The food a person becomes familiar with as a child forms their eating habits throughout their adult life. Thus, feeding sugary sweets as a reward sets a harmful precedent, leading to lifelong health problems.
This is especially detrimental when a child is poorly nourished. Sugary sweets are addictive and can serve as an emotional comfort, making difficult to control cravings and maintain weight gain, especially during periods of stress, sadness, and loneliness.
Holidays, Halloween, and special occasions, such as birthdays, are when sugary sweet treats are most irresistible and the sugar bingeing addiction begins.
OBESITY
This radio introduction to Globesity-Fats New Frontier, on Australia’s ABC TV, 24 July 2012, reveals the scourge of sugar on a global scale. (Full Transcript available upon request.)
This Foreign Correspondent TV special exposed the shocking explosion of global obesity in China, Brazil, India, and Mexico, which are the biggest consumers of sugary soft drinks in the world, and where diabetes is the number one killer. Sadly, people in these countries are addicted at an early age because of high-pressure corporate advertising. Children are served soda in schools, and babies are fed Coca-Cola!
In 1980, obesity was a rarity in Mexico. By 1999, a third of the population was overweight, and by 2006, two-thirds of the adult population were overweight. Globally, the number of obese people had exploded to 500 million by 2010. Projections estimate that, by 2030, over one billion people will be obese.
Children who are given sugary sweet treats and sugary soda/drinks/juices on a daily basis develop excess fat cells, liver damage, weak bones, and various metabolic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, blindness, hypertension, heart and liver disease, hypoglycemia, polycystic ovarian syndrome, cancer, dementia, improper growth, depression, psychological problems, and infertility. Unhealthy glands do not secrete a sufficient or balanced amount of hormones, which can lead to abnormal male or female development.
INFLUENCE
The fast food, soda, and sugar industries use their powerful influence to determine what goes on labels. Thus, consumers are unable to distinguish between the types of sugar in these foods. There is a significant difference in how the body metabolizes refined sugar without fiber and natural sugar with fiber. Whole fruits and various foods containing fiber are metabolized slowly. Whereas highly processed junk foods and sodas containing refined sugar and fructose (e.g.,HFCS) are rapidly absorbed. This produces insulin spikes that increase body fat. Over time, this constant overload and insulin stimulation contribute to Metabolic Syndrome diseases (e.g., Cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes).