Cane Sugar Retards Digestion

Experimentation has proven that cane sugar has a decided inhibitory or retarding effect upon digestion, the addition of one fourth of an ounce of sugar to three ounces of meat, interfering decidedly with digestion to the extent that the quantity of digestion in a given time is only three fourths that of normal digestion. Glucose, which is only cane sugar or candy, oxidised one degree higher, is a chemically prepared sugar, made from corn. It occurs largely in candies, syrups, particularly in the kind known as golden yellow; it is also used largely as an adulterant of honey. The sugars to which the stomach is naturally adapted are, first and foremost, fruit sugar or levulose, the sweet element of fruits, also found in honey; milk sugar or the sugar which is nominally found in milk; malt sugar, which is produced by the action of saliva upon starchy foods. Fruit sugar in the form of sweet fruits, raisins, currants, dates, figs, prunes, and malt sugar, as far as possible, should be used as a substitute for cane sugar. In the commercial world maltose occurs as an extract of malt, being made from malted grains, chiefly barley. And it is for this reason a most valuable substitute for ordinary sugar, possessing both sweetness and nutriment, and yet an almost more important point is that it does not readily undergo fermentation in the alimentary canal, and hence can be eaten by some persons who find inconvenience in the digestion of fruits because of their tendency to produce sour stomachs. Maltose as an article of food, free of malt flavour, can now be readily procured at a very reasonable price from most grocers.

A condition commonly known as torpid liver, or the bilious temperament, is very generally present in persons who consume sugar in large quantities. The condition is characterized by general disturbance of all the functions of the liver; this means interference with the bile-making process; with the sugar-making and regulating function of the liver; with the poison-destroying function of the liver, that is the protection of the body against poisoning or auto-intoxication.

Bile Poisoning. Jaundice. Gall Stones

(1) Interference with the Bile-making Process. In many instances the bile, instead of being excreted in the natural way, is retained in part in the system, thus producing bile absorption and poisoning. This condition is not indicated by jaundice, but by a muddy complexion, dullness of the white portion of the eye, specks before the eyes, bad taste in the mouth, heavily coated tongue, and when extreme, by light or clay-colored stools, or faecal discharges, and a very dark color of the urine. Sometimes, however, infective jaundice results from catarrh of the biliary passages, and when the catarrh or inflammation is severe enough to cause closure of a biliary passage of considerable size, a sufficient amount of bile will be absorbed into the system to make the skin and white of the eye saffron or yellow colored, the patient is said to have the jaundice. Then there is the jaundice produced by gallstones. In this form of disease the occurrence of jaundice is sudden, and is accompanied by severe pain, or colic, due to the passage of a gallstone. When the stone has passed from the gall duct, the bile flows again, and the jaundice disappears. Infectious jaundice is often accompanied by a dull pain beneath the ribs of the right side in the region of the liver. It is also characterized by chills occurring daily or regularly, accompanied by fever. These chills often continue for a long period and are usually attributed to malaria. The excessive use of sugar is a very common cause of this disease, and always aggravated by it. (2) Sugar-Making and Regulating Function. - One of the most curious functions of the liver is its sugar-making and regulating function. All the sugar and starch taken as food after digestion and absorption, are carried to the liver by the portal vein. Only a very small portion is allowed to pass through the liver, the greater part being stored up in the liver cells by conversion into a form of starch known as glycogen or animal starch. This glycogen is subsequently, in the intervals between meals, slowly digested by means of a ferment derived from the blood corpuscles, and thus converted into sugar again. By this arrangement the sugar is thrown out of the body regularly and in small amounts, instead of being thrown into the blood in great quantities as rapidly as it is digested. This regulation of the supply of sugar is of great importance, for the reason that sugar is chiefly used in the body for the production of force and heat, the demand for which is more or less regular, as in the case of the furnace or locomotive.