In 1898, the Bayer Co. offered a new opiate cough medicine called Heroin. Like most opioids, unadulterated heroin does not cause many long-term complications other than dependence and constipation.
Adulterated “street” heroin however is considered to be one of the most harmful drugs especially if consumed intravenously. (*)
In the same year, Kellogg brothers introduced a new product called Cornflakes. Cornflakes is a food made by combining cooked corn along with sugar and vitamins.
By the year 2002, Kellogg’s products were manufactured in 19 countries and marketed in more than 160 countries worldwide. In 2006, full-year revenues for the company were US$11 billion making Kellogg’s the world’s leading producer of ready-to-eat cereal products. Overall annual sales in 2006 were up 7.2%.
Also on the up, in recent years, have been suicide rates. In the last 45 years, suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide. Suicide is now among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 (male and female).
Research has shown that 90% of people who kill themselves have depression. Depression is one of the most common psychological issues facing people who suffer from chronic pain.
Consider these statistics:
- According to the American Pain Foundation, about 32 million people in the U.S. report have had pain lasting longer than one year.
- From one-quarter to more than half of the population that complain of pain to their doctors, are depressed.
- On average, 65% of depressed people also complain of pain.
In the past, taking morphine was one method of relieving pain. Not only does it relieve pain, it also helps prevent pain. (Gorman, 1997)
Morphine works on receptors in the cell membrane producing a variety of effects. The most important of these is relief of pain – it is used in anesthesia. This is an effect of its action on the spinal cord to decrease the transmission of painful stimuli from body to brain, and its action within the brain itself.
However, morphine has a high potential for addiction and both physical and psychological dependence develop rapidly.
In 1898 – while trying to find a less addictive form of morphine – the Bayer chemical cartel of Elberfeld, Germany, began manufacturing ‘heroin’ and launched a massive international marketing campaign. Heroin is a drug made from morphine, a natural substance in the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant.
But heroin was found to be more addictive than morphine and was outlawed in 1923 by the US Government and the League of Nations. Still, that is 25 years of high profit. Not a bad bit of business.
Another substance found to be every bit as addictive as heroin, is sugar. Recently scientists have discovered that rats which have become addicted to sugar act the same and have the same brain chemistry as rats addicted to heroin.
Processed sugars cause a rise in the insulin level of the blood. This also raises endorphin levels. These sugars cause the body to have a chemical high, mentally, which results in a lift in mood.
Continuous large doses of sugar overtime, usually cause the brain’s endorphin sites to slow production or close sites to regulate the amount of endorphins in the brain. When the body cuts back on endorphin production, it reduces the amount of endorphins available in the body at any given time. The lack of enough endorphin in the brain causes slight, to deep depression.
To maintain a normal level of endorphins in the brain, the individual must eat more sugar to get out of depression and maintain a normal mood level. This causes a vicious cycle of addiction, physiologically (Nay, 1996). This is also directly comparable to the cycle that is developed after excessive endorphins are released into the body from the use of alcohol.
However, sugar addiction brings additional health risks. If reasonable levels are maintained, your body uses sugar to survive, and burns sugar to provide you with the energy necessary for life. The problem arises when excessive amounts are consumed.
When your liver is maximally full, the excess sugar is converted by the liver into fatty acids and returned to the bloodstream, where is taken throughout your body and stored as fat including, but not limited to, regions of the stomach, hips, butt and breasts.
Once these regions are full, the fatty acids begin to spill over into your organs, like the heart, liver and kidneys. This reduces organ ability, raises blood pressure, decreases metabolism, and weakens the immune system.
So can’t we just stop putting sugar in our tea?
Well, it’s not that simple. We get hooked at an early age and are continued to be fed sugar into adulthood.
How?
Food manufacturers have cottoned on to sugar’s addictive powers. Get your consumer addicted – the earlier the better.
According to a recent report, the most popular brands of breakfast cereal – including those targeted at children – are laden with sugar. Typical portions of some were found to contain more sugar than a Cadbury Chocolate Flake, despite manufacturers’ claims to be reducing the level of unhealthy ingredients.
Thirty one of the one hundred cereals examined were found to contain more than four teaspoons of sugar per recommended serving. Only one of the twenty eight cereals specifically marketed to children was found not to be high in sugar.
With over a billion pounds spent by consumers on cereals every year, it’s not surprising sugary cereals are heavily marketed to children, to the tune of about $229 million advertising pounds per year. But an estimated 58 percent of “children`s” cereals are consumed by the over-18 crowd. So you see, the addiction policy appears to be working.
A study by Which? said there had been some “positive progress” since it reported on the healthiness of breakfast cereals in 2006.
Does “positive progress” mean we are going to wait another 25 years, as with heroin, before sugar in our kids’ cereals is banned?
If manufacturers are going to lace our foods with addictive material, would heroin or morphine be a better choice?
At least we would have less depressive folk, less pain, and fewer overweight folk. Less burden on health costs and companies like Kellogg`s can still keep their billion $ profits flowing. The only loser would be sugar refinery companies. Perhaps they should change their production line of poison to that of another, poppy cultivation.
At least it will be preventing, instead of increasing, the likelihood of death.
Just a thought.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Top 10 for sugar content (per 100g)
Morrisons Choco Crackles (38.4g)
Kellogg’s Coco Pops Moons & Stars (37g)
Kellogg’s Frosties (37g)
Kellogg’s Ricicles (37g)
Sainsbury’s Choco Rice Pops (36g)
Tesco Choco Snaps (36g)
Nestle Cookie Crisp (35.3g)
Nestle Cheerios Honey (35.1g)
Kellogg’s Crunchy Nut (35g)
Nestlé Nesquik (35g)
• Source: Which?
Gorman, Christine. 1997, April 28. “The Case for Morphine: If Nothing is Better for Pain than Narcotics, Why Don’t More Doctors Prescribe Them?” Time. 64-66.
Refined sugar – the sweetest poison of all http://www.ghchealth.com/refined-sugar-the-sweetest-poison-of-all.html
-
Life for Killer Cornflakes
-
Should Sugar be Controlled Like Alcohol and Tobacco?
- New definition of addiction
- Kellogg’s, Corn Syrup and Cancer
- ‘Heroin and the Fat Tax’
See also…
Why Does the Brain Prefer Opium to Broccoli?
Bath Salts Emerging as New Recreational Drugs
How Hemp Got High
FILMS AND MUSIC
The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (Film from 1916)
The Narcotic Farm
Bela Lugosi – Rare 1955 interview with the first celebrity to go public with a drug addiction problem
From Russia – Krocodil Drug that Eats Junkies (WARNING: Contains some shocking images)
Films that deal with the subject of addiction
Songs about Heroin
Life as an addict
special video broadcast
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your blog very well, it is very useful for me..
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Great post, thank you
Wow! What a Modest Proposal! Yes, we might be happier, less depressed if we used heroin directly and it would be more honest – people would understand the real dangers. You’ve done a great job at uncovering the insanity of the highly addictive foods that we put in our and our children’s food.
Fascinating and provocative!
According to the American Pain Foundation, about 32 million people in the U.S. report have had pain lasting longer than one year.
I was on pain medication from 1989 until 2006, that is a bit longer than a year.
I discovered a way to define the 9 levels of pain (as I saw it), and the highest level is when you just can’t function – can’t read, follow a conversation, can’t live without morphine. I lived in that level for about 3 years.
My wife eats processed cereal. Every day. I occasionally will eat a bowl of it, but generally I find myself skipping breakfast and having an early lunch of raw veggies or a fruit, etc.
Ann has hit the nail on the head we are feeding a poison to our children! It is the greed of the manufacturers that has caused this as they are aware of the power of a child wanting a certain food or should I say poison.Why do governments allow this to continue? Are their scared of a backlash from the manufacturers?
greed rules our world. as long as it does, problems like this will never be resolved.
great article!
The addictive qualities are well known amongst any eating disorder community. Many Overeaters anonymous, anorexics and bulimics anon. etc. groups and sub-groups follow food-plans that avoid sugar and white flour.
Sugar also has quite a history related to slavery, unfair-trade and huge numbers of air-miles.
As an aside, I am very interested in many UK schemes that have been trialling heroine prescriptions for addicts rather than methadone…with much success, as it appears to be easier to get off than the meth.
On another tangent. A relative of mine has trigeminal neuralgia (often referred to as the suicide pain as many try to end their live to stop the pain). Morphine has been the only thing so far that has eased the pain. Seeing a loved one in this state is agonising in itself. i sympathise with the poster above who lived in this state for three years. I hope he has found some relief.
Funny how people who are “addicted” to sugar and sugary cereals can function perfectly normally and lead healthy, productive lives. For example, my parents, myself, and most everyone I knew growing up.
I’m sure glad we weren’t all on heroin instead!
Citing a few studies and grossly misinterpreting even those is not an argument, and it sure isn’t science.
“When your liver is maximally full, the excess sugar is converted by the liver into fatty acids and returned to the bloodstream, where is taken throughout your body and stored as fat including, but not limited to, regions of the stomach, hips, butt and breasts.
Once these regions are full, the fatty acids begin to spill over into your organs, like the heart, liver and kidneys. This reduces organ ability, raises blood pressure, decreases metabolism, and weakens the immune system.”
So excessive sugar consumption can make you overweight, and overweight persons have increased health risks. WOW! Who knew? We’d better outlaw sugar!
By the same logic, we should probably outlaw alcohol, tobacco, gunpowder, caffeine, saturated fats, and gasoline due to the potential for misuse. Or we could grow up and treat one another like adults.
OK.. below are a few facts taken from World Heath Organisation
Take a good look at the last sentence.
If you are not aware of the organisation .. WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.
here’s what they had to say…
Obesity and overweight
Facts
* Globally, there are more than 1 billion overweight adults, at least 300 million of them obese.
* Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer.
* The key causes are increased consumption of energy-dense foods high in saturated fats and sugars, and reduced physical activity.
Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than 1 billion adults overweight – at least 300 million of them clinically obese – and is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. Often coexisting in developing countries with under-nutrition, obesity is a complex condition, with serious social and psychological dimensions, affecting virtually all ages and socioeconomic groups.
Increased consumption of more energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods with high levels of sugar and saturated fats, combined with reduced physical activity, have led to obesity rates that have risen three-fold or more since 1980 in some areas of North America, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Islands, Australasia and China.The obesity epidemic is not restricted to industrialized societies; this increase is often faster in developing countries than in the developed world.
Obesity and overweight pose a major risk for serious diet-related chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. The health consequences range from increased risk of premature death, to serious chronic conditions that reduce the overall quality of life. Of especial concern is the increasing incidence of child obesity.
I would suggest to skip the cornflakes, and all corn for that matter. They are BAD for you, and cause depresion (very complicated to explain).
[...] Why not put Heroin in our Cornflakes? [...]
[...] Why not put Heroin in our Cornflakes? [...]
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