies on which they base their argumentation only observe the effects of sugar when eaten alone.
Yet, sugar is very rarely eaten alone and it is precisely in combination with other nutrients (in particular fats) that it can become a health hazard. It has been proved that saturated fats found in pastries or cakes have perverse effects on our metabolism. The excess of insulin generated by sugar favours fat storage and promotes obesity.
Responsible for excess weight, sugar also favours the development of serious cardio-vascular risk (formation of atherome plaques, high triglyceride levels, high blood pressure). Constant hyperglycaemia generated by an excessive sugar intake can also unbalance the liver. Glucose intolerance can progressively develop, then through the resulting hyperinsulinism and insulin-resistance, a type II diabetes (non insulin dependent) can appear. We now know that if this metabolic disorder persists, it can even alter the person’s genetic map. Indeed, hyperinsulinism generated by an excessive intake of sugar can lead to a genetic mutation to result in hereditary diabetes. When we take into account that Americans have multiplied by 60 their sugar intake since the beginning of last century, we understand why the number of diabetic and obese people has increased from 3% to 25% over that period.

DO WE HAVE TO BAN SUGAR?	HEALTHY SUGAR	SWEETENERS vs WHITE SUGAR From Bad to Worse	HISTORY & EVOLUTION From the Best to the Worst	THE DARK SIDE			DIETETIQUE SUPPLEMENTATION conclusion
				HYPO GLYCAEMIA	DIABETES	OTHERS