THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 18, 1996 TAG: 9603180119
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Researchers at Duke University suggest that sugar's unsavory reputation comes from the fatty company it keeps.
Sugar by itself, they theorize, is but another carbohydrate that does not cause depression, hyperactivity and anxiety, or affect the ability to concentrate.
Experimenting with controlled diets for mice and human beings, they concluded that sugar has no more effect on weight gain than do other carbohydrate calories.
Once sugar invades the digestive tract, enzymes break it down ``in the same manner as they break down complex carbohydrates, such as pasta and grains.''
Other experts caution that longer studies involving more people are needed to confirm the early discoveries.
Meanwhile, let us rejoice at the possibility that when we sprinkle sugar next fall on a heaping bowl of peeled juicy peaches from Virginia or North Carolina, any harm in the dish may stem not from the sugar but from the cream in which the peaches are immersed.
If there is any breakfast that can top peaches and cream, dusted with a spoonful or three of sugar, just to keep everything in place, it hasn't been developed or brought to my attention.
You are apt to think of sugar as a general staple, enhancing other foods, but a moment's reflection brings to mind times when sugar stands on its own.
Used to be, even in the childhood of baby boomers, much less that of today's practically Neanderthal grandfathers, we awaited the advent in late summer of shocks of sugar cane from the Deep South with as keen anticipation as heralded watermelons, strawberries or any other treat from the Garden of Eden.
Now that I think of it, why have shipments of glorious deep purple stalks of ripe sugar cane ceased to adorn grocery stores?
It would be a pleasure to peel the jacket from a 4- or 5-inch segment of sugar cane, offer it to a grandchild, and watch the expression spread over his or her face at the flavor of that succulent, toothsome sweet.
More to the point, I wish I could gnaw on one, as of yore. One good thing about sugar cane, it lasted a long time as you consumed it. You could mull over it, like a cow on a cud.
And in one stalk, high as an elephant's eye (as the song says about field corn), there was aplenty to go around. With three or four pieces for each of you from a single stalk, you and your pals could chew away a Saturday afternoon.
Off and on, it has crossed my mind that sugar, a natural product of the Earth, must be benign, preferable to artificial substitutes.
Bring back sugar cane! by CNB