Here is an interesting edition of a mag to look at: too much to copy out here: http://www.newint.org/

val

Most interesting indeed. I have been trying to abstain from (refined) sugar, but it really is hard to escape from all the way! SO pervasive!

Interest/concern re: fair-trade coffee & tea is on the rise here in the UK. Wish that fair-trade sugar makes it into the "public conciousness".


Off the back of this topic re: sugar - I had in the past had heard that sugar had similiar addictive qualities as cocaine (I dis-believed it though b/c the person spouting the supposed factoid said there was only 1 molecule difference between the chemical make up of those 2 compounds which I knew NOT to be true).

I found the following info on the net just now re: the reason behind the addictive qualities of sugar and it's similiarity to cocaine.

http://www.beatcfsandfms.org/html/BrainChem.html
The Famous Serotonin 5-HT2 Receptor
Did you know that over eating, heavy metal, LSD, cocaine, and sugar cravings are all related? They are, via the serotonin 5-HT2 receptor. LSD and cocaine are 5-HT2 Agonists. Fenfluramine and PhenFen (DexFenfluramine) are also 5-HT2 Agonists, yet were taken off the market when PhenFen, the weight loss drug, was found to be harmful. Is 5-HT2 related to addiction? Yes, addiction, on a chemical level, is when the body wants a specific receptor to be stimulated, over and over. It is as though stimulating causes the receptor to get on the phone to another part of the brain and say, "Hey, feeling goooood! Yea Baby !". Serotonin 5-HT2 is one of those addictive receptors (the Doc's sometimes refer to this as "habit forming"). Another habit forming receptor is the opiod receptors, which are stimulated with heroin.

When one eats food, the 5-HT2 receptors are stimulated due to increased serotonin from increased sugar and Triptophan in the blood. In some cases, it is believed that some people eat because they are addicted to this stimulation of 5-HT2. This is why PhenPhen, the 5-HT2 receptor drug, was used to encourage weight loss. By stimulating it with a drug, the person would feel satisfied, like they had just eaten a big meal, when they had only had 2 crackers 3 hours ago. This is one reason that people sometimes crave sweets. They want to stimulate their 5-HT2. If the 5-HT2 receptors gets clogged (for example, with heavy metal molecules), then one may want sweets, even when there is much sugar in the blood since. Folks with heavy metal issues often cannot keep their hands off sweets after dinner -- they've got to have them. Is there anything one can do about this? Not really, since the 5-HT2 Agonists are habit forming, and unclogging the receptors is not easy with heavy metals that have 15year half lives in the brain. There is much research on 5-HT2, and someday there maybe some safe meds for it. Also, the world needs a better drug that will pull heavy metals out of brain, and out of the insides of cells.