The process of making both sugars on a large scale is very similar. I worked with both.
Sugar is not a toxin. It is a fuel source. Now in the US it is in EVERYTHING to the point where I won't buy red sauce anymore, so the calorie count is higher than my home made stuff.
There is some discussion over if it is addicting or not, but since there are people who are addicted to stamp collecting (the areas in the brain that drive addiction are activated), it is probable.
We are in a point in history where the world is so wealthy that a major problem for poor people is getting fat. That has NEVER been the case in human history, till now.
Do I think we put sugar in to many things? Yes. It is in everything.
I remember reading, some years ago, that the reason sugar is "in everything", is because we went thru that anti-fat craze. Where any kind of fat was evil, to the point that pediatricians had to come out with a statement telling parents that very young children should not be fed non-fat milk because their brain development needs the fat.
Well, fat makes things tasty. So, to keep the taste of the foods they were producing, they added the sugar to try to make up for the loss of the flavor that the "fat" provided. So, yes, sugar is now in everything.
Do I think we put sugar in to many things? Yes. It is in everything.
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Here’s a great site to help people see how much sugar is in common products that we all consume. It’s an eye opener.
Don't I know it. I've been on a low carb diet for the past 4-5 months (down 35 lbs now!), and have become quite used to reading food labels at the grocery store as a result. It's amazing the foods where sugar is added, often gratuitously it seems.
In fact, it's hard to find foods without added sugar, vs. natural sugars. You pretty much need to stay away from the "center aisles" in most grocery stores, and just go around the perimeter where vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs & dairy products are sold.