Big Sugar's Connection To Alzheimer's ... by gimleteye

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Martin County, December 2016: toxic blue-green algae flooding out of Lake Okeechobee, FL

As the state legislature twists into pretzels to accommodate Big Sugar in Tallahassee, recall that sugar -- the commodity that the legislature is salivating to defend -- poisons people, poisons democracy, poisons the Everglades and --- last but not least --- turns precious coastal real estate into its sacrifice zone. Indeed, the public health -- yours and mine -- are also Big Sugar's sacrifice zone. Would any other industry go so far to invest in corrupting political influence to advance an agenda so patently against taxpayer interests? (Big Tobacco, Big Oil, Big Coal come to mind.)

Big Sugar is in a class of its own. The entire state government of Florida has been deformed to tip the scales of justice in its direction. Here is an example: in the current Everglades Bill before the legislature (the centerpiece of Senate President Joe Negron's agenda), Big Sugar has forced a prohibition against eminent domain, enlisting minority communities in its support, despite the fact that public health costs of excess sugar consumption weigh most heavily on the same minority communities.

In other words, Big Sugar wants support so that their lands are never "taken" for a public purpose, but there is no similar balance when the public health is "taken" by Big Sugar with trillion dollar per year health costs. Time Magazine on "How Much Your Sugar Habit Is Costing You"::

About 30% to 40% of the healthcare expenditures in the U.S. are paid toward "issues that are closely tied to the excess consumption of sugar," such as obesity and diabetes, according to a 2013 report from Credit Suisse. Assuming total healthcare expenses of at least $3 trillion, that would mean Americans collectively spent $1 trillion, or about $3,136 per person, on treatment for sugar-related conditions.

How could Florida voters be so gullible that we return to elected office, repetitively, politicians who are in Big Sugar's back pocket? To name a few: Gov. Rick Scott, US Senator Marco Rubio, Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam, Senator Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, Representative Matt Caldwell, and the laundry-list of wanna-bees and political aspirants. Here's a clue, from yesterday's news:

In the study cited in Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the researchers found that higher consumption of sugary beverages was associated with a pattern consistent with preclinical Alzheimer’s, including smaller total brain volume and poorer episodic memory. The authors called the findings “striking” because they were found in a middle-aged sample and withstood statistical adjustment for such factors as physical activity and total caloric intake. The results align with earlier research done with smaller samples, including one with 737 middle-aged participants in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, which found that higher sugar intake was cross-sectionally associated with Alzheimer’s-like behavioral patterns.

The answer is simple, yet very difficult to do: stop eating processed, refined sugar in your food, stop electing politicians who lean on Big Sugar donations -- from both political parties! -- and make the connection: what is good for your health is ultimately good for your wallet.

Say "NO" to Big Sugar now. Yesterday's report in Bloomberg concludes:

Hartley also recommends the association’s 10 Ways to Love Your Brain for proactive steps towards brain health, including exercise, a healthy diet, and keeping up education, and he advises everyone to speak with physicians about their specific health conditions. Still, when it comes to soda—diet or regular—the safest course is to skip it. “I think they’re both bad,” he said. “Pure water is always a very good thing.”

That Big Sugar is wrecking Florida's pure water future will come as no shock to longtime Eye On Miami readers.