On Apr 20, 7:10*am, notbob > wrote:
> On 2011-04-20, James Silverton > wrote:
>
> > There is a rather sensible article available on the Los Angeles Times
>
> The whole thing is pointless drivel unworthy of exploration beyond the
> reference to like pap on that other useless rag on the Right Coast.
> The whole planet is circling the drain and these oxygen wasters ponder
> sugar. *No wonder newspapers are dying ...and rightfully so.
>

this is old news. Back in the 70s, I read "Sugar Blues" by William
Dufty, which cited a "Dr. William Coda Martin," who wrote in 1957.

WHY SUGAR IS TOXIC TO THE BODY

In 1957, Dr William Coda Martin tried to answer the question: When is
a food a food and when is it a poison? His working definition of
"poison" was: "Medically: Any substance applied to the body, ingested
or developed within the body, which causes or may cause disease.
Physically: Any substance which inhibits the activity of a catalyst
which is a minor substance, chemical or enzyme that activates a
reaction."1 The dictionary gives an even broader definition for
"poison": "to exert a harmful influence on, or to pervert".

Dr Martin classified refined sugar as a poison because it has been
depleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals. "What is left
consists of pure, refined carbohydrates. The body cannot utilize this
refined starch and carbohydrate unless the depleted proteins, vitamins
and minerals are present. Nature supplies these elements in each plant
in quantities sufficient to metabolize the carbohydrate in that
particular plant. There is no excess for other added carbohydrates.
Incomplete carbohydrate metabolism results in the formation of 'toxic
metabolite' such as pyruvic acid and abnormal sugars containing five
carbon atoms. Pyruvic acid accumulates in the brain and nervous system
and the abnormal sugars in the red blood cells. These toxic
metabolites interfere with the respiration of the cells. They cannot
get sufficient oxygen to survive and function normally. In time, some
of the cells die. This interferes with the function of a part of the
body and is the beginning of degenerative disease."2

1,2. Martin, William Coda, "When is a Food a Food-and When a Poison?",
Michigan Organic News, March 1957, p. 3.