60. The havoc of sugar

As regards the havoc wrought by sugar let me quote Dr. Plimner, Professor of Chemistry in the University of London : "Barker's and Hoffman's statistics show that cancer and diabetes are increasing all over the world, and at the same time there has been a corresponding increase in the consumption of white cereals and of sugar. Such a diet, with its shortage of vitamin B, is known to be responsible for the preliminary troubles which may culminate in cancer or diabetes. Yet we put up sugar factories in this country, assisted by the Government! We ought to eat the whole sugarcane or the whole beet, or sweet fruits, but not the extracted sugar. We need the residues which are discarded... If whole-meal flour were substituted for white flour and the amount of sugar reduced, there would be no shortage of vitamin B in the diet of the people as a whole... Sugar in its concentrated form is not a natural food... Sugar forms no part of the diet of the Indian hill tribe of the State of Hunza whom Dr. McCarrison describes as living on natural foods and having the perfection of health and physique."

When Dr. Aykroyd says that "sugar is almost all carbohydrates," he distinguishes it from jaggery which is rich in vitamin B, and 3.6 per cent protein, .06 per cent fat, .65 per cent mineral matter, .05 per cent calcium, .38 per cent phosphorus, 11.40 per cent mgs. of iron, and therefore to be always preferred to sugar which contains none of these necessary ingredients.

M. D.
Harijan, 19-6-1937