Why We Cant Resist It free essay sample

They also act as a preservative to extend shelf life. The sugar that reached the west was consumed only by the nobility, so rare it was classified as a spice. If you worked at the sugar mill and got your finger stuck in the millstone, they cut off your hand. If you tried to run, they cut off your leg. Today the average American consumes 77 pounds of added sugar annually, more than 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day. In 1900 5% of people had high blood pressure, and now one-third have high blood pressure. 153 million people had diabetes in 1980, today 347 million people do. We crave sugar because an injection of sugar into the bloodstream stimulates the same pleasure center in the brain as heroin or cocaine. Sugar is a poison itself if consumed at high doses. Article #2 â€Å"Sweet poison: why is sugar ruining our health? † www. telegraph. co. uk/foodanddrink 01/14 Author: Victoria Lambert Not all calories are equal, because not all monosaccharides-(the simplest forms of sugar, the building blocks of carbohydrates)- are equal. We will write a custom essay sample on Why We Cant Resist It or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When people ate 150 calories more every day, the rate of diabetes went up 0. 1%. But if those 150 calories came from a can of fizzy drink, the rate went up 1. Added sugar is 11 times more potent at causing diabetes than general calories. Look online and youll see fructose described as â€Å"fruit sugar† -its the nutrient that nature put into apples pears to entice humans(and birds) to eat it- Some agave nectars, for example, can be 92% fructose, 8% glucose. Were consuming fewer calories from â€Å"free sugars† such as table sugar, honey and sugars found naturally in fruit juices than in previous years. Currently 26% of britons are obese, half of americans are overweight. Sugar systematically destroys a lot of our organs without symptoms until its too late. First the liver, then the pancreas, then the kidneys, and ultimately the heart. Sugar is not bad for you as part of a balanced diet. It has an important role in providing flavor and texture to food. Sugary drinks make it harder for us to regulate the overall amount of calories ethan and a regular intake may be a factor contributing to obesity in children. Article #1 Summary: If sugar is that bad for you then why do we crave it? Because it stimulates the same pleasure center in the brain as heroin or cocaine. My question is, why is the sugar in fizzy drinks worse than in fruit. Answer: Because fizzy drinks are processed and they added more fructose then whats in fruit. Discussion: I liked the first article because it showed how bad sugar really is and it gave you things to contrast like (153 million people had diabetes in 1980, today 347 million people do. ) and (In 1900 5% of people had high blood pressure, and now one-third have high blood pressure. ) It made me want to look into the topic more in depth and research all of the different types of sugar and what are some good sugars compared to bad sugars. Article #2 Summary: If fructose is â€Å"nature made† why is it so bad for you? Answer: because sugar is sugar. In small doses such as fruit its not as bad for you as a can of soda would be. Since were consuming â€Å"less calories† from free sugar, does that mean we are eating less of the free sugars and more of the bad ones? Discussion: I like this article because it really made me think about everything it was saying. An example would be â€Å"Were consuming fewer calories from â€Å"free sugars† such as table sugar, honey and sugars found naturally in fruit juices than in previous years. † This article definitely made me want to expand upon the subject.