The Lengthy History Of Sugar

Sugar is part of all of our lives. It's been part of the human diet for millennia, and it's found in such a variety of food products that you may often not even know when you're consuming it. Its history is complex and has had serious implications for individual and public health as well as global economics. In fact, sugar was a documented financial commodity before almost anything else (via the Sugar Association). It was once so valued that it would even be locked up for safety.

Globally, sugarcane is today still the third most valuable crop. Americans consume, on average, over 17 teaspoons of the sweet stuff every day (via National Geographic). Sugar carbohydrates are the primary source of caloric energy that fuels the human body. Scientists theorize that we are actually hardwired to love sugar, since our evolutionary survival instincts are geared toward the high energy content of fruits, berries, and honey — which could have meant the difference between surviving and starving in the past.

As Europeans brought sugar to the New World, sugarcane plantations developed in the Caribbean, North America, and South America, turning large profits for those who exploited enslaved people brought to the plantations (via the National Museum of American History). Tall sugarcane plants needed to be cut with double-edged knives, transported to mills, processed, blocked, packaged into barrels, rolled away, and shipped. Sugar production required treacherous, heavy labor, which was fueled by an ongoing supply of enslaved people taken from Africa. "The true Age of Sugar had begun — and it was doing more to reshape the world than any ruler, empire or war had ever done," historians Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos wrote in "Sugar Changed the World" (via The New York Times).

Plantation systems also required the extremely physically taxing labor of field clearing and burning, fertilization, irrigation, planting, weeding, harvesting, and cart loading, which required day-and-night labor. Historian A.R. Disney called sugar production "one of the most complex and technologically-sophisticated agricultural industries of early modern times" (via World History Encyclopedia), and the machinery, including presses, windmills, and water mills, were operated by enslaved people, who were also made to log timber for fuel. 

Around a fifth of captive Africans died during the Atlantic journey, but those who survived were generally physically tortured, stripped of language and culture, given limited and unvaried nutrition and rudimentary housing, and had a short life expectancy.

Dental issues have always existed in humans but increased dramatically with the increased availability of sugar. History makes this clear when it comes to the condition of wealthy people's teeth. The cost of processing and cultivating sugar used to mean only families with the most money could eat sugar and sugary treats often. When experts examined the remains of Anne Wolseley Calvert, a colonial governor's wife who died in 1680, they found that despite silk finery and a lead coffin, her teeth were decayed to the roots due to sugar consumption (via Paul Revere House). Remains of servants from the same century show no such dental decay.

In the era of George Washington, Americans consumed around 6 pounds of sugar annually, as opposed to the average 130 pounds per year that Americans consume today (via Smithsonian Magazine). The ubiquitous availability of sugar in modern processed foods presents particular health and dental concerns for the poor. A lack of easy access to whole foods and produce means increased sugar intake in the form of packaged, processed food products — meaning that while the wealthiest once suffered the worst tooth decay, the poorest are now the most vulnerable to the ailment today. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) cites dental caries as the most common noncommunicable disease and a major public health concern, one that is largely preventable through reducing the intake of added sugar.

The 1960s saw the introduction of high fructose corn syrup into the American diet, and American consumption of high fructose corn syrup increased tenfold between 1970 and 1990, according to National Geographic. The lack of any nutrients in fructose, however, means that this increased use of empty calories contributed to the rise of American obesity. Fructose is not metabolized the way sugar glucose is and produces fat molecules and taxes the liver. Corn syrup use was fueled in part due to corn being subsidized by the federal government and also an effort by large corn-processing companies to utilize excess product (via Mother Jones).

The story of America's love affair with sweetness is interwoven with darker financial interests. As reported by HuffPost, evidence indicates that the power players of the sugar industry lined Harvard University scientists' pockets to ensure they suppressed clear evidence of sugar's detrimental health effects. Food research has also been impacted by big business interests. Research suggests that yearly, 184,000 deaths worldwide are due to sugary drink-related diabetes, cancer, or cardiovascular disease, yet Pepsi and the American Beverage Association have funded research denying a correlation between sugary drinks and obesity.

The brain requires glucose to function. According to Harvard Medical School, without sufficient glucose, neurotransmitters can't function properly, impairing memory, learning, and cognition. "The brain is dependent on sugar as its main fuel," explained Dr. Vera Novak, an associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. "It cannot be without it." Too much glucose, however, has been linked to expedited signs of neurological aging, including memory and cognition deficits. Type 2 diabetes is also linked to accelerated brain aging.

According to experts, sugar can also have negative impacts on our mental health (via Psychology Today). As spikes in glucose affect blood sugar, they also alter hormones levels and mood-affecting neurochemicals. Research has suggested links between sugar and depression, as well as the intensity of schizophrenia symptoms. Researchers at Yale have published work on how sugar may activate the dopamine reward systems, similarly to a number of illicit drugs (via the LA Times). Other research has indicated a connection between sugar and anxiety symptoms (via Psychology Today).