In 1700, the average American consumed four pounds of sugar a year. Prior to this for all of human history, with few exceptions, there was absolutely no refined cane sugar in the typical human diet. Although people had access honey and maple syrup for thousands of years, it was available in extremely small amounts and then only seasonally. 100,000 years ago we had no sugar, 10,000 years ago we had no sugar, 1000 years ago, we had no sugar. Then about 600 years ago, the royalty of Europe discovered cane sugar, but only they could afford it.

Then something happened about 400 years ago that slowly began to make sugar affordable to the average working class family: Slavery. Huge sugar cane plantations worked by slave labor in the “new world” created a massive geo-political system of commerce so lucrative that governments fought to preserve it, despite its inhumanity. Corporations and Governments became rich, while citizens became addicted. When Slavery waned, machines took over to keep the sugar supply steadily rising. By 1850, (and not before) working class Americans could buy it regularly.

It has taken humans many hundreds of generations—let’s say 500+ generations—to accommodate the food-paradigm shift that happened in the Agricultural Revolution. Between 10,000 and 17,000 years ago humans started growing grain and domesticating animals. After these many hundreds of generations, we are still unable to fully tolerate milk, (30-50 million Americans –25%–are lactose intolerant,) and glutinous grains are also a problem, (about 2 million Americans have celiac disease and many more are made ill by the presence of gluten in their food.)

So annual sugar consumption rates went from four pounds per American in 1700 up to 65 pounds per year in 1900, then up to current rates of between 142 and 170 pounds of sweeteners per American per year. That’s a 4200% increase in 300 years. This level of sugar consumption is completely unprecedented in human history. Our biology is trying hard to accommodate this radical paradigm shift in our food supply, but two or three generations isn’t enough time.

The carbohydrates in refined sugar have been separated from the fiber, enzymes, vitamins and minerals in raw sugar cane. It’s difficult to consume much sugar in the form of raw, whole sugar cane. It is therefore the second major revolution—the Industrial Revolution—that has allowed us to consume large quantities of machine-refined, shelf-stable, industrial commodity food. This single factor is what has contributed to the development of the “diseases of affluence;” Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Now we have the luxuries of choice and hindsight. We have alternative sweeteners available to us, like agave nectar (another traditional sweetener, often suitable for diabetics) and stevia (a plant extract used for centuries in Paraguay.) We can choose to enjoy our food in a more local, less refined, nutrient-dense state. We can learn about what our ancestors ate and put our current tastes into perspective.

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