Like Cassandra of mythology, who could foretell the future but would not be believed, Dr. John Yudkin, a British scientist who was both PhD and MD, did research that eventually led to his book, Pure, White, and Deadly, published in 1972, claiming that sugar was not just bad, but dangerous. I have remembered since the seventies hearing that some British or Australian doctor had said, in effect, if dangers of sugar was just now discovered it would be a banned substance, but I didn’t know who it was until recently. He states this in the first chapter in a bit different way, but just as damning. Further, I was able to find a link with the book in pdf format to download (just click the title).
All great movements start as disputed, disparaged, unappreciated ideas that are considered radical, too liberal, against the conventional wisdom; and, like many of history who were right but unattended, Dr. Yudkin along with a few others like Drs. Atkins and Pennington who were bellwethers signaling the dangers that now are finally being recognized via the efforts of Gary Taubes, Dr. Robert Lustig and now many bloggers.
The current of time eventually sweeps away the dross, but we can be plagued by it for a very long time. Sugar (and other feel-good things) is something people do not want to give up, or acknowledge is really seriously bad for them, so they assume the denial position (I envision this as on their bellies, with arms out-stretched and legs spraddled out, hugging their sacred ground).
While it is hard to understand how people can stay in denial when their bodies are grossly enlarged, their health steadily declining, their medical bills rising, and worse, yet this is exactly what continues to happen.
Still, there are small signs of hope, like the major soda manufacturers trying to fake less terrible options, though in truth they are just as terrible. Grocery markets are also beginning to offer more sugar free options, and happily the food labeling is still our greatest gift.
Today I wanted to lift up how thankful I am for the predecessors in the fight against sugar who helped lead us to what one day will be understood as an inevitable conclusion–despite the agri-business and government attempts to hide, mask, or prevent the truth from getting out (in this they are exactly like the tobacco industry). Dr. Lustig is reaching parents of small children which may be the biggest achievement in the long run to get sugar out of our diets.
Sometimes one is at the right time in history, I wish some of the now deceased diabetics in my family, like my mother, had been.
Yours in furthering the truth about sugar,
Nan aka Sugarbaby
Sugaraholics 