The Sugar Conspiracy Summary

Sugar was relatively unknown to Europe until the fourteenth century. After its introduction to the people of Europe, it gradually spread across the continent until it eventually reached the Atlantic nations. After the “discovery” of the New World, Europe was eager to expand its territories. Sugar was soon brought to the Americas with the explorers, and the global sugar trade was born. The sugar trade was driven by the high demand for sugar in Europe, its appeal to European investors, and competition between European nations.

The documentary “Fed Up” provides some important and disturbing details of the food industry. The 1977 heart disease and diet study known as the McGovern Report warned that the obesity rate was increasing rapidly due to American diets in fatty meats, saturated fats, cholesterol, and sugar. The food industry vehemently denied these claims, but the American people still demanded lower fat food products. The food manufacturers found that the fat removal made the food bland and unpalatable so to address this they replaced the fat content with sugar. Both the documentary and the Harvard Nutrition Source discuss the role sugar has in health conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. They both link the consumption of sugar as the causality for

Pollan believes that Western diet is the primary cause of many of the different ailments that are impacting contemporary society. A few of the most notable include: heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. This is because there is no vested interest in supporting primary care and preventive medicine. As the health care industry wants to create drugs that can treat these conditions. Yet, they do not deal with the root causes of the problem. Instead, they allow the individual to engage in a pattern of destructive lifestyle choices. This increases the profit margins for everyone inside the health care industry by taking this approach. (Pollan)

David Singerman, is a historian of science, scholar, and expert in the history of sugar. The purpose of Singerman’s article “The Shady History of Big Sugar” is to expose the control sugar has on our lives derived from the U.S. government policy influences the sugar industry has had throughout history. Singerman exposes efforts of the sugar industry to control the market as well as American lives asking Americans to look at the history of corruption and check the power of what he calls “Big Sugar”.

That the "Western" diet and lifestyle is unhealthy is undeniable, and that the effects of growing industrialization and the mass production of food has contributed to obesity rates

Michael Pollan says in his argument that the western diet is chiefly to blame for a majority of health deceases, he says “the scientist who blame our health problems on defiances of these micronutrients are not the same scientist who see sugar-soaked diet leading to metabolic syndrome and from there to diabetes, heart deceases, and cancer” (421) Due to all this negative impact to our health Pollan says that the food industry needs new theories to better redesign processed food and the medical community to make new drugs to beget deceases.

The author’s for the article “Regional Differences in Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake among US Adults” are Sohyun Park, PhD; Lisa C. McGuire, PhD; and Deborah A. Galuska, PhD. All of the author’s credentials are the same which is a Doctor of Philosophy, which is short abbreviated as PhD where a person who attains a doctorate of philosophy is awarded the academic title of a doctor. Sohyun Park is also an epidemiologist, Lisa McGuires is the lead epidemiologist and Deborah Galuska is an associate director for science, division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity. I believe that the author Deborah Galuska is a credible source for nutrition because first and foremost she has a PhD, and is also an Associate Director for Science for Division

A sweet substance that people take for granted today has an extensive past that most do not know about. Sugar has shaped our world throughout the generations of human society. From its courteous beginning, to the royal inauguration, sugar has always been known as a household favorite. Due to its appealing taste and rich flavor, an obsessive amount of the natural grain was made into large quantities to satisfy the cravings of many people. The history of sugar did not only have an illustrious past, but definitely had its share of disappointments.

Healthy, unhealthy, good food, bad food, fat, skinny, diet, weight: all these words have been used to define what society views as the key to a balanced or unbalanced life. In the essay, Food for Thought: Resisting the Moralization of Eating, Mary Maxfield takes a look into the stigma of eating habits, health, and dieting in western society. Maxfield supports her claims by analyzing and refuting Michael Pollan’s essay, Escape from the Western Diet. Although it is common knowledge that many people struggle to understand what is essentially “healthy” and “unhealthy”, there are many experts in the field of nutrition that claim to have the key to a perfect diet. Maxfield ultimately disclaims these ideas by bringing to light information that

Sugar has been a staple in the diets of Europeans for centuries. From desserts to tea, sugar has been added to everything. While it is unhealthy in large doses, the demand for the saccharide does not falter. Before sugar could be mass produced by machines, much of the labor was done by slaves. While this benefitted white Europeans, they were the only ones to have profited from this new sugar craze. The African population suffered immensely from the sugar industry as the working conditions of sugar plantations were brutal and they had no civil rights as slaves.

Thesis: Overall, recent studies have shown that sugar substitutes isn’t and can cause potential health problems.

The personal impact on a sugar baby is multi-faceted. There are many aspects of her life that are irreversibly changed by their decision to pursue a sugar relationship as a form of income. The ramifications of their choices emerge in unforeseen ways. The social and personal repercussions range from perceptions of the self and those around them, to their feeling towards others.

This is a fact that is not only staggering, but also shocking that we’ve let this happen to the modern age what with all the technology that could perhaps help reduce this. Paragraph 3’s testimonial is in short order, the UN says that sugar is now in the same league of products as tobacco and alcohol, especially when consumed in large amount, can pose a serious health threat, however it is OK, but only if used in moderation.

The author claims that it is better for the diet to consume sugar than aspartame. In support to the claim, the author states that aspartame leads people to eat more food and thus contribute to weight gain whereas sugar helps to burn fat if it is consumed after certain amount of work out. The author omits several considerations that should be addressed to substantiate the conclusion, hence, the argument is not convincing.

‘The short answer is that we changed our dietary advice. We demonised fat and eulogised carbohydrate. "Base your meals on starchy foods," we were told. Obesity has increased up to 10 fold since – coincidence or cause?’