Introduction
Recently there has been great controversy about the intake of sugar and the health issues it poses. Of late sugar is being heralded as “The New Tobacco”(You Magazine).
Few people get through the day without adding sugar to their daily diet. Increasingly, experts believe that we could be truly addicted to sugar and that our young adult population may be in danger of suffering from many sugar-related diseases.
Young adults are possibly very unaware of their daily sugar ingestion in beverages alone. This could pose major health risks. According to SugarStack.com, a can of Coca-Cola has up to 39g of sugar (Approximately 10 cubes of Sugar).
This therefore opens up to the research question: Are young adults aware of their daily sugar consumption, solely in what they drink, and the health risks it poses?
With the increasing number of young adults being diagnosed with diabetes, insulin resistance, obesity, heart disease and learning and concentration problems, amongst other health issues, this research project will hopefully showcase in a small way why the health of adolescents is at risk.
The aim is to conduct an investigation on adolescents (aged 16-21) on their over consumption of sugar in their beverages only (i.e. Fizzy Cool Drinks, Energy Drinks, Coffee and Tea, Alcohol etc.) in the South area of Johannesburg (i.e. Linmeyer and Glenvista). This research investigation also aims to create awareness by means of surveys and information pamphlets on the negative impacts sugar consumption or addictions have.
Through this investigation, it will hopefully show relevant and interesting research as to whether or not sugar is really playing a bitter sweet role in the life of South African’s youth.
Proposed Research Plan
Reason ...
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...he label lumps all fats together.” Hence, ingredient labels are not exactly 100% accurate and could also be a determining factor in the unawareness of young adult’s sugar consumption.
Overall, perhaps the general belief that sugar provides energy is what is leading young adults choosing to drink sugary drinks simply for the want of energy, however, they are possibly not informed that not all sugar is healthy for the body and does not provide sufficient long term energy, but rather artificial sugar just provides a spike of energy.
In conclusion, young adults, on average, are not fully aware of their daily sugar consumption, in neither what they drink nor the health risks it surely poses. My hypothesis was correct in that I hypothesized that young adults are not aware of their daily sugar ingestion in beverages alone, which in turn is and can pose major health risks.
Another contrast between the article How Candy Conquered America and This Cupcake is Trying to Hurt You is how our health is affected by our sugar intake now and back in the 1800’s. According to the article, Too Much Can Make Us Sick (http://www.sugarscience.org/too-much-can-make-us-sick/), “Heart disease”. Diabetes. These chronic conditions are among the leading causes of death worldwide.
Lustig, Robert, Laura Schmidt, and Claire Brindis. “The Toxic Truth About Sugar.” The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition. Ed. Thomas Cooley. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 284-289. Print.
“From 1989 to 2008, calories from sugary beverages increased by 60% in children ages 6
Today, our world is filled with food. While some are healthy, it seems like teenagers are more focused on the unhealthy foods. Yes, there are athletic programs; teens are still not eating the right foods they should be. They get the simple, easy to depend on, low cost foods which most likely are from fast food restaurants. Teenagers often pick the easy choice, which is why the obesity rate is rising in our state, including heart attacks and diabetes. Even though it seems like the unhealthy choices are more dependent when you’re in a rush and need a quick bite to eat, not caring about the nutrition, teenagers don’t realize that it will affect them in the long run, literally.
Sugar is considered a toxic poison. Sugar leaches the calcium out of the skeletal frame of a human’s body. Sugar literally sucks the calcium straight from our bones; therefore it is known to many as a “skeletal poisonous powder.” There are thousands of individuals struggling throughout the United States with sugar addiction. Sugar is a leading cause of a number of health-related issues. Sugar causes health issues such as, fibromyalgia, diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis. Like me, many individuals have no clue that they are addicted to sugar. Up until this single subject design, I thought my eating habits were quite normal. I honestly did not realize how much sugar I was taking in everyday. This single subject design has truly encouraged me to live a healthier lifestyle. The purpose of this study is to indirectly determine my sugar intake, by counting calories daily and reducing my caloric intake.
Even at school cafeterias, burgers, pizzas and fries in bigger quantity are being served which targets the youth. Sugars in foods were
The health of the nation’s youth has been under scrutiny lately due to recent reports that are showing an increase in average body mass index (BMI), poor physical fitness, and elevations in blood sugar, blood pressure, and blood lipids (Eagle, Gurm, Goldberg, DuRussel-Weston, Kline-Rogers, Palma-Davis, Aaronson, Fitzgerald, Mitchell, Rogers, Breunger, Jackson, and Eagle 2010). Eagle et al. (2010) Attribute the decrease in health to “fast food, lack of physical activity due to increased TV and computer screen time, and there is also an expanding appreciation for an inherited basis for childhood obesity” (P.1185). Sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) account for on average 159 calories daily and an average of 9 tablespoons of added sugar daily (Briefel, Wilson, Cabili, & Hedley Dodd, 2013). ...
If someone were to consume too much sugar, it could “lead to tooth decay.” It could also make one “prone to becoming overweight, as sugary foods tend to be relatively high in calories, particularly if they are fatty as well.” Typically, a food which contains milk or fruit would be a healthier choice compared to a food which has the same amount of sugar but with no milk or fruit ingredients. ("Healthy Eating Overview.")
For years doctors have been saying that refined sugars are empty calories and consist of absolutely no vitamins or minerals that people need to survive. Dentists warn that sugary foods encourage tooth decay. Many people avoid sweet food because it can lead to obesity, heart problems, diabetes and cancer. These negative responses by people’s bodies are actually warnings. Maybe people eat sugar for other reasons than the sweet taste. The human body's negative responses to sugar may be a similar purpose to the reason kids feel pain when they are playing too roughly. People’s consumption of sweet foods might also serve as a sign of defiance against their bodies’ health limitations. What many people do not realize is that their tasty treats can affect their mind and emotions.
With such an obsession with sweet foods, there is an obvious desire for an explanation of how such a once unknown substance took center stage on everybody's snack, dessert, and candy list. That's where Sidney W. Mintz comes into play. He decided to write this book Sweetness and Power, and from the looks of all the sources he used to substantiate his ideas and data, it seems that he is not the first person to find the role that sugar plays in modern society important. By analyzing who Mintz's audience is meant to be, what goals he has in writing this book, what structure his book incorporates, what type, or types, of history he represents within the book, what kind of sources he uses, and what important information and conclusions he presents, we can come to better understand Mintz's views and research of the role of sugar in history, and how much it really affects our lives as we know them.
Refined sugar was not available to the masses until the early 1900s. At that time, everyone’s taste buds thought the sweet substance was the best thing on earth; demand, availability and consumption sky-rocketed. No one really considered what it was capable of doing to our bodies. Unfortunately, today’s food and drink market is flooded with sugar. Consumption
The authority of sugary drinks becomes a growing problem everyday. Almost twenty percent of U.S. children and teens are overweight. But, there are ways to stop the obesity problem in the U.S. One way that we can stop the problem with obesity is to eliminate major soft, sugary drinks in schools in general. Bullying is an important thing that needs to stop, but with children and teens who are obese are struggling with being bullied. The bullying makes these children and teens are most likely to suffer from depression, lower their self-esteem, and make them antisocial. If schools do stop offering the major soft sugary drinks in schools, then it can help the children and teens to have a lower risk of developing different types of disease as they
Surveys have shown that sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugar in our diets. According to a Coca-Cola history website, the soft-drinks’ bottle sizes have been enlarged drastically over the past 40 years, basically meaning that we are drinking more soft drinks than ever. As an example, half of the population in the US consume sugary drinks every day, in which about 25 percent gain at least 200 calories from these drinks. Sugary drinks are also the top calorie source in teen’s diets, increasing the risk of diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart problems from an early stage. It is a significant factor that leads to obesity, so I believe resisting these sugary drinks and promoting healthier products could definitely assist the goal of elevating the number of a healthy
This increase in production caused a change at the consumption end. When sugar was first being produced it was seen as a luxury product only accessible to the rich, but then as its production increased and there was a surge amount in the market place its uses changed. It went from being a specialized product used for medicinal, ritual, or for display purposes to a common everyday food substitute. Now the working class people began more than ever to consume large quantities of sugar as a substitute to their calorie lacking diet. The production of sugar in the British West Indies was not able to keep pace with the demands from the mother country. When the supply from the British West Indies increased so did England’s demand for the crop. It seemed like from the middle of the eighteen century onward the islands were never able to produce more sugar than what was consumed by the people in the mother country. “English sugar consumption increased about four-fold in the last four decades of the eighteenth century, 1700-40, and more than doubled again from 1741-45 to 1771-75 (Mintz 1985) . As the English began to incorporate more amounts of sugar into their daily diets they began to find multiple uses of the commodity. Sugar soon developed into a stable product in the lives of people. With the increased use of sugar in multiple forms of consumption it changed from its previous classification as a spice to its own separate category. The use of this newly popular commodity did not lose any popularity as the years passed. Britain became a leading exporter of sugar crops into the world market, with majority of the supply going to feed their own peoples ravenous appetite. In 1800 British consumption of sugar had increased some 2,500 percent in...
Sugary drinks are a major cause of obesity. Most children and young adults are overweight or obese because they are consuming too much of a sugary drink. “2 out of 3 adults and 1 out of 3 children in the united states are overweight or obese.” Most of the time children and adults consume some type of sugary drink and then afterwards will not do any physical activity. Mainly sugary drinks like, soda and energy drinks is advertised to children between the ages of 2-17. Obesity is a big thing in the U.S. Many Americans will develop type 2 diabetes throughout their lifetime because they consumed too much of a sugary beverage. They consume but do not get any physical activity. In order for a person to be fit and healthy, they must get up you 30-60 minutes of physical a...