Sickly sweet beverages
Thank you for the article you published containing what should be to everyone who read it a huge “red flag” concerning the health dangers of consuming sugary beverages (“HPA says sugary drinks can lead to health issues,” Aug. 20, page 5).
The obesity epidemic in the US and explosion in the number of people with diabetic and pre-diabetic health issues have largely been linked to soda and other sugary drinks. From the statistics you mention in the article based on the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s study conducted last year, Taiwan is heading down the same path, especially given the younger generation’s seemingly insatiable appetite for such health-destroying beverages.
The article accurately points out that sugary drinks do not quench one’s thirst. In fact, they make a person even thirstier, compelling them to drink even more and thus compounding the problem. However, in addition to being thirstier, fructose (the main type of sugar found in soda and most sugary drinks, especially in the form of high fructose corn syrup) adversely affects the way the brain recognizes and responds to a person’s consumption behavior.
More specifically, fructose causes the brain to inhibit the activity of leptin (sometimes called the “satiety hormone”), a hormone that is essential for regulating the body’s appetite, metabolism, etc. In short, consuming high amounts of the fructose found in sugary drinks prevents your body from telling you that you are full, even though you are taking in a high number of calories. Thus, sugary beverages and added sugars in general are highly addictive, as the vicious cycle of sugar consumption continues.
The article focuses primarily on the amount of sugar and calories in these drinks and also mentions the amount of exercise it takes to “burn off” those extra calories. Unfortunately, most people mistakenly believe that they can undo the negative effects of these sugary drinks simply by burning enough calories and that they can keep enjoying their high-sugar and high-calorie drinks as long as they work at burning it off afterward.
Perhaps an even greater danger than what soda and sugary drinks do to one’s waistline is what they do to a person’s blood composition and the way they wreak havoc on the body’s processes of normal functioning.
When sugar is absorbed into the bloodstream, the pancreas produces large amounts of insulin in order to process all of it. Too much sugar consumption can eventually overwhelm the pancreas to such a degree that it cannot cope with processing all of the sugar and cannot keep up with producing the proper amount of insulin the body needs while weakening the insulin that is produced, hence, the high risk of developing diabetes.
High sugar intake is also closely linked to the development of cancer, as it has been well established in medical and scientific studies that cancer cells feed off sugar and therefore thrive and rapidly multiply when there are high amounts of processed and refined sugar in the body.
Without a doubt, one of the best things a person can do health-wise is to give up all sugary drinks. Those who regularly consume an abundance of soda and sugary drinks are not only trashing their health, but are throwing away their hard-earned money in the process. The article suggests replacing sugary beverages with water, which is good, but often a very difficult change to make for those who dislike the tastelessness of plain water. One idea is to add a slice or two of lemon to a glass of water, which gives it a light, pleasant taste while providing the benefits of lemon’s anti-cancer and detoxifying properties and without any added calories.
Wayne Schams
Pingtung
History repeating itself
The situation in China and Russia is familiar. If China’s economy falls into recession, then China is the new Japan. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, after Japan became the second-largest economy in the world, many thought that Japan would become the most powerful country in the world. Instead, it went into a recession. The same might be happening in China today.
As for Russia, Russia is occupying part of Ukraine. However, during former US president George W. Bush’s time in office, Russia occupied part of Georgia and still does today. And during 50 years of the Cold War, Soviet Russia controlled many more of its neighbors.
Andres Chang
Taipei
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS