IN PRAISE OF SUGAR.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 129, 24 February 1908, Page 8

IN PRAISE OF SUGAR.

"There is a prejudice which is not : justified by ' physiological reasoning," says tho "Lancet." "Sugar is one of tho most powerful foods which wo possess, as it is the cheapest, or, at any rate, ono of the cheapest. In muscular labour no food appears to bo able to givo the sanio_ powers of endurance as sugar; and comparative practical' experiments have shown without the' least doubt that the hard physical worker, the athlete, or tho soldier on the march is much more . equal to tho physical strain placed upon him when ho has had included in his diet a liberal allowance 0 ,5J£ al ! 'than when sugar is denied to him. , trophies, prizes, and cups havo undoubtedly been won on a diet in which sugar was intentionally a notable constituent. It has even been: said that sugar may dccide a battlo and that jam after all is something more than a mere sweetmoat. to the soldier. The fact that sugar is a powerful _ musclo food' accounts 'probably for the disfavour into' which it falls, for a comparatively small quantity amounts to an excess, and oxcess is always inimical to the easy working _of tho digestive. processes., . sugar satiates; 1 it is a..concentrated "hero sugar does harm, therefore, it is invariably due to excess. Taken :in small quantities and distributed over' the daily, food intakes, sugar contributes most' usefully in health to the supply of ■ energy required by tho body. ■ ■ ■ > ."And it is a curious fact that the man who practically abstains from sugar, or reduces his diet_ to one almost- free from carbohydrates 'in favour of protein foods such as meat, often shows feeblo muscular energy and an indifferent capacity for physical endurance." -