The most interesting facts about sugar. False facts about sugar that you thought were true. What diseases does sugar cause?
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Great Sahara Desert is located in North Africa and partially or completely covers the territory of almost eleven countries. This is the largest desert in the world, covering an area of more than 9,000,000 square meters. km, quite comparable to the area of the United States. It extends 1600 km wide and about 5000 km long from east to west. They say that a thousand years ago the climate in the desert was more humid. The fact is that in the distant past, the territory of the Sahara underwent various atmospheric changes, which led to a change in climatic conditions. The desert divides the African continent into two parts - North and Sub-Saharan Africa. By reading the interesting facts below, you will learn more about this desert.
The Sahara Desert is the second largest desert in the world (after Antactis) and the largest hot desert on the planet.
It covers almost all parts of North Africa. It stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coast, to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. In the southern region, its border is the semi-arid savannah region of the Sahel, separating the desert from Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the boundaries of the desert are not clearly defined; moreover, over the past thousand years they have undergone significant changes.
The Sahara passes through the following countries: Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara.
The history of the desert goes back at least 3 million years.
The climate of the Sahara is combined: in the north it is subtropical, and in the south it is tropical.
The relief is quite varied, but in general it is a plateau lying at an altitude of 400-500 m above sea level. There are underground rivers here, which sometimes flow to the surface, forming oases. Vegetation develops well in such natural oases. The soil in these regions of the Sahara is very fertile, so where irrigation is possible, excellent crops grow.
Part of the desert territory is occupied by sand dunes that reach a height of 180 meters .
The central region is more elevated above sea level compared to the rest of its regions. The central plateau stretches for 1600 km from northwest to southeast. Its height ranges from 600 to 750 m, some peaks reach a level of 1800 m and even 3400 m. The highest points are the peaks of Emi Koussi with a height of 3415 m, Tahat - 3003 m, the Tibetsi massif and Ahaggar Highlands.
This may seem strange, but in winter There are snow caps on the mountain peaks. In the eastern part of the Sahara - the Libyan Desert - the climate is the driest, so there are very few oases here. This part contains sandy areas with large dunes, the height of which reaches 122 meters or more.
The climate of the Sahara Desert is very hot and dry. It gets very hot here during the day and cool at night.
The Sahara region receives only 20 cm of precipitation per year. It is for this reason that a very small population lives here, only 2 million people.
The desert used to be fertile land where elephants, giraffes and other animals grazed. Gradually it became increasingly arid, and the fertile landscape turned into the barren region we know it today.
The central part of the Sahara is extremely dry, with sparse or no vegetation. In areas where moisture accumulates, grasslands, desert shrubs, trees and tall shrubs are sometimes found here.
During the last Ice Age, the desert was larger than it is now, extending south beyond its present boundaries.
The climatic conditions here are considered the most severe in the world. Prevailing northeasterly winds often cause sandstorms and micro-tornadoes called “dust devils.”
Arabic is the most widely spoken language in the Sahara, from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.
The Sahara is divided into several regions: Western Sahara, Central Highlands of Ahaggar, Tibesti Mountains, Aïr Mountains (region of desert mountains and high plateaus), Tenere Desert and Libyan Desert (driest region).
The Nile River Valley and the mountainous regions of the Nubian Desert east of the Nile are geographically part of the Sahara Desert. However water of the Nile turned this territory
- The main sources of sugar are sugar cane and sugar beets.
- Sugarcane stalks can reach a height of 9 meters.
- In ancient times, one of the Indian provinces, Bengal, was called the “Land of Sugar”.
- The chemical formula of sugar is C12H22O11.
- He first described sugar in 327 BC. e. Greek historian Onesicritus, who accompanied Alexander the Great on his Indian campaign: “In India, reeds produce honey without bees.”
- When Alexander the Great brought cane sugar from his Indian campaigns to Greece, it was immediately nicknamed “Indian salt.”
- Sugar was brought to the New World in 1493 by Christopher Columbus during his second voyage.
- When sugar cane farming in the New World began to generate significant income, these territories acquired the status of real gold mines. So in 1674, Holland gave England New York (formerly New Amsterdam) for cane plantations in Suriname, and in 1763 France bargained with Britain to return Guadeloupe, in exchange offering to take all of Canada.
- Up until the late 1700s, when sugar was considered a luxury, it was called "white gold."
- From 1701 to 1810, about a million slaves from Africa were brought to Jamaica and Barbados alone to work on sugar cane plantations.
- The world's first beet sugar factory was built by the German Achard in Kunern (Lower Silesia, now part of Poland) in 1801 at the direction of the king, who allocated the necessary funds in 1800.
- In Russia, the first document related to the development of its own sugar production is the decree of Peter I, signed by him on March 14, 1718. In it, in particular, there were instructions “to the Moscow merchant Pavel Vestov in Moscow to start a sugar factory with his own kosht and during that campaign to recruit for him whoever he wants, for which he should be given the privilege from the Manufacture Board for ten years and for that factory to export to him raw sugar overseas, and in Moscow boil head sugar from that and sell it freely.”
- The first plant for the production of sugar from sugar beets (beet sugar-alcohol plant) in Russia began operating in November 1802 in the village of Alyabyev, Chernsky district, Tula province.
- Refined sugar in the form of cubes was invented in 1843 in the Czech Republic. Its inventor was the Swiss Jacob Christoph Rad, manager of a sugar factory in Dačice, Czech Republic.
- Refined sugar (1cm cube) is completely dissolved in a glass of 60°C water for 11-24 seconds without stirring the water.
- It is believed that sugar packets were invented by Benjamin Eisenstadt (1906-1996), the owner of a coffee shop in New York, in order to somehow optimize the use of sugar at tables. However, without having time to patent the invention, he shared his idea with manufacturing companies, which immediately seized on this idea. True, people use sugar packets not at all as intended by the inventor.
- Sugar is a natural preservative that prevents food spoilage, and is also widely used in industry and not only food.
- In some countries (India and Brazil), cars are fueled with fuel obtained from sugar beets.
- Some fruits can produce their own sugar, for example, in ripened bananas, sugar is produced by the breakdown of starch, making bananas sweeter.
- Sugar is an important source of carbohydrates, the main source of energy for the human body.
- Lemon contains more sugar than strawberries.
- In 1747, the German chemist Markgraf discovered that the sugar in sugar beets is identical to that in sugar cane.
- The amount of sugar in 500 ml of Coca-Cola is equivalent to 16 sugar cubes.
- Artificial sweeteners - aspartame (E951) and saccharin - were obtained by accident. The first is in the process of oxidizing 2-toluenesulfonamide, and the second is during experiments to obtain a medicine for ulcers.
- The strongest sugar substitute, lugduname, is almost 300,000 times sweeter than sugar.
- One type of sugar, glycolaldehyde, was found in accumulations of interstellar dust billions of kilometers from our planet.
- Model rocketry enthusiasts use a mixture of glucose, corn syrup and saltpeter as rocket fuel.
- In the USA, an interesting medicine is produced in tablets called Obecalp (placebo, if you read its name backwards), the main component of which is sugar; such tablets are prescribed to children for minor health complaints.
- By the way, initially in Europe, sugar was considered a medicine and was sold in pharmacies.
- Eating too much sugar can lead to wrinkles because sugar is stored in the collagen of the skin, making it less elastic.
- On May 13, 1920, at a conference of dentists in Manchester, sucrose was first identified as the main cause of dental disease, causing caries.
- More than 110 million tons of sugar are produced annually: 60% from sugar cane and 40% from sugar beets.
- The world's largest sugar beet processing plant is located in France.
- According to the International Sugar Organization, sugar production in 2012 will exceed demand by 5.9 million tons.
- The main sugar producers are Brazil, India, the European Union, China and Thailand
- The largest exporter of sugar is Brazil.
- The highest sugar consumption per capita is in Brazil.
- The largest importers of sugar are the European Union, the United States and Indonesia.
- Yellow sugar is considered significantly healthier than white sugar. It is absorbed faster and is considered an elite variety in the USA and Japan.
- Over the past 20 years, human consumption of sugar has increased to 40 kilograms per year; it is included in most food products (bread, butter, seasonings, sauces, etc.).
- Experts believe that a healthy dose of sugar per day for a woman can contain up to 100 kcal, that is, about 4 teaspoons of sugar, and for a man - 150 kcal, or about 6 teaspoons of sugar. And for a child - 1 teaspoon. This amount includes all sugar consumed, including that found in confectionery and sweetened foods and drinks.
Every day, but not many people know about its properties, origin and its substitutes.
This article contains a selection of interesting facts and information about this incredibly popular sweet product among almost all peoples and strata of society.
1. So, let's start with the fact that sugar is a fairly universal product. After all, it is used as food by all peoples in all countries of the world, and it has long been known to the most developed cultures of mankind. And it is called universal due to the fact that sugar is not only put into tea or food, it is also used for various preparations, pickles and even first and second courses.
2. Many people heard the terrible statement that sugar is nothing more than white death in childhood. This is how parents often scare their children with a sweet tooth so that they don’t eat a lot of goodies. For those who doubt it, it should be noted that this is the honest truth: sugar can remove nutrients from the human body, one of them is calcium, which is very important for the body. Due to this feature of white sweet crystals, bones can be destroyed and caries may appear. Because of it, arthritis and muscle atrophy develop; excess sugar often leads to blood diseases and hemophilia.
3. There are a great many types of sugar. In addition to the well-known granulated sugar and refined sugar, there is also sawn sugar, which is sawed off from a lump of sugar. Burnt sugar or candy sugar can even be prepared at home; it helps with colds.
4. One of the most exotic varieties of sugar can easily be considered malt sugar, which is made from rice or millet. This type has been used by the Japanese for many millennia. It is good for adding to baby food and for making baked goods. In China, candy is prepared; it comes in 3 types - yellow, white and dark. It is very difficult and time-consuming to produce: first, the syrup is boiled for 10 days, then washed in water with lime and dried. The result is granules that take a long time to dissolve in water. And the population of Southeast Asia uses the golden toffee yageri to sweeten their food. This sugar is made from the sap of the sugar palm, has a pleasant taste and is usually packaged in bars.
5. The source of our usual sugar is usually sugar cane or beets. Even during the discovery of America by Columbus, there was a real sensation associated with the cultivation of sugar cane and the extraction of sugar itself. For a very long time, this sweet product was available only to the rich, as it was grown on plantations in America, and only then transported by ship to Europe. Beetroot made sugar cheaper, which served as a cheap analogue of cane, because it can be grown in a harsher climate.
— If you consume excessive amounts of sugar, this can lead to the appearance of wrinkles due to the fact that sugar is deposited in reserve in the collagens of the skin, making it less elastic. The good news is that if you reduce your sugar intake, this process is reversed;
— In India, about 2000 years ago, crystalline sugar was made from cane. When Alexander the Great reached Indian territory, he was surprised by the process of producing honey without the use of bees (that is, artificial honey from sugar);
— In 1747, the German chemist Andreas Marggraf discovered that the sugar in sugar beets is identical to that in sugar cane. This discovery opened the way for sugar production in the northern regions - the first sugar factory producing sugar from beets began operating in 1802;
-Can you eat 16 sugar cubes in one sitting? Did you know that 500 ml of Coca-Cola contains the equivalent of 16 cubes of sugar, and when you drink it, all this sugar gets dissolved into your stomach;
- Drinks with synthetic sweeteners (not natural sugar) can lead to obesity, since the lack of sugar in them “tricks” our body into absorbing more drinks;
By the way, you can solve the problem of excess weight in many different ways: from regular exercise and eating only selected foods to using a wide variety of chemicals, one of which, for example, the Herbalife website will tell you about.
- Artificial sweeteners - aspartame (E951) and saccharin - were obtained by accident. The first is in the process of oxidizing 2-toluenesulfonamide, and the second is during experiments to obtain a medicine for ulcers. Scientist James Schlatter accidentally dipped his finger into the resulting substance and, after licking it, discovered that it was sweet;
— The strongest sugar substitute is lugdunam, it is almost 300,000 times sweeter than sugar. This means that in order to sweeten, for example, a cup of tea, instead of two teaspoons of regular sugar (about 10 g), one crystal of this wonderful substance (30 millionths of a gram) is enough. And a kilogram packet of lugdunam can “sweeten” an entire 10-lane Olympic swimming pool;
— One type of sugar, glycolaldehyde, was found even in accumulations of interstellar dust billions of kilometers from our planet. When it reacts with other types of sugar, ribose is formed - the basis of DNA and RNA, substances that are found in any living organism. Two assumptions can be made from this. First, life on Earth could have arisen precisely through the interaction of the components of such a dust cloud, and second, perhaps life exists not only on Earth;
— If you mix glucose, corn syrup and saltpeter, you get one of the types of rocket fuel that is used by model rocketry enthusiasts; — An interesting medicine in tablets called Obecalp is produced in the USA. Its main component is sugar, and such tablets are prescribed to children for minor health complaints. What is special about this medicine? Read the title backwards;
— Glycosamide (a type of sugar) works as an immunosuppressant in experiments on mice, and xylitol (sugar alcohol) can prevent infections in children.
— In the Czech Republic there is a monument to sugar, or more precisely, refined sugar; it was the Czechs who were the first to come up with the idea of pressing sugar into cubes. The second famous monument to refined sugar was opened in 2010 in the city of Sumy in Ukraine on the 355th anniversary of the city.
— All confectionery products (sweets, cookies, pies, ice cream and much more), as well as drinks (Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and others) contain a huge amount of sugar, up to 90%.
— Sugar is produced from both cane and sugar beets. But the interesting thing is that cane sugar is yellowish in color, and it is a little healthier than beet sugar, since the body absorbs it faster and easier.
— It is interesting that scientists are ambivalent about the benefits of sugar. Some insist that when a person consumes sugar, a hormone of happiness is produced, and such people in life are cheerful, smiling, and friendly. Another point of view is based on the fact that sugar in large quantities has a detrimental effect on the human pancreas and liver.
— It’s also useful to know that sugar is somewhat addictive. There is even an opinion that sugar is to a certain extent a “drug”, in the good sense of the word.
— They have learned to make fuel for cars from sugar, and what’s most interesting is that batteries in which sugar plays the role of an electrolyte are expected to be released soon.
— According to astronomers, particles similar in properties to sugar have been discovered in space.
— Sugar is included in many medicines.
— There is no fat in sugar, therefore, it does not affect a person’s fatness.
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What diseases does sugar cause?
Why do we have so many obese people suffering from serious illnesses, including diabetes?
According to statistics, 40℅ people on the globe have this disease, and the number of such patients is growing exponentially.
Russia is in 4th place in the number of patients with diabetes and obesity. This is especially dangerous for children who have been accustomed to sweets since childhood and all metabolic processes in their bodies are completely disrupted.
A terrifying figure: 42 million preschoolers in Russia are already obese! And each Russian consumes on average 40 kg of sugar per year, that is, 1 kg per week (that’s 15 teaspoons per day)!
In America, for example, sugar consumption has tripled and the American Heart Association has recommended strict consumption standards: for women - 6 teaspoons per day, for men - 9.
In the 20th century, Dr. William Martin generally called sugar “sweet poison”; it is a dead product that leads to serious illnesses and shortens human life.
And in 1970, British psychologist and nutritionist John Yutkin published the book “Clean, White, Deadly,” in which he predicted an epidemic of obesity and coronary heart disease due to an increase in the amount of sugar in human food.
He emphasizes that sugar is processed in the liver in the same way as alcohol and causes 8 serious problems, such as high blood pressure, liver dysfunction, high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, pancreatitis, diabetes and addiction as with alcohol and drug addiction , which is called “sugar addiction”.
How does sugar addiction occur?
And the scheme here is this: sugar is a fast carbohydrate, when it enters the bloodstream, it is immediately absorbed and the glucose level rapidly rises, BUT!
The trap is that after a certain period of time this level decreases and attacks of hunger attack the person again and again.
It's like a vicious circle: the body is addicted to sweets, it requires more and more sugar. It's called a sugar swing.
Scientists at Princeton University have proven that our body considers sweet foods a drug, just like cocaine, but sugar addiction grows 8 times faster than cocaine addiction! And although official medicine does not recognize that sugar is a real drug, in reality it is.
Sugar ranks first in the ranking of popular products. Yes, our body needs it as a source of energy - this is its main purpose. Its glycemic index is very high - 399 kcal per 100 g of product, which makes it unhealthy.
Sugar composition:
- Proteins - 0 g;
- Fats - 0 g;
- Carbohydrates - 99.8 g;
- Water - 0.1 g.
Eight facts about the dangers of sugar
First:
Sugar tends to weaken the human skeletal system, easily leaching calcium from the body, which increases the risk of fractures (osteoporosis). The fact is that to absorb sugar, the human body spends a large amount of calcium from human bones. Tooth enamel also deteriorates and caries develops, and sugar is to blame. Once in the oral cavity, a high level of acid is produced, which negatively affects the condition of the teeth.
Second:
Sugar leads to obesity, as already mentioned, it causes a false feeling of hunger, a person overeats and gains extra pounds. This happens because the cells are completely busy processing carbohydrates, but they no longer have time to process fats; they remain, accumulating in the body.
Third:
Sugar leads to disruptions in the cardiovascular system: muscular dystrophy of the heart occurs, the walls of blood vessels become inflamed, blood clots form, which can block the vessels at any time, which is directly related to strokes and heart attacks.
Fourth:
Sugar is considered a “stress food”: after the production of serotonin - the hormone of joy - the mood temporarily rises, the tone of the nervous system increases, breathing quickens (the key word is temporary) and, as a paradox, the reverse process starts: this is followed by depression, chronic fatigue, dizziness, worsening vision and sleep, a state of internal tension and devastation appears.
Fifth:
Sugar reduces immunity by 17 times. When sugar accumulates in large quantities in the body, the immune system malfunctions, metabolism is disrupted, internal organs work under wear and tear, and a person often gets sick.
Sixth:
The skin of those with a sweet tooth ages catastrophically due to the fact that sugar is deposited in collagen fibers (this is the basis of skin tissue) in reserve and the skin quickly loses its elasticity and wrinkles ahead of time.
Seventh:
Recent studies have shown a scary thing: cancer cells feed on sugar! And this was proven by the German scientist Otto Warburg, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1933. With the help of sugar, cell mutation occurs and glucose is directly related to the development of cancerous tumors. Sugar and white bread are the fuel that fuels the growth of cancer cells. In addition: the more insulin in the blood, the weaker the effect of chemotherapy on the patient.
All this once again confirms how dangerous sugar is to health.
One of the articles publishes catastrophic data on sugar - these are 76 serious blows to human health. Our ancestors did not know sugar, and we began to consume sugar 40 times more than they did.
The famous doctor and nutritionist Alexey Kovalkov wrote: Before this millennium, people did not know what sugar was and they lived well, great thinkers, philosophers, generals were born - all this was without sugar.
It was sugar that changed the course of history - sugar created America, where slaves were brought in droves to grow sugar cane. Remember "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
Now the American sugar hater R. Lustig is proving that we all have an overdose of sugar: in supermarkets, 80% of products contain sugar.
The food industry is thriving: it loves sugar, because it is the simplest and cheapest preservative - it increases the shelf life of products. In addition, it has a strong addictive effect (stronger than heroin), and in combination with fat (donuts, ice cream) it kills us.
Think about it and take care of your health.
297 years ago, in June 1720, the country's first sugar factory opened in St. Petersburg. The idea of creating such a production belonged to Peter the Great. The enterprise grew up on what is now the Vyborg embankment, not far from the state pier, which received foreign ships. This place was called the Sugar Yard for a long time. Since then, the sweet delicacy has become available to ordinary people, whereas previously only the highest nobility tried it.
The homeland of sugar is India, where it was traditionally made from sugar cane. At first, for the production of sweets in Russia, raw materials were imported from abroad. However, in 1747, the German chemist Andreas Marggraf discovered that sugar, which had previously been obtained from sugar cane, was also found in sugar beets. The discovery quickly found application in Europe, and later, at the beginning of the 19th century, in Russia.
Today, this product has many labels attached to it. On the one hand, with the words “sweet” and “sugar” we designate positive and pleasant phenomena and objects. On the other hand, we call sugar “sweet death.” the site has collected several interesting and little-known facts about him.
Initially, people in Russia ate sugar made from sugar cane. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Sugar addiction is similar to drug addiction
“I can’t live without sweets!” some people with a sweet tooth exclaim and, oddly enough, there is not much exaggeration in their words. Sugar can truly cause severe chemical addiction. Moreover, it is explained not only by psychological aspects, but also by the chemical and biological characteristics of the human body.
The fact is that sugar causes the release of insulin into the blood, and a person experiences a feeling close to euphoria. However, the feeling of pleasure and satiety quickly passes, and again you want more. Sweets are addictive to serotonin and dopamine, which are produced by the body when they are consumed. It is these two hormones that improve your mood. And the more often a person eats desserts, the greater his dependence on the state of happiness caused by these hormones.
By the way, experiments on rats have shown that the changes produced by sugar in the brain are very similar to those that occur under the influence of cocaine, morphine or nicotine.
Sugar can be good for you
So, it is a powerful antiseptic. Sugar kills germs, promotes wound healing, and destroys pathogenic microorganisms. For example, if you make a bandage with sugar on a wound, the sore spot will be protected not only from bacteria, but also from the appearance of excess moisture. And healing will happen faster.
Sugar can be used for more than just food
Sugar doesn't have to be in coffee or baked goods. It is useful in the household and for completely non-food purposes. For example, it has long established itself as an excellent fertilizer for indoor plants. To prepare a nutrient solution, you need to dilute 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar in 0.5 liters of water. You should water your flowers with it no more than once a month. You can do it even simpler - sprinkle sugar on the soil in a flower pot and then water it.
Hard-to-remove “greasy” stains on clothes can be easily removed with sugar and soap. To do this, you need to hold the stained area under running hot water, and then thoroughly soap it with a piece of laundry soap until a large amount of foam forms on the surface of the fabric. Then we rub it with our hands, and after a while we pour about a teaspoon of sugar on top. Three, as when washing, only without water. Then leave the item alone for 10-15 minutes and rinse well with water.
You can also get rid of the unpleasant odor in an old coffee grinder and spice jars using sugar. Just pour granulated sugar into a container, leave it for half an hour, and then rinse well under running water - it will perfectly absorb all the unpleasant aromas.
By the way, sugar is also used in a bottom anti-landing mine, which is installed at the bottom of a reservoir. The fuse in the device is made of pressed sugar. Having installed such a mine, they open the lid that blocked the water from accessing the plug. After a couple of hours, the sugar plug will dissolve and the weapon will be cocked, this eliminates the danger of being blown up during installation.
Sugar is also used in the production of plastics, leather, pharmaceutical, tobacco and other non-food industries.
Monuments dedicated to sugar
Monument to refined sugar. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The first monument to sugar was erected in 2003 in the Czech Republic (the city of Dačica).
The monument was opened in honor of the 160th anniversary of the invention of refined sugar. It was in this country that they came up with a way to press sweet powder into convenient cubes; this was done by the manager of the sugar factory in Dačice, the Swiss Jacob Christoph Rad in 1843. He also received a patent with a license for the production of lump sugar.
The monument was installed on the site where the sugar factory used to be and is a snow-white, shiny cube with polished edges, symbolizing refined sugar, placed on a pedestal made of gray granite.
A similar monument appeared in 2009 in Moscow. It was installed to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Danilovsky Sugar Refinery. The monument is located in the park on the territory of the Krasnopresnensky sugar refinery.
Sugar substitutes are far from harmless
Often people, giving up sugar for reasons of a healthy lifestyle, begin to lean on its substitutes. This often also leads to problems. Some of them, for example, saccharin, contain carcinogenic substances and can also cause exacerbation of cholelithiasis.
The popular aspartame does not have thermal stability and, in hot weather, breaks down into carcinogenic formaldehyde, methanol and toxic phenylalanine. The slightest excess of the dose causes dizziness, nausea, indigestion, allergies, and insomnia. It also increases appetite.
Suclamate can cause allergic skin diseases, and xylitol can provoke the development of bladder cancer. So, experts advise, it's better to eat more fruits that contain fructose. Honey is also useful. And if you really want a sugar-based dessert, eat it for your health! In reasonable quantities it will not harm you.