Nowadays, sugar is the boogeyman in our cupboards since research shows it may cause a variety of health problems. If foods were criminals and diseases were crimes, sugar is going to fit a lot of descriptions. Despite today’s preoccupation with sugar, the health concerns regarding sugar aren’t entirely new. The connection between sugar and disease may have begun in the 1600s when Thomas Willis, an English physician, noted that a diabetic patient’s urine tasted “sweet like sugar or honey.” He subsequently added ‘mellitus,’ meaning “from honey,” to the term diabetes—coining the condition’s present-day name. I’ve heard health professionals correct patients for saying “sugar diabetes,” but technically the term does mean ‘sugar’ diabetes and Latin went out of style 1000 years ago. Regardless of terminology, I’m just grateful that drinking urine isn’t part of a doctor’s job description anymore. If it were, my site’s name would just be “thekitchen.com.”
To my wife: I know nothing about tinder, but I thought this was hilarious
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I am a physician and trained chef. I specialize in gastroenterology and nutrition. Currently I work as the Associate Director of Adult Nutrition at the University of Chicago.
