Sugar and the Pancreas
Sometimes to understand how we physically function
today we need to look in to our past. Our relationship to sugar
is a good example of this.
Our brains need sugar = carbohydrate, it is a very
pure form of combustion. Our forebears would have been specially
attracted to vegetables, fruits, seeds that were on the 'sweet'
side. However, it was hard to find. Our Forebear's bodies like
our own were adapted to the scarcity of carbohydrate. Our muscles
did not need sugar they could burn protein or fat if need be.
And if a good store of sugar was discovered then the body learned
to store it.
The
brain is very sensitive to the amount of sugar it has available
in the bloodstream. As any diabetic knows only too well. However
in the long past this was rarely an issue as there wasn't that
much sugar to be had from the environment. But we have survived
as a species because our bodies have backup for all sort of eventualities.
The pancreas with the aid of insulin became the
watchdog of sugar levels in the blood. If there was a good sugar
harvest then any excess sugar was mixed with water and stored
in the body, for use at a later date. If by some happy chance
the person managed to fill the sugar stores and still ate carbohydrates
then the body would turn it to brown fat.
Back to the present - we have learned how to distil
sugar/ carbohydrate from our environment in great profusion. Unfortunately
we have an inbuilt antenna that attracts us to sweet foods. Manufacturers
of processed foods /drinks/ sweets, know this and deliberately
play on our genetic predisposition by putting as much sugar as
they can get away with on all processed foods and drinks.
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