Sugar and Soft Drinks Are Not Your Friends

If you have a sweet tooth, you might want to tame it before it turns around and bites you. The first bit of bad news about sugar comes from Sweden, where a very large study (80,000 men and women) found that as little as two soft drinks daily increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by 90 percent. Adding sugar to food or beverages, such as coffee, was equally risky. Pancreatic cancer is an especially deadly form of the disease, with an extremely low survival rate. Although the exact cause of pancreatic cancer isn’t known, it’s believed to be connected to increased insulin output, which can be caused by feeding the sweet tooth.

And forget about soft drinks. Not only are they loaded with sugar and devoid of nutritional value, a new report published at BeverageDaily.com says that the FDA has dropped the ball on getting manufacturers to remove benzene from sodas, even though the organization has had fifteen years to achieve the goal. Benzene is a cancer-causing agent created by the interaction of citric (or ascorbic acid) and sodium benzoate, two common ingredients in sodas, whether they contain sugar or not. So skip the sodas and put the lid on the sugar bowl.

If you’re really, really desperate for something sweet, try a bit of honey. Sugar is nothing but empty calories, while honey fights viruses, bacteria and fungus. In fact, years ago, before the development of antibiotic ointments, honey was the first choice for dressing wounds, and in many parts of the world it is still used to prevent infections in cuts and burns.