A history of sugar – the food nobody needs, but everyone craves - Deepstash
Navigate Office Politics

Learn more about health with this collection

How to build positive relationships with colleagues and superiors

How to navigate office politics without compromising your values

How to handle conflicts and difficult situations in the workplace

Navigate Office Politics

Discover 66 similar ideas in

It takes just

8 mins to read

Sugar: a threat to our health

Sugar: a threat to our health

Sugarcane is the world's third most valuable crop, yet it has little benefit to humanity. Obesity, cancer, dementia, heart disease and diabetes has spread to nations where sugar-based carbohydrates are available in abundance.

We need to take a step back and understand how sugar has grown to become a threat to our health.

21

733 reads

People used to eat very little sugar

Humans used to live on a diet containing very little sugar and almost no refined carbohydrates. Sugarcane was mostly used as a fodder crop to fatten pigs.

  • Evidence suggests that sugarcane evolved in South East Asia.
  • Chemically refined sugar appeared in India about 2,500 years ago, and spread to other parts of the world.
  • Cyprus and Sicily became important centres for sugar production, but it was a rare and expensive spice.
  • The island of Madeira was the first place to cultivate sugarcane for large-scale refinement in the late 15th century.

21

178 reads

Sugar and slave trade

Sugar and slave trade

The Portuguese found that Brazil had good conditions for sugar plantations. Brazil established a slave-based plantation economy and introduced its sugarcane to the Caribbean around 1647. This led to the growth which came to sustain the sugar craze of Western Europe.

A huge demand for labour arose to cultivate sugar plantations. It was met by a transatlantic slave trade, where about 12,570,000 slaves were shipped from Africa to the Americas from 1501 to 1867.

22

181 reads

Modern day affliction

Modern day affliction

The story of sugar and tobacco are very similar. Both products were first produced through slave labour and were seen as beneficial to health, but the sudden mass consumption from the mid-17th century created health risks.

Today, tobacco is widely acknowledged as addictive, but sugar can also drive responses similar to what we see from addiction. In the 21st century, the grip of sugar is stronger than that of tobacco or even alcohol. Sugar is also central to the world's economy and cultural heritage.

20

177 reads

CURATED BY

elaina_y

I like minimalist furniture and comfortable chairs. Love orange juice.

stash-superman-illustration

Explore the World’s

Best Ideas

200,000+ ideas on pretty much any topic. Created by the smartest people around & well-organized so you can explore at will.

An Idea for Everything

Explore the biggest library of insights. And we've infused it with powerful filtering tools so you can easily find what you need.

Knowledge Library

Powerful Saving & Organizational Tools

Save ideas for later reading, for personalized stashes, or for remembering it later.

# Personal Growth

Take Your Ideas

Anywhere

Organize your ideas & listen on the go. And with Pro, there are no limits.

Listen on the go

Just press play and we take care of the words.

Never worry about spotty connections

No Internet access? No problem. Within the mobile app, all your ideas are available, even when offline.

Get Organized with Stashes

Ideas for your next work project? Quotes that inspire you? Put them in the right place so you never lose them.

Join

2 Million Stashers

4.8

5,740 Reviews

App Store

4.7

72,690 Reviews

Google Play

samz905

Don’t look further if you love learning new things. A refreshing concept that provides quick ideas for busy thought leaders.

Sean Green

Great interesting short snippets of informative articles. Highly recommended to anyone who loves information and lacks patience.

Shankul Varada

Best app ever! You heard it right. This app has helped me get back on my quest to get things done while equipping myself with knowledge everyday.

Ashley Anthony

This app is LOADED with RELEVANT, HELPFUL, AND EDUCATIONAL material. It is creatively intellectual, yet minimal enough to not overstimulate and create a learning block. I am exceptionally impressed with this app!

Giovanna Scalzone

Brilliant. It feels fresh and encouraging. So many interesting pieces of information that are just enough to absorb and apply. So happy I found this.

Ghazala Begum

Even five minutes a day will improve your thinking. I've come across new ideas and learnt to improve existing ways to become more motivated, confident and happier.

Jamyson Haug

Great for quick bits of information and interesting ideas around whatever topics you are interested in. Visually, it looks great as well.

Laetitia Berton

I have only been using it for a few days now, but I have found answers to questions I had never consciously formulated, or to problems I face everyday at work or at home. I wish I had found this earlier, highly recommended!

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates