Reparations - Restoring Historical Damages
Sugar: The most pervasive substance in our diets today.
The first thing weight-loss experts say is that you have to give up the sugar if you want to lose weight. Why do we eat so much, and why is sugar so harsh on our health? Sugar has the power of phenomenal destruction. This power is so important that this villain will be a strong focus in my future posts. Tackling the prominence of sugar in our country combined with limiting our consumption could heal the nation.
Sugar is prominently front and center in one of the most significant epigenetic expressions in the history of America. Environmental exposures produce epigenetic changes that occur and are located outside and around the DNA sequence. These changes do not alter or change the DNA. Sugar is one of the reasons Americans suffer from hypertension, metabolic issues, cardiovascular disease, and more. Still, African Americans who are descendants of enslaved people have the additional epigenetics burden.
The most incredible long-term data we have concerning epigenetic changes within a population is the Swedish Överkalix Study. This is the best real-life example of epigenetic changes that I can offer. In Sweden the town of Överkalix is 25 miles from the arctic circle, and settlers arrived centuries ago. Unlike more amenable climates, this area was devoid of travelers, and without traffic the area retained their genetic makeup for many generations. The settlers wrote down everything they grew, ate, and what happened when the harvests failed. They recorded health data as well, hence, there is much data for the researchers to evaluate. The Överkalix study and the work conducted around its data are invaluable to the field of nutrition and health. The researchers concluded that environmental factors could influence epigenetic changes. For example, if a person were an adolescent during a famine, their descendants would live longer than the descendants of adolescents who grew up during a bountiful harvest. The descendants of adolescences who lived through bountiful times were plagued with obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
How does the Överkalix study fit with the health of descendants from enslaved people? Both stem from environmental changes: the Överkalix study deals with the issues of feast or famine and the slave trade was one of dehydration and sugar. Both are environmental issues that pass effects to descendants.
Hereditary factors are one of the most problematic health issues facing the descendants of enslaved people today. It is a forced gift that prevents an individual from experiencing good health in life. Add poor dietary habits, poor food quality from large food corporations, false advertising by nutrition groups, non-profits, and government agencies. What we generated is a health care system that cannot treat chronic disease. The lack of quality nutrition education prevents enslaved descendants and the remaining population burdened with health issues from escaping their predicaments, and our national health suffers as a consequence. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), 20.2% of the black population compared to 14.1% of the white population were in poor health in 2019. Let’s take a look at how the biggest epigenetic changes occurred.
The scientific work of the Human Genome has proven that epigenetic changes can be passed down from parents to offspring. We also know that from generation-to-generation adverse changes may also be reversed. But the most important observation is that transitioning from processed foods to whole foods can improve the health of individuals in a short period of time. The body can do amazing things.
Why did some people survive the conditions of the journey from Africa while others did not? Dr. Richard Johnson, longtime researcher for the National Institutes of Health, who wrote about this event more than two decades ago, theorized that the survivors must have had more sodium in their cells. Water follows sodium, and their body chemistry allowed them to avoid death. This severe dehydration with the sodium factor had a major impact on gene expression.
Life on the plantation and the consumption of molasses in ample quantities is the second significant environmental impact. Molasses was a prominent dietary ingredient in the enslaved community. The sugar, over time, had a substantial effect on an already altered gene expression. It was foundational in creating hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and other major health issues now experienced among American descendants of enslaved persons. Eating sub-optimally for generations is what perpetuates the problem. Remedying the problem will require sizeable nutritional awareness, education, lifestyle changes, and access to fresh food.
We can do all work to eliminate the food deserts, enhance community growing programs, and provide good food within reach, but how do we entice the people to eat it? We favor processed foods, and our bodies are overwhelmed by this. Metabolic stress is showing in our population. According to the International Journal of Obesity, the children of baby boomers have weight problems. Rising obesity rates among these young people may create a situation where the parents outlive their children. This inequity is the first time in American history that our health has declined, and this was well documented long before COVID-19. Obesity and chronic disease have become the central topic in the health and wellness space. These out-of-control conditions are everyone's problem.
My hat is off to the individuals who are taking the lead rather than wait for government intervention. One person breaking away from the pack is Ron Finley, a guerrilla gardener in South Central LA popularizing the creative idea of planting foods among sidewalks and front yards. He coined the phrase “Plant some shit,” and its notoriety earned him several Ted Talks.
The bond between public-private partnerships, government agencies, and non-profit groups becomes problematic. Over the years, these collaborations have deceived the population with so much misinformation about food that most Americans have no idea of the foundational elements needed to feed their bodies. It will take some creative self-regulation by Government and non-profit agencies and planting a Ron Finley in every neighborhood in America to reverse the tide of destructive eating.
Why does sugar negatively affect our bodies, and how much can our bodies absorb? We will dive deep into those topics in later posts but reviewing some basics might be helpful. Let's start with how much sugar a person should eat at a meal? Sugar expert Dr. Richard Johnson recommends staying within five to seven grams per meal. Sugar takes 1 to 15 minutes to absorb into the blood, and the more fiber in the sugar, the better off we are. This process means we look for sugars in their most natural form; the less refined, the better. The blood can have four to five grams of sugar or one teaspoon circulating in the body. The type of sugar can determine the length of absorption into the body. Natural sugars have fibers and other nutrients that moderate the build-up of blood glucose. The Supermarket sugar aisle comprises remnant sugars, sugars that are just a part of the plant and have been altered through heavy refinement. These sugars speed through the absorption process and cause damage to the liver. Look carefully for the good sugars in the sugar aisle and leave the rest to rot. This long list of sugars to avoid includes stevia the golden child, a highly-processed product with research still not fully embracing the product.
One sugar that we should run away from whenever we see it is high fructose corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup is created in a lab. America is drowning in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) because it is so cheap. We even ship it to developing countries and pollute their food supplies. The problem is so significant that if you are not eating a plant straight from the ground or fresh meat from the farm or market, you are probably consuming high fructose corn syrup somehow. HFCS is composed of 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. The cells in our bodies use glucose, but they cannot use fructose. There is no pathway in the cells for fructose. Only the liver can process fructose; thus, a fructose burden will cause a fatty liver, leading to insulin resistance (weight gain that is not easy to eliminate). Two other sugars with too much fructose are Table Sugar (white cane sugar) and Agave Nectar syrup.
Artificial sweeteners have always been a source of problems. They get introduced into the market, then after a few years they are banned by the FDA, then a new one appears. The basic chemistry of the product doesn’t change. The main problem is that these fake sugars just do not fit into our bodies sugar receptors, they leave us hungry and as an additional downside we put on weight. Furthermore, they damage our mitochondria. The healthy options to consider are monk fruit, maple syrup, honey, all in moderation. If you are making a smoothie, then try adding a date for sweetness.
A meaningful national discussion will include these crucial elements: genuinely honest and truthful nutrition information motivated by a desire for a healthier country and access to whole foods, including safe sugars. Descendants of enslaved persons have to eat optimally every moment of their lives to avoid their ancestors' plight. Yet, the bulk of America dives head-on into a chronic disease with reckless abandon. We will all benefit from rectifying the sugar overload in this country. Companies and government agencies promoting harmful sugar and circulating incorrect and detrimental information should provide reparations to their victims. We seek compensation from petrochemical and energy companies that pollute our environment, so why not food companies that pollute our bodies?