Why sugar is called, "THE WHITE DEATH" - CLL Support

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Why sugar is called, "THE WHITE DEATH"

shazie profile image
4 Replies

The other night, I had dinner with a friend who teaches at Stanford University. He brought up the subject of sugar and he was concerned about me still eating sugar. After our conversation, I came across this article which I thought might interest some members in this community. For the sake of everyone, please feel free to add any more information that you may have on the subject.

thetruthaboutcancer.com/sug...

Neil also posted this a while back:

healthunlocked.com/cllsuppo...

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shazie profile image
shazie
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4 Replies
Cllcanada profile image
CllcanadaTop Poster CURE Hero

Might want to read the first two...

cancer.gov/cancertopics/cau...

AussieNeil profile image
AussieNeilAdministrator

One of the difficulties we have as a society is determining the relative risks of behaviours in which we engage. Emotive headlines such as 'THE WHITE DEATH' don't help us in that regard either. There's absolutely no doubt that if you eat processed foods, you'll be eating far more sugar than historically has been the case for humanity, so I don't think anyone can put up a good argument against why we shouldn't try and reduce the amount that we consume. As has been mentioned previously (see the second link in the parent article posted by Shazie), the World Health Organisation is expected to argue for a reduction in our recommended daily allowance of sugar due to the strong correlation between sugar consumption and tooth decay, given that it is recognised that sugar consumption (along with mouth bacteria) are the cause of that decay.

Here's an article by Eric Reynolds, Professor, Melbourne Dental School and CEO of the Oral Health CRC at University of Melbourne, Australia and Stuart Dashper, Professor & Senior Principal Research Fellow at the same institution, that looks at other dietary threats to your teeth - acid foods and drinks:

theconversation.com/health-...

Note:

"Beverages with pH levels below 5.5 are comparatively acidic. This includes soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices, cordials and wine."

Avoiding sugar free drinks won't necessarily help either: "Sugar-free varieties of soft drinks – marketed as “zero” or diet versions - are promoted as healthier alternatives. But although sugar is off the list of their ingredients, the acidic additives remain the same. Research shows sugared and sugar-free soft drinks cause similarly significant levels of tooth erosion."

The article looks at a range of commonly imbibed drinks and their associated risk and concludes with some tips on how you can minimise the risk to your teeth, while still enjoying drinks like coffee and wine!!

While not CLL related, we need to do what we can to reduce the risk of any infections and mouth infections (such as from dental decay), can be particularly distressing to our quality of life, not to mention our financial health!

Neil

AussieNeil profile image
AussieNeilAdministrator in reply to AussieNeil

Not to forget breakfast cereals, though as one commenter noted, "They don't use sugar in cereal names anymore, it’s golden or honey."

gocomics.com/foxtrotclassic...

kaymack profile image
kaymack

I suggest you read this link from a very reputable source: scienceblog.cancerresearchu...

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