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Sugar: Global Warming of Human Health
We are living in a world where we are surrounded by food. It has never happened at any time in history that people get to make thousands and thousands of choices regarding their meals. With the industrial revolution in the food industry, competition between companies has increased so are food choices. Sugar has become the primary addictive ingredient that has become part of the almost 80% of the food that we consume daily. From soda drinks to the yogurt and cereals, all foods contain a small percentage of this killer white powder. This sugar addiction has turned to global warming of human health.
Initially, cocaine was used as the primary ingredient if industrial foods abut after getting banned it was replaced with sugar. Coca-Cola is the most famous brand that replaced cocaine with sugar in their formula. Both are comparable in the effects that they produce regarding pleasure and reward feelings. Sugar activates the reward centers in the brain and increases the dopamine and endorphin levels in the body. Human’s desire delicious food rich in carbohydrates, but unlike carbohydrates and even cocaine it produces the opposite response it never satisfies the human body but intensifies the cravings. So the person keeps craving more ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"mcxQh7qc","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Davis)","plainCitation":"(Davis)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1299,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/ZL5YN9NX"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/ZL5YN9NX"],"itemData":{"id":1299,"type":"article-newspaper","title":"Is sugar really as addictive as cocaine? Scientists row over effect on body and brain","container-title":"The Guardian","section":"Society","source":"www.theguardian.com","abstract":"Heated debate has greeted an article in a medical journal suggesting sugar should be considered an addictive drug, as experts deride the claims as ‘absurd’","URL":"https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/25/is-sugar-really-as-addictive-as-cocaine-scientists-row-over-effect-on-body-and-brain","ISSN":"0261-3077","shortTitle":"Is sugar really as addictive as cocaine?","language":"en-GB","author":[{"family":"Davis","given":"Nicola"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2017",8,25]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",3,5]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Davis).
America is on the eighth number among the list of 20 countries that consume sugar the most. Sugar consumption is one of the largest cause of early deaths among the American population. Consuming more added sugar increases the cholesterol level, and by 2020 it can become the leading cause of liver transplant in America ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"cBzZwCss","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Corliss)","plainCitation":"(Corliss)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":1303,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/3Y9CNC5Q"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/KZl8ZL3A/items/3Y9CNC5Q"],"itemData":{"id":1303,"type":"webpage","title":"Eating too much added sugar increases the risk of dying with heart disease","container-title":"Harvard Health Blog","abstract":"In a study on sugar and heart disease, it was found the odds of dying from heart disease rises in tandem with the percentage of sugar in the diet.","URL":"https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021","language":"en-US","author":[{"family":"Corliss","given":"Julie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2014",2,6]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",3,5]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Corliss). Risk of Type 1 diabetes has also increased in teenagers. “Before 1994, diabetes in children was generally caused by a genetic disorder -- only about 5 percent of childhood cases were obesity-related, or Type 2, diabetes. Today, according to the National Institutes of Health, Type 2 diabetes accounts for at least 30 percent of all new childhood cases of diabetes in this country”. This is the leading cause of amputations of body parts in America.
Who is to blame is the question? From the longest time eaters were considered as the culprits as they eat more and make wrong food choices. And the solution to increasing food education has been considered as the solution to the problem. But is it the solution? The answer is not. Blaming the person who makes wrong food choices is like protecting the actual culprit that is the food industry, media advertising, and the government.
Drugs are considered as illegal in America, and underage children don’t have access to it. But sugar is producing far more harmful effects in the consumer. It is making them fat, stressed, diabetic, and heart patient. It is the cause of illness in people, but it has no cure. The government needs to protect its citizens from its consumption by constructing strict policies for the food industries. Labeling the food clearly with the amount of sugar it contains can solve the problem to some extent, but increasing government taxes on unhealthy foods can solve the problem at greater extents.
Advertisements policies should also be enhanced to cope with sugar consumption. Ads of sugary food products that directly target the children should be banned as children who consume sugar at a larger extent at a young age become the most loyal customers of sugary foods, once they grow up. This issue should be targeted by the government as a matter of national security. As not all enemies have guns, some also have sugar. We need to control it before it starts to control our lives.
Works Cited
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Corliss, Julie. “Eating Too Much Added Sugar Increases the Risk of Dying with Heart Disease.” Harvard Health Blog, 6 Feb. 2014, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021.
Davis, Nicola. “Is Sugar Really as Addictive as Cocaine? Scientists Row over Effect on Body and Brain.” The Guardian, 25 Aug. 2017. www.theguardian.com, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/25/is-sugar-really-as-addictive-as-cocaine-scientists-row-over-effect-on-body-and-brain.
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