Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam's health service, wants soft drinks to carry tobacco-style warnings about sugar Photo: ALAMY
 

While the rest of the world is busy obsessing over the dangers of cigarettes and alcohol, the head of Amsterdam's health service in the Netherlands is trying to raise awareness about a much bigger and more pervasive health threat: sugar. According to Paul Van der Velpen, sugar is the most dangerous and addictive substance of modern times, and more needs to be done in the interests of public health to make people aware of the many harms caused by this ubiquitous drug.

In a recent letter posted by GGD Nederland, an association of the country's community health services, Van der Velpen discusses the issue of obesity, rates of which have risen dramatically in the Netherlands in recent years. Pointing out that obesity, which is linked to metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and a host of other chronic ailments, saps the healthcare system of tens of millions of dollars annually, Van der Velpen emphasizes that exercise is simply not enough to reverse this growing trend.

Bravely defying processed food industry claims, which insist that sugar consumed "in moderation" is just fine, Van der Velpen delves into the actual science behind how the body responds to sugar as opposed to protein and fat. In his letter, Van der Velpen explains that sugar intensifies food cravings, for instance, and causes people to eat far more than they otherwise would without it. Additionally, he points out that sugar also disrupts normal food metabolism, eventually leading to addiction.

"Just like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is actually a drug," writes Van der Velpen, in an English translation from the original Dutch. "This may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, but sugar is the most dangerous drug of the times and can still be easily acquired everywhere ... The use of sugar should be discouraged. And users should be made aware of the dangers."

Europeans consume far less sugar than Americans, and yet health officials there recognize a growing health epidemic

If you have ever visited Europe, then you may recall that most of the foods produced and sold there are generally far less sweet than foods produced and sold in the U.S. And yet, despite this difference, Van der Velpen still sees a major public health epidemic brewing in his country as a result of sugar consumption -- how much worse must the situation be here in the U.S., where public health officials generally avoid tagging sugar as a major factor in declining public health?

"Sugar is actually a form of addiction," adds Van der Velpen. "It's just as hard to get rid of the urge for sweet foods as of smoking. Thereby diets only work temporarily. Addiction therapy is better ... Health insurers should have to finance addiction therapy for their obese clients."

It is important to note that Amsterdam has long tolerated the presence and use of other typically restricted substances such as cannabis, a plant that government authorities the world over have long referred to as a "drug," within its borders. Cannabis, of course, does not harm the body and is not a public health threat, thus Amsterdam's relaxed approach to its availability within the city. Sugar, on the other hand, is an actual threat, and Van der Velpen hopes others will learn this truth and take action.

You can read Van der Velpen's full letter, as translated into English using Google Translate, here:
http://translate.google.com

Sources for this article include:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk
http://translate.google.com
http://www.ggd.nl

Republished from NaturalNews
Written by Jonathan Benson

Sugar is 'addictive and the most dangerous drug of the times'

Soft drinks should carry tobacco-style warnings that sugar is highly addictive and dangerous, a senior Dutch health official has warned.

Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam's health service, wants soft drinks to carry tobacco-style warnings about sugar Photo: ALAMY Sep.27 2013

Paul van der Velpen, the head of Amsterdam's health service, the Dutch capital city where the sale of cannabis is legalised, wants to see sugar tightly regulated.

"Just like alcohol and tobacco, sugar is actually a drug. There is an important role for government. The use of sugar should be discouraged. And users should be made aware of the dangers," he wrote on an official public health website.

"This may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, but sugar is the most dangerous drug of the times and can still be easily acquired everywhere."

Mr Van der Velpen cites research claiming that sugar, unlike fat or other foods, interferes with the body's appetite creating an insatiable desire to carry on eating, an effect he accuses the food industry of using to increase consumption of their products.

"Sugar upsets that mechanism. Whoever uses sugar wants more and more, even when they are no longer hungry. Give someone eggs and he'll stop eating at any given time. Give him cookies and he eats on even though his stomach is painful," he argued.

"Sugar is actually a form of addiction. It's just as hard to get rid of the urge for sweet foods as of smoking. Thereby diets only work temporarily. Addiction therapy is better."

The senior health official wants to see sugar taxes and legal limits set on the amount that can be added to processed food.

He also wants cigarette-style warnings on sweets and soft drinks telling consumers that "sugar is addictive and bad for the health".

"Health insurers should have to finance addiction therapy for their obese clients. Schools would no longer be allowed to sell sweets and soft drinks. Producers of sports drinks that are bursting with sugar should be sued over misleading advertising and so on," he said.

The number of obese people in the Netherlands has doubled over the last two decades meaning that more than half of Dutch adults and one in seven children are overweight in a country famed for its deep fried croquettes.

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Comments

  • sugar more dangerous than cigarettes? even though radioactive materials have been found in cigarettes? you should do more research.  http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/chemicalsinsmoke/p/radioactivemetal...

  • Can hardly wait to read and share your book. I've been telling my family this for years..now I have a book to back me up.
  • Finally!
  • When I lived in America for a year I was surprised at how EVERY THING tasted so sweet.  In England we don't put sugar in our bread.  I couldn't eat it in the US because I found it too sweet.  There is a book called 'Pure White and Deadly' written by a scientist, can't remember his name.  What I think is really corrupt in the food diet industry is that they take out all the fat and replace it with sugar.  There is plenty of documented evidence out there saying that it isn't fat that makes you fat.

  • I've been teaching worldwide about the horrors of excess processed sugar consumption since 2011, through my free e-book at www.becomehealthyorextinct.com that has been read in over 30 countries already.

     

    So I really support Mr.Van der Velpen's efforts and brother rev.joshua skirvin's sharing over here.

     

    Besides sugar there are another 7 foods that are killing us. They are also the cause of obesity, diabetes, acidic blood, constipation, arthritis, high bp, cholesterol, heart disease, asthma and others. My book is moving to the right people at the right time and that's why you won't find it on your usual bookstands. It exposes all the rubbish we are forced to shove down our throats. This rubbish has destroyed human DNA and that is why chronic illness is manifesting at younger ages in our populations. I'm treating 8-year old kids with diabetes, asthma, obesity, and other autoimmune diseases and THIS IS NOT FUNNY AT ALL!

     

    Even totally organic brown sugar or jaggery if consumed in high amounts is harmful. Read about all this in the sugar topic on page 114 of the book. Extract from the book ... Since modern cuisine virtually cuts out fruits from our daily diets, the body gets deprived of one of its most important sources of energy, glucose and fructose, contained in fruits. It is only to make up this deficiency that the body craves sugar. But instead of supplying the body with various fruits from where it can get its sugars naturally, we give it just cane sugar, which is harmful, because it is processed with inorganic chemicals. To make matters worse, we put this processed sugar in various un-natural foods and thus fool the body into eating those foods as well."

     

    None of this is just opinion or theory, it is living truth that has been understood from curing many many people of severe illnesses due to excesses of sugar, refined salt and the other 6 common foods I've detailed in my book.

     

    Please download it and read it and share it with people you want to help. This book also has many detailed truths about the human body, nutrition for the canging ages, and how to cure even the worst of illnesses like cancer, without any medicines. You will not find all this in any other book on the planet! Don't waste time wondering who I am, just read the book and everything that should come to you, will.

     

    Light, Love, Peace and Joy to All

  • In no way shape or form would I agree sugar is worse for you than cocaine! Not a chance! That being said, the only thing really that bad about white sugar is that it's had the minerals stripped from it, which are what digest sugar. It came self-digesting, but the food industry removed that and made it something hard for your body to get rid of. But the same goes for white salt and a lot of other commercially produced food.

  • Opp's I made a mistake, its not 20lbs of sugar that the Americans eat yearly but its 20 kg's, in the comment below.And yes were talking about refined bleached sugar, the commercial one. And remember they did the same to the bread, refined and bleached it and the white table salt. They took something that is good for you, like natural whole wheat bread, natural sea salt and natural sugar from sugar cane and other fruits and made them bad for you! The TV commercials and ads lie to you by telling you its the rich peoples food and its good for you. Its all a Conspiracy, same as all the preservatives, additives, pesticides, herbicides, coloring , artificial flavoring & let us not forget all the GMO food we eat without labels, so we don't know they are in there, even when we think we are eating natural and or organic, we are not. Unless of course we raise them ourselves but then we have the problem of poisons in our water as well and the Chem-trail poisons fall on our plants that we grow unless they are completely contained in doors and then we still get some chemicals and the Nano-bots.

    I have just recently covered my garden that I raise in pots with a large tarp but lost the little sun that we get in the rainy season. I need to get a white tarp. I use rain water for myself, animals and plants but the chemtrails has poisoned that as well. I am now looking for land with a spring, hoping the spring water want be poisoned as there is a USA Nuke dump about 40 miles or so from here. We just have to keep working on getting around all the poisons until of course we get rid of the DC and I don't see that happening anytime soon but I still hope & pray for that day to come. Adonai

  • Refined sugar can be compared to cocaine.  Take the good stuff from a plant and refine it to the point that it's unnatural in strength.  Cocaine is probably less harmful for your body, however.... assuming you don't have that initial Heart attack!  

  • I agree lads, I think its the white commercial processed sugar that they are talking about here. I read another report about natural sugar cane granulated sugar and they could find no harmful effects in average usage for normal people. By normal people I think it means like einstein said ' Every thing in Moderation" Thats what I use, natural and not to much, honey is better but much more expensive. What they and the rest of us should be worried about is our youth. The average american eats over 20lbs a yr of toxic white sugar and that was 10 yrs ago. It should labeled  with a warning on all products and completely taken out of Schools, save the kids !! Adonai

  • Sugar is essential for the body to operate correctly!!

    "Everything in moderation" means nothing to most people, they prefer to over indulge with certain things while neglecting to balance with others.

    Sugar is found in a lot of fruit & veggies so eating your 5 a day could push you over the sugar limit?? What about vegetarians and vegans....are they at risk??

    Wonder what's next to hit the chopping block?

This reply was deleted.

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