Politics Of Sugar

[Guest guest]

http://hfn-usa.com/articles/030729.html

 

 

Smart PublicationsHealth & Wellness Update Dear Friends, Sugar has been blamed

for contributing to diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, and heart disease. A new

report issued in April by the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO)

states that sugar is a major culprit in the obesity epidemic and it should make

up no more than 10% of a person's diet. No big surprise there. “Its about time”

was my first thought. But what’s this? Now the WHO is being attacked on all

levels by … you guessed it … the sugar industry.It seems that you can’t say

anything today without threatening someone’s interest and having them come after

you with counterattacks, lawsuits, or worse. But I wouldn’t have guessed anybody

would take on the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, and that is exactly what the sugar

industry is doing … even to the point of twisting the arm of Congress to cut US

funding to the WHO.In a way I’m glad this is happening. Now the sugar industry

has made their methods totally transparent, behaving

much like the cigarette companies. But there is a deeper level here. They’ve

shown us how functional censorship works. We don’t have outright censorship in

the US, but we do have this kind … where financially strong institutions use

their power to strongly influence anyone who dares to say what. In this case,

the WHO decided not to back down … good for them. But beware, because generally

everything that comes through the media is only that which the strongest

institutions have allowed to come through the media.To your health,John

MorgenthalerHow Sweet It Isn’t: The political battle over sugarIt's not news

that sugar is bad for you … but if you're concerned about your health and the

health of your loved ones, it’s important to gain insight into how health

information is often influenced – even controlled – by the interests of large

corporations putting pressure on government.On April 23, the WHO released the

report on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases1 that says

people can reduce their risk of obesity, diabetes and some heart problems by

curbing sugar consumption. The report warns " unbalanced consumption of foods

high in energy (sugar, starch, and/or fat) and low in essential nutrients

contributes to obesity. " In an attempt to block the report, the Sugar

Association—which includes sugar cane and corn farmers, and industry giants

Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and General Foods—threatened to lobby Congress to cut off

$406 million. This amount is given annually by the United States to the WHO, and

is nearly a quarter of the organization's budget. As reported in the Washington

Post on April 25, Andrew Briscoe, president of the Sugar Association said in an

April 14 letter to the WHO's director-general Gro Brundtl, " We will exercise

every avenue available to expose the dubious nature of the Diet, Nutrition and

the Prevention of Chronic Diseases report.”In defending the Sugar Association's

attack on the WHO report, Briscoe referred to a report issued last

fall by the National Academy of Sciences, which says that one can safely

consume sugars amounting to as much as 25 percent of one's daily diet without

suffering health consequences.The politics of sugar According to the Center for

Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in

Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics and its effect on elections and

public policy, last year the sugar industry donated more than $3 million to

federal elections. Two U.S. senators, John Breaux, D-LA. and Larry Craig,

R-Idaho, co-chairs of the U.S. Senate Sweetener Caucus urged Agriculture

Secretary Ann Veneman to pressure the WHO to cease further promotion of the

report. The senators also wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary

(HHS) Tommy Thompson, urging him to squelch the report. Although Thompson did

not respond to appeals that he intervene before the official launch of the WHO

report, HHS submitted comments last year on the draft report, saying " evidence

that soft drinks are associated with obesity is not compelling. " Americans pay

plenty for sugar Every time you add a teaspoon of sugar to your coffee, lick an

ice cream cone, chow down a bag of cookies, or buy a bag of sugar, you're

contributing to the profits earned by a very small group of sugar farmers—thanks

to a U.S. government price-support program. Congress maintains a sugar-support

program that guarantees domestic sugar producers a minimum price by restricting

sugar imports and buying and storing excess production, as it does with other

farm programs. According to the General Accounting Office (GAO), the program

costs Americans $2 billion annually in inflated sugar prices, and storing excess

sugar will cost another $2 billion over 10 years.Additionally, according to the

Center for Responsive Politics, thirty-three farms in Florida and Hawaii receive

more than a million dollars in benefits apiece yearly, one-third of the benefits

of the entire federal sugar program. Four sugar

cane companies in Florida receive more than $20 million each in benefits from

the sugar program every year. That's a lot of money out of taxpayers' pockets

that supports the production of a food that is potentially harmful to your

health.A plan for the futureThe fifty-third World Health Assembly, May 2000,

adopted a resolution endorsing the WHO Director-General's global strategy for

the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases. The strategy emphasized

integrated prevention by targeting three main risk factors: tobacco, unhealthy

diet and physical inactivity. The report on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention

of Chronic Diseases is an important response to these

resolutions.“Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancers, obesity – these are no

longer rich country problems,” says Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General

of WHO. “The majority of chronic disease cases are occurring in the developing

world. Our experience shows us that even modest, but population-wide

interventions on diet and physical activity, can produce significant changes in

the overall chronic disease burden in a surprisingly short time. The Report is

significant because we will be using it as the critical science-based foundation

for the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, which we are

preparing to address this growing chronic disease burden.”Because of their

negative reaction to the WHO's report, the sugar lobby and industry risk being

labeled anti-health. Although the debate isn't nearly as dramatic as the

long-term tobacco debate, it will be interesting to see where it leads. Whether

sugar is eventually labeled with a health risk warning remains to be seen. In

the meantime, it's a good idea to reduce your sugar consumption and here are a

few tips to get you started:10 ways to reduce your sugar consumption1. Drink

8-10 glasses of purified water each day. Stay away from soft drinks (which

contain about 10 teaspoons of sugar per can!), juices, and

sweetened tea and coffee.2. Substitute green tea for coffee. It helps lower

your appetite, body weight, blood sugar and insulin levels.3. Throw away the

candy, pastries and ice cream. Next time you get a craving for sugar munch on a

peanut butter smothered apple.4. Become a careful label reader: The sugar listed

on the nutrition label is a combination of the naturally occurring sugar and the

added sugar. If you spot the ending '-ose' on a word, it's sugar in disguise.

Examples are sucrose, glucose and fructose. Other common ingredients that are

sugar in hiding include syrup, honey, brown sugar, fruit juice concentrate and

high-fructose corn syrup.5. Avoid all sweeteners, including sugar, honey and

maple syrup. Instead, use stevia, a non-caloric, zero-carb herbal sweetener

derived from a South American plant, stevia rebaudiana. It doesn't have the

toxic effect of other non-caloric sweeteners, and is available at most health

food stores as a liquid extract, a white crystalline powder

made from the extract, or simply as the powdered green herb.6. Chew Xylitol

gum. Xylitol, a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners, doesn't

significantly increase blood sugar or use insulin to be metabolized. Teaspoon

for teaspoon it is about twice as sweet as sugar with no unpleasant aftertaste,

has 40% fewer calories than sugar, and even helps protect your teeth from

cavities!7. Eat blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches and cherries,

which are relatively low in carbs.8. Snack on 1 ounce portions of sunflower

seeds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, string cheese, 1 hard-cooked egg, 1/4

cup cottage cheese, apple/cheddar slices. Drink smoothies made with whey protein

concentrate, soy protein powder, rice protein powder or other low-carb protein

powders, mixed in water with berries (raspberries, blueberries, strawberries)

with a dash of stevia. 9. Avoid flour products including noodles, bagels,

breads, pastries, cookies.10. Cut down on your consumption of

alcoholic beverages, which are all very high in sugar.For more information on

the WHO report, or to give feedback, contact:Mr David Porter - Communications

Officer Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health WHO, Geneva

Telephone: +41 (22) 791 3774 Mobile phone: +41 (79) 477 1740 Email:

porterd Erwin Northoff FAO Rome Telephone: (+39) 5705 2232/3105 Mobile

phone: (+39) 348 2523616 Email: Erwin.Northoff References:1. The Report

of the Joint WHO/FAO (The UN Food and Agriculture Organization) Expert

Consultation on Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases was

formally launched in Rome on April 23, 2003, by WHO Director General Dr Gro

Harlem Brundtland, and FAO Director General Jacques Diouf. The FAO/WHO Joint

Expert Report is based on the collective judgement of a group of 30 independent

experts with a global perspective, who worked with approximately 30 of their

peers to review the best currently available evidence on diet, nutrition and its

effects on chronic diseases.2. Sugar Program: Changing Domestic and

International Conditions Require Program Changes, an April 1993 report by the

General Accounting Office.• " WHO attacks US Sugar Lobby. " BBC News, world

edition, April 22, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2966187.stm• " Sugar

Lobby Says WHO Report Is Overstated, " Reuters.

http://asia.news./030422/ap/d7qis9cg0.html• Eilperin, Juliet. " Sugar

Industry Pressuring UN to Lie About Obesity " Washington Post, April 25, 2003.

 

 

 

NEW WEB MESSAGE BOARDS - JOIN HERE.

Alternative Medicine Message Boards.Info

http://alternative-medicine-message-boards.info

 

 

 

The New with improved product search