Nutrition (Bio 3524)

I think that nowadays our society is need to study how to control any addiction. Its very important subject in the world. As we studied in biology that our brain receives and sends impulse to our body what to do or what not to do. By that I mean : Hypothalamus,posterior pituitary …. Any addiction can create health problem. For instance ,sugar,alcohol ,cigarets,etc …. But the biggest mistake is that we don’t let our mind to think and just let our wishes to have more power than our thinking. We  need to study physiology,psychology more deep worldwide.
Most Americans believe that fat in their diet is the biggest problem. However, sugar plays a huge role in obesity and health problem. Sugar is not only cheap, but it is also deadly. This entire problem emerged not too long ago. Food prices were going up and down. In 1973, Richard Nixon did not want to lose his presidential election. Nixon admonished USDA Secretary Earl Bultz to take food off the political table. Nixon wanted to make food cheap. In 1975, high fructose corn syrup was introduced to American market. Sugar was changed to sweeteners and price went down immediately. Now, sweeteners are in almost all food and drinks.
Fructose metabolizes only in the liver. It does not suppress the hunger hormone. It makes our brain think its starving. So, we keep eating and gain weight. Over 50 years the number of sugar consumers has tripled worldwide. Over 30% of people are more obese than they were before. Sugar has been added to almost all food and left no choice for consumers. Our ancestors had sugar a few times a year. They could enjoy “sweet” only in a harvest time, in a honey, because it was difficult to find. Nowadays, getting man made sugar is easy, while nature made it hard. In the journal “Nature”, author Robert Lusting says “A little is not a problem, but a lot kills — slowly” .He means that people cannot regulate food if poison is everywhere.  “Authorities consider sugar as ’empty calories’ — but there is nothing empty about these calories.  A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases”.  In other words, Lusting argues that poisoning the liver can cause problems to different organs and cause diseases including coronary, heart disease and Type II diabetes.
Cardiovascular disease and diabetes were the number one problem in America in 1970.  Unfortunately, doctor’s recommendation of a low fat diet resulted in an enormous increase in metabolic syndrome, obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Over the last 30 years our foods have been contaminated with an increase of fructose, removal of fiber, substitution of trans-fat. For example, people used to consume one hundred to three hundred grams fiber per day. Now, we consume only twelve grams per day. The government did all this because it is easy to freeze food and ship it around the world. Food industry propaganda was made just to sell their items. They also changed butter to margarine. They made us believes that Canola oil is the most profitable oil.
The government controlled tobacco and alcohol to fragment public health. However, they did not want to regulate food, because it was more complicated. Medical researchers said that sugar had the same toxic effect to liver as alcohol, because alcohol was derived from the fermentation of sugar. “About 25% of military applicants are now rejected for obesity-related reasons; the past three US surgeons general and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff have declared obesity a threat to national security” . Today is very difficult regulate sugar by the government, because “Sugar is cheap, sugar tastes good and sugar sells, so companies have little incentive to change.”American politicians are battling for our public health and well being. They say that it is time to turn our attention to sugar. I agree with them and totally support their opinions. I think the faster the government comes to the conclusion that sugar is poison, the faster people will get healthier.