An interesting article about how we became addicted to sugar!

I was rummaging through BBC's news page and came across something really interesting.

It is an article by Anne Gibson and it tells us how humanity became addicted to this sweet, lovely sugar.

For centuries, sugar was regarded as a status symbol- simply because it was too expensive to be consumed in huge quantities (like we do now!).
Britain started o fall in love with sugar in the 1600s when it was discovered that the sugar cane thrived on Barbados, where nothing else wanted to grow.

It was thanks to sugar that Britain's wealth started to grow and helped to build the Empire. Firstly, it was the Scots and Irishmen who did all the hard work on the plantations, but later, it was the slaves from West Africa who replaced them.

So, looking at sugar...it was a blessing for the British, and a curse for the slaves, because this business helped the slavery to really thrive.

The article later tells us how others perceived sugar, how it was used, and finally, how it showed it bad side in the 19th century.

“For the poor in the 19th century a lot of their calorific intake came from sugar - they could have been taking in calories from elsewhere that came with nutrients”

This little piece is really worth reading- maybe we will be a bit more careful about how much sugar we consume every day after reading it!