Sugary Drinks Harmful and Toxic, Studies Show
Sugary drinks were found to be unhealthy and toxic in a slew of recent findings. A few months ago, a great deal of baby food products were found to be far too sugary, and, recently, alarmingly toxic due to the presence of toxic heavy metals. Whether the sugar content is too high, or your baby food is tainted with toxic chemicals, there’s plenty of reason to be concerned about what we’re putting in our children’s mouths, let alone ours.
Baby Foods and Drinks Too Sweet, Not Safe For Young Children
Experts have set their sights on baby food manufacturers for their sugary drinks with a dangerously high sugar content which they fear may “[damage] their first teeth…and [place them at] risk of developing a preference for sweet foods, which may lead to overweight and obesity-related disease in adulthood.” The WHO have made their stance clear, and suggests all added sugars, even when in the form of fruit juice concentrate, ought to be banned from commercial baby foods. The oversight that led to the existence of so many different, harmful products is more evidence of a disturbing trend where profits are placed over people.
Toxic and Unfit for Children, Companies Are Inappropriately Targeting Them
The World Health Organization (WHO) claims these same companies’ advertisements target newborns under the age of six months. The WHO, however, suggests only breastfeeding up to that age. “Fruit drinks and juices, sweetened cows’ milk and milk alternatives, confectionery and sweet snacks should not be marketed as suitable for infants and young children up to 36 months” say experts. News of the dangerously high levels of sugar in beverages advertised to children hit just three months before baby foods were found to overwhelmingly contain toxic metals, such as arsenic and lead.
Experts fear these tainted foods are not safe for children due to the presence of heavy metals that may accumulate over time. These metals are neurotoxins, and could lower IQ if ingested, according to the report. The report, released by Healthy Babies Bright Futures, can be seen in full here.
Sugar Is A Known Health Hazard
Sugar making headlines as unhealthy is nothing new. it’s been happening since the 1970’s. In 1972, Dr. Yudkin defended the idea that sugar is unhealthy and may in fact be the leading cause of obesity and heart disease in his book Pure White and Deadly. The following year, the USDA released a report about sugar in the diet that echoed Yudkin’s concerns. The Sugar Industry was no stranger to resorting to manufactured science whenever the public questions the safety of sugar. In 1942, the US began rationing sugar right before World War II. The government was quick to explain that people don’t actually need sugar.
The American sugar industry didn’t like hearing this. In order to counter such a cultural shift from lingering, they quickly put together the Sugar Research Foundation. As the media publicized growing skepticism surrounding sugar, the sugar industry began pushing advertisements that presented sugar as a will-power enhancing snack for dieters, eventually working up to hiring a spokesperson who would defend sugar as a staple of the American people.
The anti-sugar movement was growing, and so, in 1975, they then commissioned the writing of Sugar in the Diet of Man, edited by Dr. Fredrick Stare, wherein he claims sugar consumption has not risen in the past few decades, as had been claimed. This was an effort to dwindle down public fears about sugar.
Power and Influence of The Sugar Industry
On the heels of The Sugar Industry funding fake and biased scientific research, the FDA felt the need to react to the public’s growing concern over sugar, and deferred to the sugar industry’s paid scientists to determine its safety. Dr. Sheldon Reiser, one of the scientists from the USDA who had released their findings that supported their concerns about sugar spoke out after the FDA ruled it as not the cause of obesity. He was quoted saying “We would like to voice our disappointment over the report on the health aspects of sucrose consumption issued by the Select Committee on GRAS substances… As we indicated in the material submitted to the public hearing held by the FDA, there is abundant evidence showing that dietary sucrose is one of the dietary factors responsible for obesity, diabetes and heart disease in this country… We strongly recommend that intake from all sources except fresh or processed fruit (without added sugar) be decreased by a minimum of 60%.”
Their next move was trying to pin fat as the culprit, and though it was effective for a while, it has been shown to be debunked, fake science, time and time again. In a world where companies can manufacture science and therefore public opinion, it is up to us to be conscious consumers, and stay aware of the how deep the corruption runs. Jon Gordon, a food industry insider wrote The Food Mafia, an action thriller inspired and based on true events that takes the reader on a crash-course in the criminally corrupt world of the sugar industry. If you’d like to read more about the Food Mafia, please click here!
