sugar and how it affects us, research assignment help

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i will attach the prompt paper and i already do have 6 pages of the paper written on sugar and how it affects us, so you can either use that and just continue or just start a new one. it really is up to you as long as you do as the prompt asks, meet the page limit and the deadline.

The body of your paper should cover the following sections:

--A background of the problem. This should be about 3-5 pages and explain to your audience why this phenomenon should be considered socially problematic and worthy of our attention and concern. You will support this explanation with your research and provide the relevant background information necessary to understand the extent of the problem.

For example, if you are researching wealth inequality, how do we know that it is an actual problem? How unequal is wealth distribution? At what point in history did wealth inequality begin to increase, and what are some of the explanations for that? Again, support all of your assertions with credible research.

--A rhetorical analysis of how this problem is presented in various forms of media. This section should comprise at least 5 pages of your paper.

Following the previous example, how is wealth inequality presented on FOX news? CNN? How is it presented in other major media outlets or in popular culture? In alternative media? You cannot provide an exhaustive account, but at least compare how the topic is discussed by 2-4 different sources. Identify the claims advanced in each source and the evidence they provide to support their claims, and then evaluate how their claims relate to issues of purpose and audience.

--A review of solutions to your selected social problem. What are they, by whom are they proposed, and what is the likelihood that these solutions will actually help? Be critical in your assessment of these proposed solutions, and support your critique with research.

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    Basim 1  Luke Basim  Ms. Kamil  English 8C  Period: 05  27 March 2015  Sugar Cocaine   Most people think of addictive drugs as being illegal in our society, but what most people  do not know is that the most addictive drug is a main ingredient in the food we eat everyday.  Processed food in today’s society is non nutritional compared to food made in the past. People  have started to eat more processed and factory made foods that are loaded with sugar rather than  eat naturally nutritious foods we need for the human body. Sugar is one of the major reasons  Americans have bad health, because companies overuse sugar as a substitute for natural  ingredients causing a major addiction. Companies use sugar in their products to lure  unsuspecting consumers to buy their products but do not take into account the consequences  related to sugar consumption.  Sugar consumption is one of the major factors that can cause health problems in  consumers.​  ​ The number one health problem that is caused by sugar is heart disease followed by  type II diabetes. In the​  60 Minutes​  investigation “Is Sugar Toxic?” by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is a  neurosurgeon and a media reporter on health issues, he talks about a study by Dr. Kimber  Stanhope, a nutritional biologist at UC Davis, who “found that excessive intake of high fructose  corn syrup can increase risk factors for heart disease”(Stanhope). The study is emphasizing how  the more sugar a human eats the ​ larger the risk gets for that person to get heart disease. Heart     Basim 2  disease can, and has killed many ​ people over the world. Heart disease takes a toll on a persons  health and ability to be active. Kids have also taken a big hit from the food they eat these days.  The article “Diabetes: what’s true and false?” on ​ KidsHealth.org , ​ states that “Eating too much  sugar ​ can cause weight gain, which can increase a person's risk for developing [Type II  Diabetes]”. This risk is more prevalent in kids who eat a lot of candy and drink a lot of soda. The  article connects the kids favorite snacks and foods to their risk of getting the disease. In other  words our population will be seen to live shorter lives because of the excess amount of sugar in  peoples diets. Diseases like heart disease and type II diabetes are consequences of eating  unhealthy food, and people are not realizing what they have done to their bodies until it is too  late. These diseases are connected to a major issue in America today, obesity.  The issue of obesity keeps on getting worse with more sugar being consumed in daily  diets.  Jamie Oliver, an english celebrity chef and a restaurateur, talks about the negative aspects  of the American food diet and what people need to do during his “Food revolution” talk. Oliver  went to Los Angeles and did a demonstration where he filled a school bus with sand to represent  the amount of sugar kids consume in one weeks worth of flavored milk. Oliver is trying to show  the audience that “57 tons of sugar is getting put into your children for absolutely no  reason”(Oliver) and that sugar is what is making the obesity problem so bad. What Oliver really  means is that all that added and unnecessary sugar in our diets could be the difference between  living a normal life and being obese with all the diseases that come with obesity. The  demonstration challenges the thinking of parents who long thought flavored milk was not much  of a threat to their kids. Additionally, the article “Sugary Drinks and Obesity Fact Sheet” from  the Harvard School of Public Health states that “One study found that for each additional      Basim 3  12­ounce soda children consumed each day, the odds of becoming obese increased by 60%  during 1½ years of follow­up”. The articles aim is to put the spotlight on sugar and specifically  sugary drinks as the leading and most affecting factor in the obesity epidemic. If researchers are  right about the study, then major consequences will affect the next few generations. The study's  results are very useful as they help people understand the problem in obesity and provokes them  to make some changes. Here many researchers and parents might object that sugar is not the  biggest problem that leads to obesity and especially sugar in drinks like sodas and flavored milk.  While it is true that sugar is not the only problem that leads to obesity, it does not mean that  sugar can be excluded from being a major contributor to obesity in Americans. Although I agree  that there are other components that lead to obesity, I still believe that sugar is the biggest portion  of the problem. When a consumer drinks large amounts of sugar, the risk becomes easier for  them to become obese and at that point it is hard to stop. Since sugar is in many of our daily food  products, it is easy to take in a lot of sugar on a daily basis which can be dangerous.  An overload of sugar intake, through foods or other means, can result in addiction to  sugar. Consuming too much sugar can manipulate the brain causing the person to want more  sweeter tasting products than normal. Dr. Mark Hyman is a an American physician,​  ​ New York  Times ​ bestselling author, and a columnist for ​ The Huffington Post​ . In Hymans article "Food  Addiction: Can It Explain Why 70 Percent of America Is Fat?”, he emphasizes that “Broccoli is  not addictive, but cookies, chips, or soda absolutely can become addictive drugs”(Hyman)  because of the sugar in them. Sugar affect the brain the same way drugs do, and just like drugs  make a substance abuser addicted, so does sugar. The overall argument that Dr. Hyman is  making is that Americans need to watch the amount of sugar they consume since the more sugar      Basim 4  they consume the worse the addiction will become. Having just argued that sugar is truly a drug  and acts just like a drug, let us turn our attention to exactly how sugar affects the the brain.  Sanjay Gupta explains that sugar activates the brain the same way cocaine does and that the brain  releases dopamine, which is the chemical that signals pleasure. When a person eats too much  sugar then their brain will be accustomed to it and will release less dopamine than it would have  before for the same amount of sugar (Gupta). Gupta also stresses that once the brain becomes  used to the sugar, the person will have to consume more sugar than usual to get the same amount  of pleasure from the food. Humans measure how much sugar they had by the amount of pleasure  they get when eating, so people will eat more sugar to satisfy their need. That hunger for more  sugar is the addiction that scientist warn us about. In other words, the more you consume the less  you will be satisfied. Sugar manipulates the brain by doing just that, Americans must decrease  how much sugar they eat so they can be satisfied with less. It might seem that sweets and sugary  drinks are just to add some flavor to the foods drinks we eat, but what consumers do not realize  is that they are not able to stop feeding the addiction once they are hooked; and that is exactly  what companies want.    ​ Companies use sugar in their products because they know its addicting, which allows  them to sell more products and create loyal customers. Michael Moss, a ​ New York Times  bestselling author and the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, asserts that  the “bliss point” for sugar “is the optimal level for sugar at which the beverage is most pleasing  to the customer” and that “in turn makes [us] buy the product again and again”(Moss) . Moss  explains how companies use this bliss point as the standard for their products to be at to get the  consumer hooked. In short, the bliss point makes the product the perfect for the customer and to      Basim 5  create an addiction to the product. Ultimately what is at stake here for consumers is their health,  while the companies are worrying about how to sell more products. According to Moss, in his  article “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” in the ​ New York Times, ​ there is “a  conscious effort ­ taking place in labs and marketing meetings and grocery store aisles ­ to get  people hooked on foods that are convenient and inexpensive”(Moss). What Moss is trying to say  is that companies want to get Americans addicted to the product by any way possible.  Companies use the bliss point, and the way the product is advertised to bring in more sales and in  turn create an addiction in customers that will make the customer loyal since that customer will  keep on buying more of that product. As a result of sugar addictions in consumers, business  blooms for companies and that is all they care and they tend to ignore the fact that the population  will then suffer. Now, sugar is the foundation for most foods in our diets.   American food companies use sugar to fill the void hole in their products. Since  companies realize that sugar can be very addicting, food companies use that as an advantage for  themselves. Food producers use sugar as a filler to sweeten the taste of foods that their  consumers are attracted to. For example chocolate candy bars, “all contain very tiny portions of  cacao and huge quantities of sugar” (All about chocolate). From this fact we can see that  companies overload their products with sugar to be more desirable to their consumers. This  keeps customers buying the companies products, in turn bringing in more revenue to the  company. Company owners may argue that it is the consumers who want more sugar in the  products and that they are only supplying the demand of the public. I agree that the producers are  supplying the demand, but I strongly believe that the companies are taking advantage of  the  consumers with the mass overload of sugar in the products they are making. As a result,      Basim 6  companies that use sugar as a filler in their products are hurting the lives of their buyers and are  contributing to the unhealthy lifestyles of Americans.  Companies focus on increasing sales and profit by using sugar and creating an addiction  in customers that causes major health issues from sugar consumption. Americans are not aware  of the medical consequences that come from sugar, and are oblivious to their dependency to  sugar. Food producers depend on sugar and know the way it affects consumers, yet continue  their sales. The public is driven by sugar and thus by the producers. In sum, food companies are  belittling the negatives of using sugar intensively in their products, and instead are centring their  focus on how to make their products more desirable so they can increase sales.                                Basim 7        Works Cited  "All about Chocolate ­­ the True Flavor." ​ All about Chocolate ­­ the True Flavor​ . Web. 27 Mar.  2015. .  "Diabetes: What's True and False?" ​ KidsHealth ­ the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's  Health​ . Ed. Steven Dowshen. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Aug. 2013. Web. 27 Mar.  2015. .  "Food Addiction: Could It Explain Why 70 Percent of America Is Fat? ­ Dr. Mark Hyman." ​ Dr  Mark Hyman​ . 04 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.  .  "Is Sugar Toxic?" ​ CBSNews​ . CBS Interactive. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.  .  Kamp, David. "How Sweet It Is." ​ The New York Times​ . The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2013.  Web. 27 Mar. 2015.  .  Moss, Michael. "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food." ​ The New York Times​ . The  New York Times, 23 Feb. 2013. Web. 27 Mar. 2015.  .      Basim 8  "Sugary Drinks and Obesity Fact Sheet." ​ The Nutrition Source​ . Web. 26 Mar. 2015.  .    "Watch Jamie Oliver Fill a School Bus With 57 Tons of Sand." ​ Eater​ . 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 27  Mar. 2015.  . 
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Explanation & Answer

😃 Here's. The paper. This wasn't a short paper at all.

Basim 1
Luke Basim
Ms. Kamil
English 8C
Period: 05
27 March 2015
Sugar
Introduction
It is a basic fact that Americans love sugar. Foods filled with processed sugar have
become the staple foods in America resulting in major health issues such as diabetes, obesity and
heart diseases. This has not always been the case in the earlier years. This is a feeding habit that
was developed by the food processing industries themselves while capitalizing on creating a
larger market for themselves, a fact that was well highlighted by Abbot book titled
“Sugar: A Bittersweet History ” (2008). Over the years the food processing industries learned
that sugar can be as addictive as any other drug such as cocaine and with that secret of trade, the
industry has continually manufactured the sweetest foods to lure the unsuspecting consumers
into a sugar crazed frenzy. With time people have gotten used to the sweetness and thus have
increased the craving for sweet foods which has eventually brought a health menace that most
certainly will soon become a national disaster.
Sugar consumption is one of the major factors that can cause health problems in
consumers. The number one health problem that is caused by sugar include heart diseases,
followed by type II diabetes. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to explore the issue of sugar
consumption, its addiction for many in the American society and the health hazards that such an
unsuspecting thing as sugar is causing. It will commence by stating the origins of the sugar craze

Basim 2
and look at how the general public became addicted to consuming such a potent item. It will also
highlight how the media has presented the subject matter and finally culminate by looking at
possible solutions to fighting the danger that an addiction to sugar can cause.
Origins of the Sugar Addiction
It is difficult to imagine that there was a time that sugar wasn't a familiar occurrence in
people's meals as it is today. Its origins having occurred in five phases and are traceable as far
back as 8,000 BC during the Gupta dynasty in India. The first phase involved the extraction of
the juice from the sugar canes which was possible because of the domestication of the sugarcane
plant by countries that now make up Southeast Asia. The specific dates that this first phase
occurred remain unknown but estimates putting it during 8,000 BC (Deerr, Noel, et al, 1950).
This phase started with the initial subsistence domestication of sugarcane plant in New Guinea at
around 8,000 BC and later its larger cultivation in China. It wasn't until the first century AD that
extraction and purifying methods were invented in India leading to the invention of the
granulated crystals. It later spread to the Mediterranean where the Arabs guaranteed its spread by
having it with them as they discovered new lands. It later on spread to Portugal and Spain during
the fifteen Century and in 1493, Christopher Columbus ensured its exposure into the New World
by carrying sugarcane seedlings to the territories he was discovering. Culminating in it being
industrialized and ending up in its final packaged form with over 50 different variants.
Ferdman, (2015) notes that Americans in the early 1800s were not obsessed with junk
foods; they could actually eat fresh farm products. There were lesser lifestyle diseases such as
cancer, diabetes, and obesity. However, as the country was getting into war especially in the
early 1900s, most people got a need to conserve food which greatly led to the production of
processed foods especially that which could be carried by the soldiers. In the mid-1960s marked

Basim 3
a time when American companies started selling sweeter processed foods in order to sell more
products. With time each and every company was coming up with new methods of sweetening
their products, adding sandwiches and sugar filled additives. With time the companies noted that
there was something about sweet foods (Abbott, 21)
The consequence of the push by conglomerates to market sugar filled foods has led to the
onslaught of various health complications. Currently, the data provided by the World Health
Organization indicates that Americans have the highest levels of obese cases in the world. In the
state of New York, most people who form the average population take in at least one hundred
and twenty-six (126) g of sugar for each 18 hours in a day. This is estimated to be higher than the
sugar in at least twelve ounces Coca-Cola cans. On average this is estimated to be twice the
amount of sugar taken in other fifty-four countries all over the world.
The effect of this is that more and more people have fallen into the trap of life style
disease. There has never been a higher percentage of obese cases as it is at this age. Each average
American has to take a junk food at least once in a day which is too far much above the required
levels of sugar in the body. According to the world health Organization, obesity, cancer, and
diabetes are estimated to be the leading diseases in America. It is this point that has made the
discussion on sugar to be a critical discussion especially at home, schools and the media.
Recently, and in the earlier days, there were a lot of adverts on television advertising all manner
of junks. The position seems to have shifted from this and it is not a wonder to find a discussion
on health and proper lifestyles on each mainstream media. There are now very many healths live
shows teaching people on how to feed on a balanced diet, how to engage in physical exercise and
even how to reduce the craving for sugar based food.

Basim 4
Ferdman (2015), noted that in other countries there are healthy food recipes that are
passed on from one generation to another. That seems not to be the case in America especially
with the infiltration of sugar based processing companies. It is no longer safe to assume that only
cakes, chocolates, and other sugary foods have high levels of sugar. The common cereal products
that were nutritive have now also been sweetened with sugar such that it is each every food
product that is either accompanied with sugars or fats.
The craze for these foods is also a lifestyle problem and a cultural problem. For each
home you walk into you will find people keep on consuming some junk foods as they watch
television or even a movie. There are so many junk shops acr...


Anonymous
I was struggling with this subject, and this helped me a ton!

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