Sugar Addiction and Beyond

I’m going to give you compelling evidence that there is practically not a lot of difference between sugar and heroin:

- Both come from nature and are derived from plants; heroin from the opium poppy, sugar from sugar beets or sugar cane.

- Both undergo excessive chemical manipulation to get to its final product. 90% of nutrients, water, fiber and protein are removed from sugar beets and sugar cane to turn it into sugar. Heroin is derived from the opium poppy, but to turn it into morphine it has to go through extensive chemical modification.

- Both cause addiction: for heroin about 14 million people and sugar about 1.5 billion worldwide.

- Both cause dependence, craving and withdrawals.

- Both coincide with depression or emotional distress.

- Both cause death: heroin about 600 people per year in the USA, sugar about 300,000.

- Both are used in medicine for medicinal purposes. Morphine is derived from opium and used to alleviate pain. Sugar is used in intravenous fluids for a variety of conditions.

When imaging studies are done in addicts to heroin or sugar, they light up the same locations in the brain, an area called the orbitofrontal cortex: the part of the brain located behind the eyes and among other things is responsible for decision-making.

The key similarity of the two addictions lies in the behavior of the addicts: despite clear knowledge that the use of those substances comes with unpleasant and somewhat deadly consequences, people continue to use those. This also true about alcohol, smoking and gambling, but only gambling acts through exactly the same circuits as sugar and heroin. There is a perceived difference between those two. We can live without heroin but we need sugar for our bodily functions. False! We don’t need sugar per se; we need glucose that we can get from all sorts of foods without any chemical manipulations. Fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes contain plenty of sugar that we can use for thinking, breathing, exercising, and all the other important functions. Honey, molasses, and maple syrup in small amounts will do the job of bringing the sweet taste. What about organic or brown sugar? No different. Just like salt, sugar should be used as a spice and not as an ingredient. So, if heroin of course should not be used at all, sugar can be used as a spice and, as far as I’m concerned, should be sold in spice containers.

I’m certainly not the first person with revelations about sugar addiction. In 1975, William Duffy, released his book “Sugar Blues” which has sold more than 1.5 million copies. There are other books revealing the sugar addiction. Around the time that Duffy’s book became popular, the US changed its “sweetheart” from sugar to high fructose corn syrup. We didn’t abandon sugar, but we just slightly backed off that to the creative genius of the manufacturers. If in 1980, the average person ate 39 pounds of fructose and 84 pounds of sugar (total of 123 lb.), in 2004 the average person consumed 83 pounds of fructose and 66 pounds of sucrose (total of 149 lb). Speaking of ubiquitous – high fructose corn syrup penetrated into 90% of supermarket produce. Is it a mystery why we have an epidemic of obesity? Duh! In the interest of brevity, I suggest two quick solutions:

- Get most of your food from Farmer’s market.

- Read the labels: Buy only foods with few ingredients, preferably without sugar, high fructose corn syrup in it (also don’t forget partially hydrogenated oil and artificial colorings). If sugar is listed, make sure it is toward the end of the ingredient list.

- Dr. Mariam Manoukian