Name: Addicted to sugar ⏲️ 6 Minute English
Uploaded: 2026-01-14T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 6 min 24 s
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Hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

Just as our addiction to oil is causing a climate emergency,

our addiction to sugar is causing a health emergency for our bodies.

Sugar gives us an instant hit of the chemical hormone dopamine, making us feel good, but

in the long run causing obesity, tooth decay and diseases like diabetes.

But how did our addiction to the sweet stuff begin?

That's what we'll be discussing in this program.

And as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Now, before we go on, I have a question for you.

Sugar cane, which grows naturally in Asia, Africa and the Americas,

first came to England in the 11th century.

Back then, it was an expensive luxury item, a fortune only to kings, queens and the very rich.

So which English monarch loved eating sugar so much their teeth turned black?

Was it A) King Henry VIII, B) Queen Elizabeth I, or C) Mary Queen of Scots?

I know Henry VIII was very unhealthy, so I'll guess it's him.

OK, Georgie, we'll find out the answer later in the program.

Just now I compared sugar to oil as the world's most important commodity.

A commodity is a product or natural resource that can be traded, bought and sold.

Today, economies, governments and wars are based on controlling oil.

But in earlier centuries, the same was true of sugar.

For 400 years, sugar, along with coffee and tobacco,

was grown in slavery plantations and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

the demand for sugar in Europe and the United States was at a record high.

Here's professor of international history, Ulba Bosmer,

explaining more to BBC Radio 4 program, Thinking Allowed.

Sugar was already an extremely important commodity in the 16th and 17th and 18th century.

And in the 19th century, we see a staggering growth of sugar consumption in Europe and the United States.

And so with that, sugar became the fuel for human bodies,

whereas oil became the fuel for vehicles in the 20th century.

Professor Bosmer talks about the staggering growth in the popularity of sugar.

The adjective staggering means shocking or surprising.

Just like oil became the fuel for machine engines,

sugar became the Fuel for the human body.

Fuel is a substance that is burned to provide heat or power.

Trading companies had become rich selling sugar grown using slave labor.

When people began to realize the health problems of Sugar in the 20th century,

these companies needed new ways to sell their product

and began using sugar in food which had previously contained none.

Here's Professor Bosma again, taking up the story for BBC Radio 4's Thinking Aloud.

You can flood the market with a certain commodity with sugar in this case, but

that still does not mean that people will consume it.

So the eating habits of people had to change.

People until the early 19th century, they had a few spoons of sugar per week, but

not a kilo, which people consume today in many countries in the world.

Sugar companies flooded the market with their commodity.

If you flood the market, you make a lot of your product available for sale, often at a low price.

But just because something is cheap and easily available doesn't mean people will eat it.

So sugar companies try to increase sugar consumption by changing people's eating habits,

For example, which types of food they eat, how much of it, and how often.

Instead of one or two spoons of sugar per week,

people started eating kilos, with results we see around us every day -

worldwide obesity and heart disease have tripled in the last 50 years.

What's more, because sugary food is cheaper,

it's often the poorest in society who are worst affected.

Maybe it's time to try having your tea without any sugar, eh, Neil?

And to reveal the answer to your question,

which English monarch's famous love of sugar turned their teeth black?

I guessed it was the notorious overeater Henry VIII.

Which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid, Georgie.

In fact, during the years before toothpaste and dentists, those black, stumpy teeth belonged to Queen Elizabeth I.

Ok, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this program about sugar.

Starting with a sweet tooth, a fondness for eating sweet, sugary food and drinks.

Fuel is a substance, such as oil or coal that is burned to provide heat or power.

The adjective staggering means very shocking and surprising.

If a company floods the market, they release a lot of a particular product for sale, often at a low price.

And finally, eating habits describe the way a particular group of people eat.

For example, which types of food they eat, how much, and how often.

Join us again soon for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute English.