Sugar

If you missed last week’s column, I picked on sugar.  If you missed it, that’s o.k. because this week I’m going to do it again!

Last week I reported how cutting sugar in schools improves student performance and behavior.  We all know that sugar contributes to obesity and of course is the main cause of type II diabetes.  This week I’d like to talk about how sugar adversely impacts your body’s defense or your immune system.

I’ve heard it reported that the amount of sugar in a single soda (which is about 12 teaspoons!) will virtually shut down your immune system for about two hours.  This makes you much more susceptible to all types of infection.

Did you know that about 75 years ago the Nobel Prize was given to Dr. Warburg of Germany when he discovered that sugar caused cancer?  Dr. Warburg reported that almost anything can cause cancer, but that there is only one prime cause and that is the fermentation of sugar in normal body cells.

A similar 2004 study concluded that women who ate more sugar-laden foods were nearly three times more likely to develop colon cancer.

We all know that sugar is bad for us, but hopefully this information can serve as motivation to avoid the sweets more often for better health.

ADD, ADHD & Sugar

Despite the reported side effects of psychosis, mania, and hallucinations, over 4 million children in the U.S. are using prescriptions of ADD and ADHD medications.

An Atlanta, Georgia school principal has taken on an alternative approach.  What did he do in his school . . . banned all sugar.  After overcoming his own health problems with diet and exercise, Principal Butler requires physical exercise in his school and they have enforced a policy of no sugar.  Instead, the lunch room serves healthy lunches and snacks.

According to Butler, after adopting this simple policy in his school, just in the first year standardized test scores improved 15% and discipline problems decreased by 23%.  As an added benefit, student health has improved dramatically and obesity is virtually non-existent in his school.

Principal Butler also notes, “In nine years we have saved $425,000.  We’ve done that not by cutting back, but by having more fruits and vegetables.”

Hopefully, in time, all schools will follow the practical lead being taken by this Atlanta school.  But until that happens, we can all develop similar policies in our own homes. If you want to see changes in your kids, start with yourself – be the example that you want to see in them!

Roots of Illness

A study released by the Journal of the American Medical Association looked at the childhood roots of disease.  The researchers expressed that everything that happens to us from conception to early childhood and on through life has a profound effect on adult health!  They concluded that adult disease is often the result of two sources: accumulation of unhealthy stressors over the years or from adversities during sensitive developmental periods in childhood.  In both cases, they often found a delay of years or even decades before disease was expressed later in life.  They found that autism and even cardiovascular disease later in life can be linked to poor prenatal nutrition before we were born!  They believe that chronic stressors over time accumulate and change both the function and the structure of the brain in order to adapt to an abundance of physical, chemical and emotional stress.

What’s the message here?  If you’ve followed this column, you’ve heard about the term epigenetics which is rapidly replacing the former model of traditional genetics.  This research is the essence of epigenetics – meaning that it is not the DNA that we inherit from our parents that determines our future health or disease.  Rather, it is the environment that we are exposed to over time including childhood years and even prior to birth that will unfold the expression of our genes either for health or disease.  This is why I always teach that everything we do, everything we eat or drink, and everything we think is either moving us closer to wellness or closer to disease.  This study merely proves that we need to think of health in these terms for the future of our children as well.  The good news is that a great deal of research shows it’s never too late to improve health by making better choices but hopefully you also understand that it may be even more important to teach and support our children on the importance of healthy diet, exercise and positive thinking.

Chocolate

Here’s one I didn’t see coming!  A study at The Johns Hopkins was focused on blood platelets and blood clots. The study participants, some of whom were fond of eating chocolate, were given a list of foods to avoid including chocolate.  Some of them couldn’t resist and ended up eating chocolate during the study anyway.

Amazingly, their indulgence led the researchers to an important discovery which is believed to be the first of its kind.  The researchers now believe just a few squares of chocolate a day can reduce the risk of heart attack death in some men and women by almost 50%.  It turns out that the chocolate (similar to aspirin) decreases the tendency of platelets to clot in narrow blood vessels. The lead researcher cautions that her work is not intended as a prescription to gobble up chocolate candy, containing large amounts of sugar, butter and cream.  But as little as 2 tablespoons a day of dark chocolate - the purest form, made from the dried extract of roasted cocoa beans - may be just what the doctor ordered.

I did some research and the key to this is that the chocolate must be unadulterated and pure.  We’re talking about the bitterer, dark chocolate.  Remember the real cacao is a vegetable (or legume).  And this bean, unprocessed and without sugar, can be a stronger antioxidant than raspberries, blueberries, or even the acai berry that has received so much attention lately.  As a snack, try a couple pieces of dark chocolate with a few raw almonds and some dried cranberries.  The antioxidant combination could help reduce the risk of various illnesses.