A sweet addiction
Danilo Anton 

Sugars are organic substances that develop as a result of photosynthesis and plant metabolism, they are an essential element of the sap of plants, and are present in the honey produced by certain Hymenoptera such as bees and wasps.
The main compounds of sugar are sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose, levulose, lactose and maltose.
Sucrose or sucrose (C12 H22 O11 ), or “common”sugar  is the most consumed in contemporary societies.   It melts at 185 °C, and when cooled, after reaching 200 ° C, it becomes caramel. Common sugar is obtained as a byproduct of numerous plants3   among them sugar cane and in a lesser degree sugar beet.
Corn is also used as a source of sugar, but the resulting compounds are especially glucose and dextrose.

Sugar, the industrial drug
Sugar is the most widely used drug in the contemporary world. However, his name is usually absent from discussions on contemporary addictions.
Sugar intake produces a brief physiological”acceleration”, followed by depression and guilt. When it is consumed for prolonged periods results in a moderate addiction, which, while relatively safe at first, over time may become intense and harmful to health. Commonly sugar addiction does not occur in isolation but its addiction is combined with other substances, such as caffeine.

Some addicts consume “diet” sweetener pills instead of sugar, but then, to mitigate the symptoms of lack of sugar, they end up ingesting tranquilizers.
There is also a proven link between sugar and alcohol consumption. There is a tendency for both addictions to be combined and mutually reinforcing.

Sugar-products
While it is a globally spread substance, sugar is a relatively new product. In the Greco-Roman times it was not known. In these cultures the main sweetener was honey which was used as food dressing, and for ceremonial purposes. In Africa and America, as in Europe, honey was historically the main sweetener.
The traditional sugar consumption was limited for a long time to the place of origin of sugarcane, India. There it was used since ancient times as an important component of local diets.
The advance of sugar cane cultivation was slow. From India it spread to Egypt in the eighth and ninth centuries dec. From there ir expanded West.
In medieval Europe sugar was sold in pharmacies, in small quantities and high prices, and consumption was mainly considered for medicinal purposes.
With the advancement of the Muslim civilization, sugar cane cultivation spread to North Africa and finally to Andalusia, in Islamic Spain. 
Indeed, one of the reasons that fueled the economic boom of the Caliphate of Córdoba and other Arab kingdoms of the Iberian peninsula was the production and export of sugar.
Muslin Cordoba fell in 1236, then Sevilla (1248) and finally Granada in 1492. The sugarcane crops of Spain were taken over by the Christian kingdoms which had been the victors of the long war.
The nascent Iberian empires would skillfully exploit this new crop which provided lucrative returns. In the first instance, to continue cultivating sugar cane, cane was planted in Andalucia and Portuguese Alentejo and Moor captives were used as slaves  
Later, as transoceanic expansion of the kingdoms of Castile, Aragon and Portugal progressed Guanche and African slaves were used.
When the new possessions were firmly under control  plantations began to be installed in the conquered territories.
From: "Peoples, Drugs and Serpents". Danilo Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones.