Top 5 Sweet and Scary Sugar Facts
Top 5 Sweet and Scary Sugar Facts
Is brown sugar healthier than white sugar? Did a conspiracy put refined sugar into practically every food in the grocery store? Is there a link between obesity, diabetes, and sugar consumption? Should we all just switch over to sweeteners like aspartame or stevia? Who knows?... Not us! We do know some fascinating facts about sugar though!
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Top 5 Facts About Sugar
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These days people are all over the place when it comes to sugar. Some love it and some don’t. Welcome to WatchMojo’s Top 5 Facts. In this installment, we’re counting down the Top 5 Facts About Sugar.
#5: Sugar Can Be Used as Rocket Fuel
Looking to shoot a rocket in the sky but can’t find any of that sweet and tangy plutonium? Well, it turns out that sugar is an effective substitute. The primary component used by amateur rocket makers to get their projectiles flying is sucrose; which when refined is more commonly referred to as table sugar. Playing the part of fuel, the sucrose is mixed with ground potassium nitrate and then heated to conjoin the two. Currently, a program exists that seeks to launch a sugar rocket into space! Perhaps while it’s up there, it can say hello to all the Glycolaldehyde, a sugar-like substance that has been found near the center of the Milky Way.
#4: Brown Sugar Is More Processed Than White Sugar
Seen by many as a healthy alternative to regular old white sugar, brown sugar is in fact slightly more processed. While the refinement process for both is roughly the same, near the end, brown sugar is coated in a small amount of molasses. This extra coat gives each teaspoon of brown sugar about one calorie more than its white brethren. They’re both mostly made up of sucrose, which means that our bodies digest them in exactly the same way. This essentially amounts to making brown sugar and white sugar equals in terms of health effects.
#3: Sugar Was Marketed as a Weight Loss Tool in the 1950's
Close your eyes. Imagine a world where sugar is as effective a dieting tool as spinach and exercise. You can throw an extra dollop of the beautiful white powder in your morning coffee and all it will do is aid in your battle to keep a trim, sexy waistline. Now open your eyes. Were you picturing 1950’s America? If so, congratulations! This scenario really occurred once upon a time in the land of the free. In 1957, Life Magazine ran a spread about sugar’s unique ability to help control weight naturally. This was thanks in part to a PR campaign launched by the Sugar Association in the mid 50’s. It may have lost traction as a weight loss supplement, but its continued prevalence in today’s society is at least partially due to the these early campaigns.
#2: Sugar Is Unfortunately Ubiquitous
When something is difficult to clearly identify, that can make it pretty hard to avoid. Such is the case with sugar. Sugar has been known to hide under 56 different aliases, including, but not limited to: dextrose, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, maple syrup and galactose. Coupling this with the fact that added sugar is hiding in 74% of packaged foods creates a truly unavoidable substance. It is no surprise that on average, teenagers consume about 34 teaspoons of sugar of sugar per day, roughly three times the recommended dose for adults. This lack of transparency leads to overconsumption, which in turn can lead to numerous health problems, including diabetes.
#1: Big Sugar Used Questionable, Big Tobacco-Inspired Advertising Methods
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When a person tries to take something that belongs to you, what do you do? For members of the sugar industry that answer was simple: shove as much advertising and bankrolled scientific data down the public's throat until they can no longer see straight. In a move eerily similar to how Big Tobacco handled negative backlash to their products in the 1990’s, Big Sugar manipulated the public with deceptive advertising to ensure that government agencies would dismiss troubling health claims against their products. Their primary tactic is to hide behind data from studies they paid for and then declare, “that no confirmed scientific evidence links sugar to death-dealing diseases.” Do you think you can make a rocket fuelled by sugar? What about using it to lose a few pounds? For more hard to avoid Top 10’s and lobby-backed Top 5’s, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.
