Sugar – Inside our body and in the environment

Who doesn’t love sugar? I have a sweet tooth and relish an icecream after lunch, all around the year. I also love my dark chocolate after dinner. Over the years the portions have grown small. My dentists advised me to brush my teeth after my icecream and chocolate Such a tasty food additive, used in so many of our food preparations. 

So what is the harm? The harm is in consuming sugar in quantities more than what our bodies can metabolize with ease. 

Sugar delivers a double blow. To our body and to our environment. Water is one common factor. Let’s see how.     

ROLE OF SUGAR IN OUR BODY   

When in the medical school, we were told the 3 cardinal signs of diabetes are : 

1. Polydipsia or excessive thirst for water,
2. Polyuria or excessive urination and   
3. Polyphagia or excessive appetite.  

The excess of water input and output is directly related to high blood sugar.  

Does excess sugar intake cause diabetes?  Well, that’s more complicated. It has no role in type I diabetes. 90%  of diabetics are type I. No direct link has been established between sugar intake and causation of type II diabetes. However, the following indirect mechanisms have been proven –  

• For every additional 150 calories from sugar available/ person/ day in a community, the level of diabetics rose by 1% in that community.   
• Condition of diabetics is worsened if they consume excessive sugar.   
• Healthy persons who consume excessive sugar are more likely to gain weight and obesity is one of the risk factors in the causation of diabetes.  

Consuming excess sugar in any form increases risk of developing diabetes. Ingesting excess sugar, in any form may cause or worsen or both the following diseases/ disorders:-  

• Cardiovascular diseases  
• Non alcoholic fatty liver disease 
• Certain cancers   
• High triglycerides and cholesterol    
• Weight gain and obesity    
• Hormonal changes    
• Polycystic Ovarian syndrome     
• High blood uric acid leading to gout   
• Teeth decay.   

Sugar exists in various forms. Raw sugar, table sugar, caster sugar, sugar syrups of corn, maple, agave, honey, carbonated drinks fruit juices, sauces, icecreams, desserts, chocolates, mithais and bakery products. In India, many cooks add sugar in dal and chicken preparations too.   

ROLE OF SUGAR IN OUR ENVIRONMENT 

First, let’s see the source of our sugar. 80% of the world’s sugar comes from sugarcane and 20% from beet, corn and other sources. In India, sugar cane is the only source. Infact, with a production of 36 million tons of sugar, India was at top of the table with Brazil at number 2. Last year, we exported around 5 million tons of sugar earning precious foreign exchange. Total sugar production in the world in 2018 was 185 million tons worth $70 billion.   

Do you know that sugar is internationally traded at a price below its production cost!Surprised. Why? Subsidies to farmers. 

All major sugar producing countries like India, Brazil and US subsidise farmers in one or more ways. Electric power subsidy is the most common. Free ground water or subsidised canal water, fertilisers and pesticides at very low rates are other facilities which the farmers get. In India, there is another kind of facility called the MSP or Minimum Support Price. The MSP for sugar cane is high enough to deter the farmers for switching over to other crops.

WATER’S CONNECTION TO SUGAR

• Indians form 15% of the world’s population but possess only 4% of the world’s water resources.   
• Agriculture draws 90% of our water resources but contributes just 15% to the GDP.   
• It takes 2515 litres of water to make 1 kg sugar. 
• Most water is extracted by states or regions which are water deficient or neighbour the desert. These are Marathwada region of Maharashtra, Punjab and Haryana. No wonder they have switched over to water guzzling crops like sugarcane and rice. Western UP also draws a lot of water for sugarcane. Water table in all these places is going down and deeper tube wells being dug increasing electricity consumption. Earlier these farmers grew crops like maize, millet, bajra and sorghum which consume less water. The governments MSP policy has led to a change in practices. Its not a surprise that now we hear of droughts year after year in Marathwada regions and the government has to resort to sending water to these regions via trains. 

That’s not the end of the story. There are other Environmental effects too. 

1. After the sugarcane is cut, the residual straw is burnt leading to air pollution, adding CO² and other greenhouse gases to the environment.
2. Sugarcane, earlier carried on bullock carts is now transported on diesel guzzling tractors to the sugar mills.     
3. The tractors queue in the sugar production months is very long because of a permit system. It leads to slow running of tractor’s engines. 
4. Sugar factories emit a lot of air and water pollutants. The water system of the nearby villages gets polluted too.  
5. Disposal of bagasse, the industrial waste of sugarcane is yet another problem. 6.5 million ton of waste per year needs disposal. But that’s another story. 

So, what can be done? 

• As common citizens, we can limit intake of sugar. 9 tea spoons of added sugar for males and 6 teaspoons for females is ideal. Proportionally less for children. 
• Avoid binge eating of sugary products. 
• Governments of these states and the Agriculture Ministry need to set up a time frame of change over to traditional crops. By setting a reasonable MSP for these crops. Also by using corn, bajra, sorghum etc in the midday meal program run by the government. This has been done as a pilot project in some districts and the health of school children actually improved. 
• Pakistan has introduced a system of taxing the ground water, even from wells in own property. India needs to think of such a measure, at least in those regions which are already water deficient. 
• Farm subsidies to the farmers holdings larger farms need to be done away with. Why should a lower middle class Army havildar or a nurse’s salary be taxed to subsidise a rich farmer? 

Farmers unions are very strong. Farmers are a large vote bank. Farmers deaths make headlines. Should the status quo continue?

Maj Gen Krishan Chauhan is a second-generation army officer. He studied in Sainik School Kapurthala, graduated from IG Medical College, Shimla and did his MD from AFMC/Pune University. He has served in the Army Medical Corps for 36 years and retired as the Addl DGMS army. He is an avid marathon runner and a writer. He first wrote articles for children in The Young Chronicles. Later, he started writing his own blog as Genkris, on WordPress where over 25 articles on various subjects can be accessed.