GROUP
CORNETTO, 2011
NESTLE, 1957
INDEX EDITORIAL NOTE 7 SUGAR CRAFTING 9 HAIKUS 24 AFTERNOON DELIGHT 29 LOVE IS A CONCEPT INVENTED BY POOR PEOPLE 41 ABSTRACT 53 SUGAR NUTRITION UK 72 ONE IN FIVE NHS DENTAL SURGERIES HAVE WAITING LISTS OF TWO YEARS 79 FOUR MILLION PEOPLE LIVE WITH DIABETES IN THE UK 91 SUGAR TOWN 104 CONTRIBUTORS 117
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THE SUGAR ISSUE Sugar; delicious, beautiful and dangerous. From the moment it enters our mouths like the ghost ride at a fun fair it takes a sinister turn. In the developed world it has secreted its way into almost every aspect of our daily lives from our plates to the way we love. Our addiction to sugar began in the 15th century when it emerged from the Middle East, it started as a sign of wealth and was available only to the elite, it was thought to be so precious that it was only used as a material to make art with. It's eventual widespread use was sanctioned partly as a device to placate the masses and also to derive revenue for the various sovereigns across Europe and the Americas. Sugar gets into us, it's there for us, it's with us at the best of times and at the worst of times. It has a healing power on our broken hearts and joins us as we celebrate birthdays and weddings. Advertisers and manufacturers look to exploit our emotions knowing our love of ‘the sweet stuff’ as they attempt to lure and seduce our taste
buds. We in turn become addicted to the ‘hit’ that sugar provides and its combination with a modern, increasingly more sedentary lifestyle is setting us on a perilous path to poor health. Politicians lurch in one direction and then the other. From concern about the response of lobbyists and big business who are fretting over the imposition of a sugar tax to how our national health service will cope with the increase in diabetes related illnesses that threaten to swamp the population. Throughout its history the economics of sugar have never been far away. From its well documented links with slavery to today's rise of the ‘Sugar Daddy’ it's a commodity that has held its value fast. For now, Jamie Oliver has the last word. As a champion of healthy school meals he and dental practitioners welcome the recently introduced sugar tax on fizzy drinks, he says “today the world has changed” – but has it? - GROUP
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SUGAR CRAFTING
ALAN DUNN: SUGAR FLOWER ARTIST
MARK TILLING: UK CHOCOLATE MASTER
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“MY WORKING PROCESS IS BASED ON THE OBSERVATION OF NATURE.�
From the age of 14 to his current 44 years Alan has been baking and designing sugar flowers. His inspirations came from his florist mother and his grandfather who was a baker by trade. Initially self taught he went on to attend City & Guilds Bakery and Flour Confectionery course and at the age of 17 he delivered his first demonstration at the British Sugarcraft Guild. A love of
teaching and sharing knowledge led him to become an accredited demonstrator for the guild. He has travelled across the world via Denmark, Russia, America, New Zealand. He has also taught the craft in Japan where he has a particular fascination with the different materials they use. Unlike the UK where the gum paste is the material of choice, Japanese sug-
ar crafters employ white beans which make their paste less pliable and harder. To mimic the veins and nerves in the petals he presses the paste within the palm of his hand. Made from sugar and eggs it can be stretched and moulded and so is very easy to manipulate.
“BAKING IS ART.”
Mark began his baking career at the age of 15 and won awards throughout his time at college. He has been a pastry chef in various top hotels from the London Lanesborough to the Michelin-Star Le Pavé d’Auge in Normandy, France. Here he learned the technical aspects of creating chocolate sculptures and one of his most challenging pieces was building a large sized Viking boat. Master-
ing large sculptures and designs is very essential for competitions and he has represented the UK twice in the Chocolate Master world finals in Paris and was ranked 12th in 2007 and 7th in 2009. To obtain accuracy in the kitchen knowledge of science and technique is paramount and it is necessary to be as methodical as a chemist when creating sugar alchemy.
For the last seven years he has been teaching at Squires Kitchen School leading courses about cake decorating, chocolate miniatures and macaron baking on which he also writen a book.
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LUBNA KHAN Lubna Khan is a fairy. The ingredients for her magic? A cup of flour, a handful of sugar paste and whole heap of creativity. Her magic’s purpose? Simply to make people happy. The 36-year-old housewife and mum of three kids has baked, iced and decorated cakes for years. Originally from Bombay, India, she moved to London at the age of 18 and first started baking for her children, making them birthday cakes such as one covered with icing and decorated with animal figures. Since then she has expanded her talent for the benefit of others and last November she started her own business as a self titled “sugar artist and cake designer”. Lubna is self taught and mastered the art of sugar icing and cake decoration through reading magazines such as Cake Masters, watching videos online from Yolanda Gampp, a cake-making star of Youtube with over one million subscribers to her channel, and being inspired by other artists like Shawna McGreevy, another self-taught cake decorator that posts useful video tutorials on her website (http://mcgreevycakes. com/) about “How to make a ganache”, “How to paint an edible picture” or even “How to make a castle cake”. Even though the self-taught artist did not go to a Bakery School or even Sugar Fairyland to learn all the wizardry of sugar craft and royal icing, her magical
skills initially flourished at school. Especially in art. As a pupil, she enjoyed expressing her inventive mind through painting, sketching, drawing, even sewing: her enchantment casts a spell on everything she touched. As she grew up, Lubna became a mother and had less time for her art, she progressively dedicated her hunger for creativeness to something more edible than paint. Something that her children and friends could enjoy as well. Thus mastering her sugar expertise has been a way to keep feeding her prolific brain while taking care of her family as she explained: “I like art. I have always liked it. I love creating, designing and experimenting. Each cake is a new challenge for me because I like to try new things. Decorations I have never made before. Designs I have never thought of before. I do not want only to bake a simple piece of cake. I want to create something nice, beautiful, original… and tasty as well. It is important that the final outcome pleases everyone. That is why I like to bake for special occasions and satisfy everyone with something sweet and colourful.” She has come along way since her first children’s birthday cakes, Lubna has developed an incredible array of skills and nothing seems beyond her. Recently for a young girl’s birthday she created a pair of Converse shoes out of sugar and for one special Mum on Mothers’ Day Lub-
na was commissioned to create an Alice in Wonderland inspired teapot. Such cakes are usually made within five hours and as she uses only the best and freshest ingredients, they can cost her around £25. A regular 8-inch cake can be sold for £40, a complicated design such as the tea pot around £60 and a more complicated cake can reach £80. Her talent and motivation cannot go unnoticed. Last February she was asked to bake 300 delicate cupcakes for an exhibition hosted by Devonshire Square in London to celebrate Valentine’s Day: her food display called “Say it so sweetly” combined flower and heart shapes with shades of pastel pink and white with a hint of bright red. Then on the 16th and 17th of April this year she will participate at the Cake International – The Sugar Craft, Cake Decorating and Baking Show performed in London. The competition receives around 1,200 competition entries and more than 20,000 visitors. Although she will face a wide range of competitors from amateurs to professional bakers, the gourmand fairy remains optimistic and motivated. Her positive feelings seem accurate, and we wish her the best of luck! Facebook: Cake Chic by Lubna Khan Instagram: lubna1khan
“IT IS ALL ABOUT CELEBRATION. ALL CULTURES SOMEHOW RELATE SWEETS AND CAKES TO WEDDINGS, BIRTHDAYS AND LOVE.”
SUGAR
ATLAS
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SWEET, ROUND, COLOURFUL, PROUD TO WEAR A COROLLA, MACARON OR ROON?
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A PIECE OF SWEET PIE WITH CARAMELIZED APPLES. A TRAVEL THROUGH TIME.
SNICKERS, 2015
MENTOS, 2000
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AFTER NOON DELIGHT
CHUPA CHUPS, 2015
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“LOVE IS A CONCEPT INVENTED BY POOR PEOPLE” www.seekingarrangement.com
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Across the animal kingdom gifts are an important part of the mating ritual. In the bird world, the male Kingfisher, known as one of the most conscientious present pickers, woos a female by bringing her fish-gifts; while the sociable male chimpanzee seeks to impress females by sharing with them their newly harvested plants and meat. But what does a human opt for in their search for a mate? The American dating website SeekingArrangement.com seems to have an answer to the question. They cut relationships strait to the ‘give-and-take’, connecting young women with rich older men, trading her youth, beauty and company for his cash. The site calls it “mutually beneficial relationships”; critics call it “new age prostitution”. Founder and CEO of SeekingArrangement.com, Brandon Wade, 46, is convinced that this is the future of dating. Having found his wife through a similar so-called ‘sugar dating’ website, Wade sees it as his most important mission in life to encourage others to find and negotiate ‘arrangements’ the same way as he did. “As I look at the future of traditional rela-
tionships, I see divorces, heartbreaks and broken families” Wade claims. “Love is a concept invented by poor people. Love at first sight that sends shivers down your spine is a fairy tale, and it doesn’t last forever. Such infatuation must be transformed into a selfless form of love, empty of possessive expectations for any relationship to endure.” Besides Seeking Arrangement Wade’s growing ‘sex-for-cash’ empire also includes the websites MissTravel.com, matching generous travellers with attractive travel companions, and WhatsYourPrice.com, where men can buy dates on ‘auction’ betting with the highest price. Since the launch of Seeking Arrangement in 2006, the site has seen a huge growth in membership records. Last year they celebrated the landmark of over 4 million dating profiles worldwide. Also in the UK the popularity around the controversial dating site has come upon a successful expansion, as the numbers of young women signing up had increased by 40% in 2015. A development, which the site claims is caused by the high costs of university fees and accommodation, forcing many students to look for new ways of making cash while studying.
Many opponents and critics of Wade’s modern dating-crusade are worried about its growing popularity. One of these is the British personal safety group Suzy Lamplugh Trust. Earlier this year they were involved in the controversial rape-trial of 50-year-old Jason Lawrance, whom was found guilty of raping and attaching a large number of women through the dating app Match.com. Today, the charity advises users of Seeking Arrangement.com to be cautious of forming arrangements with people they meet online. Rachel Griffin, director of the charity, says on the topic: “Websites that encourage young women to discuss ‘terms’ such as financial benefits up front should consider how empowered those women might feel to speak up if they do feel uncomfortable on a date, as well as the risk of increased violence and aggression on the part of the so-called ‘sugar daddies’ if they feel the terms they have agreed to are not being met.” However, the dating site insists that an agreement can be ended at anytime. Public relations manager at Seeking Arrangement, Angela Jacob Bermudo, claims that if anyone is looking for a ‘pay-to-play’ type of relationship they would be filtered
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out by the website’s team of staff working to overcome misuse of the site. Prostitution, being the key issue of their battle, is strictly not allowed. Nonetheless, numbers published by Seeking Arrangement themselves show that a sugar daddy’s monthly expenses on ‘arrangements’ in average are $3000. “People commonly mistake Seeking Arrangement as an escort service because it’s not a traditional dating website”, Bermudo says. “The dates are not paid but there is an optional monthly allowance that the sugar daddy and sugar baby agree on”. 45-year-old Tansel and 27-year-old Abe are both members of SeekingArrangement.com. According to the two men’s experiences as official ‘sugar daddies’ there seems to be a clear-cut picture of what both genders expect from an arrangement. Tansel explains: “The sugar babies perspective is money - that’s mainly what they’re looking for.
With the men, the perspective is generally sex. Sex and money shouldn’t be an issue on both sites.” Browsing through the website’s endless number of sugar baby profiles, three types of users continue to pop up. The largest group of profiles consist of, what the two men call, the ‘classic sugar baby’, who are young women searching for money in exchange of either an intimate or friendly relationship. Secondly, there is a small group of both men and women coming under the term of ‘fraud’ers’ - these people set up fake profiles in order to collect a smaller amount of cash promising to meet up with their admirer. And finally, the last remaining group of profiles are the ‘professional prostitutes’, they use the site as a platform to work undercover. Nevertheless, Seeking Arrangement and CEO Brandon Wade continue to believe that there is a fundamental difference between sugar dating and prostitution. They claim that a prostitute has a professional and transitory relationship to a
client. Their arrangement is simple: the prostitute and the client exchange funds, participate in some sort of physical act, and finally part ways. Where as a sugar baby, in Seeking Arrangement’s point of view, is more concerned with a luxurious lifestyle as well as the opportunity to enjoy ‘the finer things in life’. To the father of ‘sugar dating’ himself, the definition is crystal clear: “Money and sex are two components present in every romantic relationship, but just because money and sex is involved in a ‘sugar relationship’ doesn’t make it prostitution”, Wade claims, and states subsequently: “A ‘john’ doesn’t want a hooker to stick around, and a sugar daddy doesn’t want his sugar baby to leave.” Tansel, who joined the website to escape a long history of failed relationships, describes ‘sugar dating’ as something to do with intimacy and company. He claims, he has joined the website to search for ‘a
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partner in crime’ - a person willing to play the role of a long-time lover, whenever desired. “For me the term ‘sugar dating’ is synonymous to older men looking for young company to have fun with. Let’s just face it, young ladies know how to have fun”, he says, and continues: “Sugar babies are usually young and less experienced with sex, while a real prostitute gives you more pleasure. If I was looking for sex only, I would rather pay for a prostitute.” The 45-year old bachelor has already spent large sums of money on his previous four arrangements. He pays a financial allowance directly into the sugar babies’ bank accounts either monthly or per meeting. When the babies sign up to the website they are asked to select the number of their ‘expectation’, however, Tansel only prefers to agree on the price after a couple of dates. On top of this come costs for restaurants, drinks, shopping trips, theatre trips, holidays and so on. Tansel claims that the highest amount of money he has ever spent on an arrangement is around £1000. However, if he finds a sugar baby he really likes, he claims he would be willing to spend £5000 or more on one night. “It is my job to cover all the costs, and they [the Sugar Babies] expect me to do so”, he says. On the other hand, Abe, who has been involved in three arrangements organised
through the website, describes the concept of sugar dating with a slightly more traditional point of view - although still implying that money is an important part of an arrangement: “Sugar dating is equal to a man who fails in approaching women but whom, on the contrary, is successful in his career achievements and therefore can support young women financially and rationally.” Likewise to Tansel, Abe does not have any specific expectations of what he wants to get out of the website, other than perhaps to meet someone genuine he can spend time with. “I believe that a man should provide fully for his woman, and together they have to negotiate towards an emotional and intellectual cohesion.” Scottish Labour politician, Richard Baker, is one of the growing number of official figures in Britain who has expressed concern on the topic of ‘sugar dating’, as the success of Seeking Arrangement also seems to grow steady on Scottish territory: “While it is up to individuals whether they engage in this website or not, many people will find it troubling that young women are being asked to ‘date’ men in return for a financial award. I think it is appropriate that university and college authorities urge students to exercise caution regarding websites like this and if any student is in hardship then their first step
should always be to contact their students association.” Official figures released in January 2016 by 30 police forces in England and Wales suggested a rise in crimes linked to dating apps. A study, release by the BBC a year previously, found that a fifth of all students in the UK had thought about being involved in the sex industry. One in 20 student who took part in the survey said they had worked either in glamour modelling, web-cam modelling, stripping or prostitution. However, Tansel and Abe could not care less. They have their own agendas of which they stick to. Regardless of critique of the website and the concept of sugar dating, the two men both claim that they will continue to use the sugar dating website until they no longer bother. It is in Tansel’s belief that the world has only just started to realise the benefits and advantages of sugar dating. He believes that in 10 years from now, this type of dating will be an even more common social activity than now. And by then, its users will be far less bothered about issues of privacy and discretion.
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CADBURY’S, 2000
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CARBOHYDRATES
Proteins, fats and carbohydrates constitute the three necessary macronutrients needed to sustain life. Carbohydrates, also called saccharides, are molecular compounds made from only three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The word ‘saccharides’, which originates from the Greek word sákkharon meaning ’sugar’, encompass a group of four chemical combinations representing a broad range of sugars, starches and fibres. The first two saccharides in the group are
called mono- and disaccharides. Both have a low molecular weight and are constituted as simple carbohydrates, commonly referred to as sugars. The remaining two saccharides, called oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, make out more complex molecules, as they consist of long chains of simple carbohydrates. These saccharides are the most nutritious as they provide a much longer lasting energy than the simple carbohydrates. In general, carbohydrates perform nu-
merous roles in living organisms. They play imporatant key roles in the function of the immune system, fertilisation, respiration, and in preventing pathogenesis and blood clotting. They are also principal components of molecules such as DNA and RNA. However, most importantly, carbohydrates are an essential source of energy for all life.
THE BLISS POINT
Today, 75 percent of processed foods and drinks contain added sugar, hidden under more than 60 different names. The exact formulations of processed goods are not accidental but intentionally calculated and perfected by scientists to advance sales and maximise consumer satisfaction. Scientists aspire to establish what in the industry is called ‘the bliss point’ - the precise amount of sugar, fat or salt that
guarantees and optimises palatability. American market researcher and psychophysicist, Dr. Howard Moskowitz, known for doing pioneering work sequential of the bliss point, describes the term as “the sensory profile where you like food the most”. With the development of the bliss point the human body has evolved to favour foods and drinks delivering these tastes. Through a ‘reward-system’ in the brain,
which runs by the neurotransmitter dopamine, we remember the exact situation in which the body was ‘rewarded’, and this drives us to seek the same compensation again and again. Especially combinations of sugar, fat, and salt act synergistically, and are more rewarding than any of the goods alone. In food product optimisation, the goal is to include two or three of these nutrients at their bliss point.
ADDICTION
It is scientifically proven that sugar is habit-forming, while cravings induced by sugar are comparable to those induced by addictive drugs like cocaine and nicotine. When eating products high on sugar, the receptors in the tongue’s taste buds immediately activate and send signals to the forebrain about the newly recognised stimuli. Here the signals activate the brain’s reward system, a group of neural structures responsible for pleasure, positive reinforcement
and desire. When exposed to a rewarding stimulus, the brain responds by increasing release of the neurotransmitter dopamine – an organic chemical providing a feeling of enjoyment. However, over activating the system can cause psychosomatic distort like loss of control, cravings and an increased tolerance to sugar. Drugs like nicotine, alcohol or heroin send dopamine into overdrive leading some peo-
ple into constantly seeking a ‘high’ – in other words to be addicted. Sugar also causes dopamine into be released, though not as violently as drugs. If you eat too much sugar the dopamine response will continue to rise, and your brain will carry on releasing a rewarding feeling. In this way sugar behaves a little bit like a drug.
HIGH AND LOWS
Carbohydrates are important sources of energy for the human body. Especially, the simple sugar glucose plays an important part in the human metabolism. During digestion, all carbohydrates are broken down into glucose, which then are absorbed from the intestine into the bloodstream. From here the glucose travels to cells, where it is used to provide energy for cellular functions. In order to do this the pancreas need to produce insulin - a
hormone that controls the blood sugar and regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates and fats. The liver converts excess glucose into a more complex form, which the body then stores in muscles and fat tissues as secondary long-term energy. Although sugar is an essential source of energy for the body, it has the capacity to be either deficient or toxic, depending on the amount present in the blood
levels. Overdoing on carbohydrates can lead to high blood sugar, called hyperglycaemia, while too small an amount of carbohydrates can cause hypoglycaemia, also known as low blood sugar. Eventually, too little or too much glucose in the blood stream can cause severe health complications, such as diabetes, cancer, liver failure, obesity, Alzheimer, and ultimately lead to death.
CADBURY’S, 2000
CHUPA CHUPS, 2014
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SUGAR NUTRITION UK
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FACTS & MYTHS ABOUT
Sugar Nutrition UK is a not for profit, scientific organisation that is a leading source of expertise on sugars and health in the UK. Sugar Nutrition UK was established in 1964 and is principally funded by UK sugar manufacturers.
DO SOFT DRINKS CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN? Weight gain is caused by energy imbalance, ie, calories consumed vs energy used. Some research suggests that it may be easier to take in extra calories from a drink than as solid food. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition’s Carbohydrates and Health report (2015) found an effect between sugars-sweetened beverages and Body Mass In-
dex (BMI) in children and adolescents; in particular where dietary intake is not adjusted to compensate for extra calories taken in from drinks*. Evidence is currently limited, however, and the Report noted that further research into this area is required.
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IS SUGAR ADDICTIVE? No. The current scientific evidence and expert opinion in human studies do not support the claim that sucrose is addictive. Experts from the NeuroFAST Consortium have recently produced a Consensus opinion on food addiction stating that “there is no evidence that a specific food, food ingredient or food additive causes a substance based type of addiction.”
DOES EATING SUGAR HARM TEETH? Yes it can. Frequently eating food or drinks containing fermentable carbohydrates, which includes sugars and starches can cause tooth decay if good oral hygiene practices are not maintained. This occurs when bacteria in the mouth react with fermentable carbohydrates to produce acid which attacks the tooth surface and removes minerals (demineralisation). Saliva can act to replace lost minerals (remineralisation) but this is less effective
if carbohydrate-containing foods or drinks are eaten too frequently. The best way to prevent tooth decay is to brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste twice a day, especially before going to bed, as saliva production is much lower during sleep. You should try to eat carbohydrate-containing foods no more than four times a day.
© Sugar Nutrition UK
CORNETTO, 2011
WRIGLEY’S DOUBLEMINT, 2000
ONE IN FIVE NHS DENTAL SURGERIES HAVE WAITING LISTS OF TWO YEARS 79
IN 2014-15 33,781 CHILDREN AGED 10 OR UNDER NEEDED THE REMOVAL OF ONE OR MORE TEETH
CADBURY’S, 2000
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FOUR MILLION PEOPLE LIVE WITH DIABETES IN THE UK
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“I’M 54, I’VE BEEN A TYPE 2 DIABETIC, FOR 30 YEARS.” Joe Navarrete
Joe Navarrete, 51, unemployed. I had a really bad lifestyle. I used to work in the City in I.T. I was an I.T account manager then I became a business development manager. I had some very large accounts. My job was basically to entertain the clients. I would have to take the clients out for dinner everyday, and I mean everyday, so I put on a lot of weight on. It would involve going drinking from 11 in the morning till sometimes 11 the next morning, and that was my job. I was eating very well, but it was not food you would consider healthy. I was drinking huge amounts. That’s how I got Diabetes, keeping my bosses happy.
needle so it doesn’t hurt to use, unlike the needles I have for dialysis. They don’t use sharp needles for dialysis because they need to follow the root of the vein. A sharp needle might pop the vein and could come out the other side, and if that happens apart from being extremely painful your whole arm goes black and blue. It would be completely bruised. So they have created a ‘button hole’ in my arm for the dialysis which means there not going to burst a vein, but it means the needles they use are like pencils. Trust me, they are not sharp ones.
I’m a type 2 Diabetic, there is also a type 1. If you’re a type 1 then more often than not you’re born with it. Your pancreas creates no insulin at all, so you have to have insulin pens that literally burn the sugar away. If you’re a type 2 diabetic then you are still creating a little bit of insulin, but you still need to take the insulin pens to support your pancreas.
The best way to explain what going through dialysis is like, is to imagine if you were to cut your veins or a main artery. That would be the exact same feeling as being on dialysis - your blood pressure drops massively. Blood is leaving your body, your heart is having to beat a lot more to circulate what ever blood you have in your body, and there isn’t much blood anyway because its all pouring out. You start getting out of breath, hot sweats and I suppose if that carried on then your heart would pack in. That’s basically the same consequence as losing blood from the vein. That constantly happening to you puts the heart under pressure, and if you haven’t got a very strong heart, you’re not going to last long.
I take insulin pens twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I take 30 units twice a day. I inject it into my stomach and push it in, it’s a very fine
In the dialysis room everyone is 60, 70, 80, 90 years of age. Some of them have not got any kidneys left at all and have to go there everyday. Most people there are ma-
If I knew what the consequences would have been I would not of done it. I would of chosen to work in a supermarket for minimum wage. For all the money that I earned, and for all the lifestyle that you think is so groovy; its not, its killing you.
ture, but there a couple of people who are younger then me. The older people will not go through a transplant operation because there too old they wont get through it, it’s a five hour operation. There’s some people there who have already had a kidney, but the kidney’s collapsed. They wont get another one because they’re too old, so they’re on dialysis for the rest of there lives. Diabetes for me, what’s it done for me? Well it’s ruined my eyes, I’ve had a couple of operations on my eyes. The sugar basically eats away at the back of your eyes and you end up having veins that explode inside them. Your eyes are made up of lots of little veins, and those veins explode because they just can’t take the sugar content. Have you ever had little black dots following you around everywhere in your eyes? That’s an exploding vein, imagine having loads of those in your eyes, you can’t see, it's horrible. So I’ve had operations on them. What they do is they use lasers to seal the eye from all the external veins and then as a consequence of those operations you get cataract. Then you have to have another operation where they cut out the top layer of your eye and then put a new layer in. I am due to have one of those in my left eye, I’m very foggy in that eye, for me its like a misty day everyday. Diabetes also causes you to have neuropathy, so your blood vessels or your end sensor vessels in your legs start to go
“FOR ALL THE MONEY THAT I EARNED, AND FOR ALL THE LIFESTYLE THAT YOU THINK IS SO GROOVY; IT’S NOT, IT’S KILLING YOU.”
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because of the sugar. You start to loose the feeling in your legs, and you get tingling and numbness and cramps, you can maintain that for a while but eventually you will get an infection. The infection could come from something as simple as cutting your toe nails the wrong way. If your toenail gets infected you will end up loosing your leg. Obviously there is your kidneys too, and the final consequence is your heart, as well as all the issues that are caused by diabetes being on dialysis also weakens the heart. It’s a bit of a catch 22 you need dialysis to live but at the same time dialysis is ruining your heart. So the long term consequence is a heart attack. The reality of sugar is horrific, why are people drinking sugary drinks? Full fat coca cola, Fanta, all those drinks when there is diet available? But they still do, there is still a market for it. I cant believe that when you go to the supermarket you can see these things on sale…the food, the processed food, that’s generated, that’s full of sugar. In Tomato Ketchup there is 51 cubes of sugar per 207 grams of ketchup, that is horrendous, so in a 900 grams bottle of ketchup there is around 200 cubes of sugar. You just have to avoid sugar, white bread, white pasta, white rice all those things. What does my retirement look like? Well if one of my sons is compatible and can
give me a kidney, then I imagine I will have a medicated but decent retirement I suppose, long term I could live quite a while. But the consequence of taking one of your sons’ kidneys is in itself a dilemma and quite a big one. For me to take strangers kidney it doesn’t matter to me, it just comes out of a box, and I don’t have to worry about my sons. But the problem with that would mean taking a lot of anti rejection tablets after they give you the kidney, which I will have to retake regardless of whose kidney I have. The only kidney that would have minimum rejection time would be my brothers but he’s not around. So the next would be one of my sons’, but they may not be compatible. The anti rejection tablets give you skin cancer as a side effect, you can’t go and sit in the sun light like most people you would have to wear a hat and gloves and sit in doors. There is even more issues after that. Even though you’re living, you have to question what kind of life is it because the changes you have to make are horrific. I’ve had a life a very good life, I’ve earned huge amounts of money, I’ve had two beautiful children, I’ve got a beautiful step daughter who has had three of my grand children. I’ve been everywhere, I’ve done everything, I’ve eaten everything and I’ve drunk everything, that’s not much that excites me anymore. But if I was to end my Dialysis today of course it would sad-
den me. I don’t want to die. That’s a huge thing on my brain, not to see my children develop, get married, have grandchildren. I’m 54. Everyone says “you’re still young by todays standards”, but you know it does get you down when you’re sitting there having an episode on the dialysis machine, you’ve got the nurse there coming up to you saying ‘you all right, you all right, come on cheer up’. Deep down inside its hard to cope with. I’m stressed out, and not only am I stressed out, I’m finding it very difficult to cope because I cant do anything. I’m living like a nun. A nun probably has more fun then I do, compared to the life I lived. That’s why I have been thinking about stopping dialysis, I’ve had conversations with the consultant and I would probably last about a month but at least in that month I’m in control of my own destiny instead of relying on a machine. Which is worse? You have got to weigh that one up.
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“WHAT IT TAKES AWAY IS SPONTANEITY.” Mari Wilson
Mari Wilson, 61, musician. I was diagnosed on 21 June 1978 and I’ve never ever forgotten. I think I was 22 or 23. It’s getting on for 40 years. It was still called juvenile onset diabetes which is normally the term used for a 15 year old so I was a bit older but you see I think I’d been walking around with it for years anyway. Sometimes a shock can bring it on and you have to be in that susceptible group that you possibly develop Type 1 and when look back now when I was fifteen my dad had a heart attack. A very serious one in fact. It was the 4th March and it had been snowing. He was overweight because when he was 40 or so he stopped playing football and the obvious happened. He was 15 stone. He went in the garden to shovel the snow away, came in and said “I’ve got terrible indigestion” He went upstairs, which was really unusual and my mum said “go and keep an eye on him” and I think she dialled 999. I don’t know but for a few years up until I was diagnosed my thirst increased so I was always had to have something to drink constantly. I remember I’d get off the bus three or four stops early to go into a shop buy a drink because I couldn’t wait until I got home. It’s a debilitating kind of thirst. But of course I would go and buy a bottle of orange juice or something so I was just making it worse but I didn’t know that and we are talking 1978 when there wasn’t such awareness. Then the other thing that made me go to the doctor was I was losing an awful of weight. I looked awful, I was drawn, I was pale. My hair was all lank. But then what happened was I remember being in this office and I was talking to someone across the room and I was squinting and he said “why are you squinting?” I said “everything is blurred”
I thought I’d better make an appointment with the doctor. On the Saturday the World Cup was on and I remember sitting with everybody watching the World Cup and I couldn’t really see the ball, I couldn’t really see properly. I went to the doctor on the Monday about 10 in the morning and he said “I need you to do a urine sample” and I thought ‘what’s that got to do with my eyesight?! I did the urine test and he said “I’m pretty sure you have Type 1 diabetes”. He said “go home, you’re probably going to go into hospital today”. The shock was unbelievable. I went home and my friend Jeff came round because he said “I’ll take you to the hospital” and they phoned me and they said “they’ll be a bed ready for you at 2 o’clock”. I went and I had a Mars bar on the way because I thought it would be the last one I’d ever eat. (laughter) I was so tired. I don’t know what my blood sugar must have been but it must have been dreadfully high and then a couple of significant things happened. They did my first injection of insulin I remember… the bed across from me…you know how you have the clip board at the end of the bed and it has the name of the doctor? I couldn’t read it. It was in big block letters but I couldn’t read the name of the doctor. Then the doctors and nurses came round and said “well we’re going to teach you how to inject”. I was really not happy about that. I didn’t want to do it. And then they kind of shamed me into it “well we’ve just taught a 4 year old how to do this. "If a four year old can do it then you can do it” and I said “yeah, you’re quite right” and I did it into my thigh but I hit a vein so I had this big blue line of bruise. I don’t do it in my thigh anymore because there’s too much muscle there really. So they got me on the insulin and they started teaching me about the diet. I
don’t think you go into hospital now but I was in hospital for three weeks and I remember about the 4th or 5th day I woke up and I looked across and it said “Dr Mahler”…and I thought “oh my g*d, my eyesight’s gone completely normal” They had said “we’ll put you on insulin, your eyesight will get worse for a couple of days and then it’ll get better” And then it did and then I was sent home to get on with it really, with lists of food I remember I didn’t stop eating cheese which meant I gained loads of weight. I had lost an awful lot of weight but I gained it all back and more because it’s quite complicated…insulin…and if there’s too much you get fat. So if you’re injecting more insulin than you really need… it’s quite hard for people with Type 1 diabetes or people on insulin to keep their weight down. When I was diagnosed the most important thing that they kept saying was to have have carbohydrate. So they’d say “have your insulin, have your carbohydrate”. It was all regulated like that because in those days you’d have an injection in the morning and an injection in the evening. So if you’re having your injection at 9, you had to have lunch by 1 otherwise you’d go hypo where your sugar level would drop. Because you’ve injected the insulin and its constantly working because it was a mixture of long acting and fast acting. So of course all these carbohydrates. It’s very hard to lose weight. So when I got to the age of about 26 I decided I had to. The first year I was quite rebellious and I think it’s quite common. I was a young girl, I started to gain weight having got quite skinny. I thought I was meant to be constantly skinny like Mary Tyler Moore who was also a Type 1 because she was the only one I’d ever heard of who had diabetes. I didn’t know what
“I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS AHEAD OF ME. I HAD NO IDEA. MY WHOLE LIFE WAS GOING TO CHANGE. ”
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it was! I had no idea what was ahead of me. I had no idea. My whole life was going to change…and my whole life did change. When six o’clock in the evening came and it was time for my injections I just didn’t want to do it. I had a huge glass syringe that sat in this thing of mentholated sprit to keep it sterile with a huge needle. It was stainless steel and glass. We didn’t do blood tests then, it was only urine tests. They realise now that if there’s sugar in your urine that maybe from this morning. So if you do a blood test at 4 o’clock that urine is maybe carrying sugar from 10 o’clock in the morning and by 4 o’clock your sugar level could have gone back to normal. So it’s only really a blood test that can tell you that. Now I do blood tests all day. So I did do that thing of not having my injections and thinking that if I don’t have the insulin then I get thinner but actually by not having the insulin I was making myself more ill. One day I woke up and I thought ‘this isn’t right, I’m not going to do this anymore, I’m going to start exercising and that’s when I started to swim like a mile a day. Every day….and I still swim. The only time I reduced the amount that I went was when I was pregnant with my daughter when I was 42. I started to get fit and started to manage my diabetes a bit better. But then of course I was a pop star and I was on tour and that was difficult because we’d be touring Europe for instance and we’d be driving for miles on a motorway and I’d have nothing to eat. Because the other people might buy chocolate or biscuits and I couldn’t. I needed proper food. That was difficult and I would probably get quite irritable. But that was difficult… that period…to look after myself but then I got the pen which was different from having this huge horrible syringe. It’s an
insulin pen and you just do how many clicks of insulin you need. But what really, really improved things was when they said ‘what we’re going to do now is, you’re going to have two pens.’ One is going to have fast acting insulin and one is going to have long acting and the long acting you just have once a day. Either before you go to bed at night or first thing in the morning and lasts almost 24 hours and it keeps the bottom line. The other pen is for when you eat and it’s fast acting so if you don’t want to eat you don’t have any. So this whole thing of three times a day, that kind of finished and so it gave me so much more freedom because I was like anybody else I could eat when I wanted to. I still had to monitor my blood sugar and that was the other thing that happened was suddenly these little machines with these little sticks came and you could blood tests by pricking your finger…and the one I’ve got now it’s five seconds after I’ve put the blood on the stick I get a reading. One of the scariest things for me about having diabetes is the hypos, where your blood sugar really drops because of course what you’re doing is you’re injecting the insulin so if you don’t eat enough to cover that amount of insulin or if you go and play tennis or swim or take loads of exercise your blood sugar is going to drop. For me…if I go below about 4 I start to feel a bit weird and behave a bit weird. So that’s why you have to carry around glucose all the time. I’ve had a couple of scary ones, not scary in so much as I was in danger or would endanger anyone else but especially when I was pregnant because they said…I was 42 when I had my daughter which is quite old anyway and being Type 1 diabetic they’re always worried you’re going to have a large baby because it does put them in danger. And the only way to not have a large baby you’ve got to keep your sugar really low and really much lower than you would have normally.
They said they wanted it to be around 6 but in order to keep it around 6 you’ve got to be below 6 a lot of the time. So you’re quite nervous that you’re going to have a hypo. For me I don’t mind the injections but having the hypo is scary. It’s like being stoned or drunk or something but suddenly and there’s no explanation for it. My mum was great, my sister was very understanding although she had children and didn’t live near me but she was great. My dad…I remember one night I was talking about it and he said ‘on for g*d’s sake!… it’s all you ever talk about’ and I got so upset. I think my dad found it quite difficult. I thought ‘you’ve got no idea what I’m going through’ because I didn’t have any counselling or anything like that because it does completely change your life. What it takes away is spontaneity. That’s kind of what it does because it’s a 24/7 condition. It’s a chronic disease. So every time I get in the car I do a blood test, every time I exercise I do a blood test, every time I go on stage I do a blood test because I have to make sure …not only am I not going to have a hypo but I’ve got to make sure it’s not too high either because long term that’s when you really have problems. Often when your sugar is high you don’t feel any different that’s why you’ve got to keep an eye on it because you think ‘ I feel fine’ then you do a blood test and it’s 15 or something. It should be between 4 and 7 is the ideal. When you do look healthy, which I do, people just think there’s nothing wrong with me. I now remember what the turning point was. About a year after I got diagnosed I had an abscess in my tooth and it got so bad that the poison spread throughout my face which started to swell up so I got rushed into hospital but the only ward that they could get me into was the diabetic ward for amputation. I was in the
102 if I had a tuna salad, I probably wouldn’t need any insulin. Whereas if I had a tuna salad and a jacket potato I’d have to have about six units of insulin to cover that potato and then if I had pasta I have to have six units of insulin to cover the pasta so of course you’re having more and more insulin. It’s only the last ten years that I’ve realised that. Because I’d be with my friends and I don’t eat anything near what they eat and I’m struggling all the time to keep the weight off and it is really the insulin. I don’t eat things like donuts even though I could if I didn’t have Celiacs Disease because I have that now as well. I’ve had Celiacs Disease since 1991 so I can’t have gluten. They don’t know why people with Type 1 get Celiacs. Stigma…not so much. Sometimes people were not at all interested or they thought I had Type 2 diabetes and it was because I ate loads of sugar…and that would annoy me. The problem we have in this country and in America is Type 2 diabetes. It’s not Type 1, it’s different. Not every single one but most people with Type 2 it’s because they have a bad diet, they’re over weight and they don’t do any exercise and if they changed all of those things they could possibly get rid of it….and it can be managed by tablets. You can’t really manage Type 1 with tablets, you have to be on insulin. Because if you think about it even though my diabetes is managed it’s still guess work. Grapes are lovely and they’re quite healthy but they’re full of sugar so even if I have a few grapes afterwards I’ll go “I’d better have a bit of insulin to cover that”. So if you’re sugar levels are going up and down, up and down 24 hours a day that’s going to make you tired.
bed and to my right was an older woman and her name was Kate and she was in there to have her lower leg amputated due to diabetes. In the day room I got chatting to some of the other women. One woman said to me “I know why I’ve got this, because every morning I get myself a donut on the way to work because I thought it won’t matter will it?” and obviously that planted some kind of seed. The morning I woke up was the morning Catherine went
to surgery. I remember looking over and she lifted her leg up which was no longer a leg but a stump…she was under the covers but I could see that the bottom half of her leg was missing and I think it gave me such a shock.
It’s very very easy to do the blood test. You just prick your finger on this stick. Put the stick in the machine. Now when it gets to a little bit low and that’s normally how it is for me now I think “I’ll have a couple of Jelly Babies” which are fantastic, easy to carry around and they’re pure glucose so they work really quickly. You want something that is isotonic. Often, when I was with my previous partner he would say “you alright, what’s the matter?” or I’d start acting weird, like I’d start singing in an operatic voice or giggling and he’s say “you need glucose” and he was right.
I eat fish. I didn’t eat meat from 1982 but diet wise you can actually as a diabetic eat anything but you have to make sure you have enough insulin to cover that. So
You don’t feel normal. There’s no logic. You just start acting weird and if it goes beyond that then you won’t go and get yourself a Lucozade.
C H U PA CHUPS, 2015
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SUGAR TOWN
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The Legacies of British Slave-ownership is the umbrella for two projects based at the University College London which traces the impact of slave ownership on the formation of modern Britain. Colonial slavery shaped modern Britain and we all still live with its legacies. The slave-owners were one very important means by which the fruits of slavery were transmitted to metropolitan Britain. At the core of the completed project is this online Encyclopaedia of British Slave-ownership containing information about every slave-owner in the British
Caribbean, Mauritius or the Cape at the moment of abolition in 1833. Parliament granted £20 million in compensation, to be paid by British taxpayers to the former slave-owners. The project is now tracking back to 1763 the ownership histories of the 4000 or so estates identified in that project. Š University College London
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Andrew Colvile 6th Nov 1779 - 1856 Antigua 331 (Diamond Estate)
13th Feb 1836 | 72 Enslaved | £1115 2S 9D
British Guiana 658 (Belle Vue)
9th Feb 1836 | 209 Enslaved | £11257 5S 7D
Jamaica Hanover 463 (Newfound River Estate)
12th Dec 1836 | 72 Enslaved | £1506 11S 2D
Jamaica Hanover 464 (Green River Estate)
8th Feb 1836 | 198 Enslaved | £3870 19S 8D
Jamaica Hanover 561 (Prospect Estate)
7th Mar 1836 | 310 Enslaved | £5622 17S 11D
Jamaica Trelawney 398 (Fontabelle Estate)
19th Dec 1836 | 303 Enslaved | £6005 0S 10D
Jamaica Trelawney 403 (Fontabell Estate)
19th Dec 1836 | 102 Enslaved | £2087 5S 10D
Jamaica Westmoreland 209 (Spring Garden Estate)
7th Mar 1836 | 325 Enslaved | £5866 16S 8D
Jamaica Westmoreland 211 (Retreat Estate)
7th Mar 1836 | 304 Enslaved | £5417 1S 5D
Jamaica Westmoreland 26 (Paradise Pen)
7th Mar 1836 | 103 Enslaved | £1855 7S 7D
Jamaica Westmoreland 334A (Bluecastle Estate)
8th Feb 1836 | 207 Enslaved | £765 10S 10D
Jamaica Westmoreland 334B (Bluecastle Estate)
7th Mar 1836 | 207 Enslaved | £2755 18S 10D
Jamaica Westmoreland 419 (Mount Edgecombe)
7th Mar 1836 | 269 Enslaved | £4583 13S 7D
Jamaica Westmoreland 543 (Mint Estate)
7th Mar 1836 | 191 Enslaved | £3574 3S 0D
Jamaica Westmoreland 544 (Mint Estate)
7th Mar 1836 | 143 Enslaved | £2839 1S 4D
Jamaica Westmoreland 545 (Moreland)
7th Mar 1836 | 146 Enslaved | £2727 6S 5D
Jamaica Westmoreland 546 (Moreland)
7th Mar 1836 | 118 Enslaved | £2125 6S 7D
Jamaica Westmoreland 80 (Blackheath Estate)
5th Dec 1836 | 359 Enslaved | £6597 12S 5D
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William Maxwell Alexander 1790 - 1853 Antigua 1045 (Yapton Farm)
26th Jun 1837 | 113 Enslaved | £1681 4S 1D
Grenada 955 (Union Estate)
23rd Jan 1836 | 153 Enslaved | £3679 6S 5D
St Vincent 451 (Lot no 14 Estate (sic)
31st Oct 1836 | 339 Enslaved | £8926 12S 3D
St Vincent 557 (Sion Hill)
22nd Feb 1836 | 139 Enslaved | £3794 13S 7D
St Vincent 574 (Montrose)
22nd Feb 1836 | 107 Enslaved | £2993 13S 1D
St Vincent 599 (Golden Grove)
22nd Feb 1836 | 106 Enslaved | £3101 19S 9D
St Vincent 745 (Cheltenham, Island of mustique)
12th Jun 1841 | 257 Enslaved | £6525 9S 0D
St Vincent 449B (Orange Hill)
24th Oct 1836 | 243 Enslaved | £3363 5S 10D
St Vincent 450 (Waterloo Estate)
24th Oct 1836 | 308 Enslaved | £7856 11S 7D
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James Evan Baillie 1781 - 14th Jun 1863& Assoc British Guiana 2289 (Hampton Court)
11th Jan 1836 | 456 Enslaved | £23024 6S 5D
British Guiana 125A (Deutichem)
23rd Nov 1835 | 247 Enslaved | £4349 13S 7D
British Guiana 158A ([Eliza and Mary?])
23rd Nov 1835 | 171 Enslaved | £8617 18S 8D
Grenada 591 (Revolution Hall Estate)
9th May 1836 | 168 Enslaved | £4210 16S 8D
Grenada 690 (Levera)
9th Nov 1835 | 94 Enslaved | £2759 1S 0D
Grenada 701 (Hermitage Estate)
23rd Jan 1836 | 149 Enslaved | £4030 4S 3D
St Kitts 48 (Mornes Estate)
10th Oct 1836 | 125 Enslaved | £2043 19S 6D
St Vincent 548 (Cane Hall Estate)
22nd Feb 1836 | 156 Enslaved | £4385 6S 2D
St Vincent 553 (Liberty Lodge)
22nd Feb 1836 | 49 Enslaved | £1367 8S 2D
St Vincent 661 (Convent Estate)
18th Dec 1837 | 3 Enslaved | £93 16S 1D
Trinidad 1641 (Camden)
4th Jul 1836 | 135 Enslaved | £6042 8S 3D
CHUPA CHUPS, 2015
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CONTRIBUTORS LUBNA KHAN MARI WILSON MELISSA KIME MONIKA YANEVA ROXETTE CRYER ELOISE GROHS YVES SALMON ANNE LAERKE KOEFOED SHUN WEN YU LAURENE BECQUART QISHEN JING STEPHEN BURKE ALAN DUNN MARK TILLING JOE NAVARRETE
CHUPA CHUPS, 2014
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“...THE WORLD’S CHANGED TODAY, IT’S WAY MORE PROFOUND THAN YOU COULD IMAGINE.” JAMIE OLIVER ON THE SUGAR TAX - 16TH MARCH 2016