rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn) (04/26/84)
I would have thought that people would try to work from a little knowledge or else research what they write, but: > > Refined sugar is not bad for you, it is just that too > > much of any thing is bad. >FLAME ON! > WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! >I wouldn't try saying that around anyone who has become diabetic >or hypoglycemic from eating refined sugar! People have *DIED* from >it! Is that bad enough for you? Yes, and there are people who can die from even a little alcohol, walnuts, bee pollen, etc., etc. This has nothing to do with "badness" of the substance. If you get too much for your insulin system to handle, you get a problem. Diabetics and hypoglycemics have differences in their insulin systems which makes them less able to tolerate sugar. >"Natural" sugar (honey, fruit, etc) in moderation, is fine. >It contains the vitamins and minerals your body needs to metabolize >the sugar. However natural sugars don't keep very well. To get >them to keep well, the vitamins and minerals are taken out. <<my turn to flame>> This is first-rate foolishness. Honey, in particular, is almost pure sugar. Yes, I know, there's more than one kind of sugar - there are two compositions ("single" and "double" sugars) with isomers of each to bring the total up to half a dozen significant ones. Some are metabolized more readily, but they all land in the bloodstream in the same form. Honey will keep for a long time. In fact, it will work as an antiseptic! (That's because it can draw water out of cells osmotically.) Try to get honey to spoil; it won't. (It will crystallize eventually, because it's got so much sugar in it.) Fruit spoils because the cells decay (due to enzymes) and/or are attacked by bacteria. Sugars, minerals, and most vitamins do not "go bad". And ask a diabetic about eating honey! No go. You don't need vitamins and minerals to metabolize sugars - that's poppycock. The vitamin/mineral argument against sugars is that if you eat foods with a lot of sugar and not much else, you get the energy (caloric intake) to run your body, but nothing to replace the vitamins and minerals it needs. Next time, please research it a little bit before flaming. -- ...Cerebus for dictator! Dick Dunn {hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd (303) 444-5710 x3086