Oh, Sugar, Sugar!

[David Casseres]

>I wonder if sugar will form a subtext in M&D, what with its purported 
>caffeine abuse and all.  When chocolate and coffee houses were all the rage
>in 18th century London (see Samuel Johnson and co.), reports of major 
>tooth decay
>increased dramatically.

Owen Lattimore, an expert on Central Asia (and an uncle of mine) observed 
that when he first went to Outer Mongolia in the 1920's there was 
essentially no tooth decay at all, and sugar was unknown.  Within one 
generation, Russian influence increased to the point where everyone was 
drinking heavily sugared tea, and everyone had rotten teeth.


Cheers,
David