The Sugar Casino

SUGAR - a carbohydrate or toxic chemical; an excuse for obesity or the cause; much maligned or a natural ingredient? If nothing else, sugar triggers controversy, blame and myths on a global scale…and everyone seems to have an opinion, informed or otherwise. The Internet and the media are alight with articles citing added sugar as the leading cause of every disease and social ill from cancer to juvenile delinquency. How can this be true when per capita sugar consumption has been falling for the past forty years in most developed countries and has only increased slightly in the US? It is wrong to blame sugar for our ills; we need to find the real culprits. In this far-reaching and wide-ranging book Jonathan Kingsman, a 37-year sugar-industry veteran, dispels many myths, both about sugar and about how commodity markets work. He looks carefully at human rights, environment sustainability, speculation, food prices, commodity trading, market manipulation, government intervention and health. He provides some surprising conclusions. Anyone who is interested in how their food is produced and how it arrives on their plate, or into their cereal bowl will enjoy this book. With contributions from, or interviews with: • Isara Vongkusolkit, Chairman of Mitr Phol Sugar Group • Sunny Verghese, Co-Founder and CEO of Olam International Limited • Robert Kuok, Sugar King of Asia and international businessman • Chris Mahoney, Director of the Agricultural at Glencore International PLC • Greg Page, Executive Chairman of Cargill Inc. • Ralph Potter, Mentor to the sugar trade • Luc Tappy, Professor of Physiology at the University of Lausanne • Sven Sielhorst, Co-ordinator of the Sugarcane Programme at Solidaridad