Sugar Cane

Feeding a sweet tooth won't just lead to weight gain and a mouthful of cavities. A new study suggests that diets high in added sugars can alter levels of important blood fats and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The study, published in the Wednesday edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn., found that people who got at least 25% of their daily calories from added sugars of any kind were 3.1 times more likely to have low levels of so-called good cholesterol in their bloodstream than people who got less than 5% of their calories from added sweeteners.

The makers of high-fructose corn syrup would understandably like to change the image of their product, which has gained a reputation as the trans fat of the sugar world. In fact, as sales sink, they'd prefer a name change altogether — to corn sugar — and have asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to use it on food labels. The liquid sweetener is a natural food, a Corn Refiners Assn. advertising campaign claims, and nutritionally the same as any other sugar.

Who could resent the attention being showered on electric cars? Stylish and clean, they're the darling of the renewable-energy crowd, which is hailing the scheduled rollout of several e-powered models next year as a major blow against global warming. Well, Eduardo Leao, for one. He's executive director of the Brazil's largest sugar industry association, called UNICA, and he insists that cane-based ethanol produced in massive quantities by his members is a better alternative fuel for the environment than electricity.

Here in Pakistan's southern Punjab province, the tawny waters of the Indus and Chenab rivers have swallowed up vast swaths of verdant rice paddies, sugar cane fields and mango orchards that usually feed the nation. Floodwaters have submerged the village of Basti Dopiwala, leaving farmers and their families stranded on a small patch of dry land to ponder survival without the fields that sustain them. Along the banks of the Chenab, the river gently laps the boughs of mango trees that stretch to the horizon and are a source of national pride.

They had come to say goodby, to pay final homage to their hometown, a small, sleepy plantation village that has outlived its usefulness and is soon to be razed by bulldozers. They had come, these 750 young, middle-aged and old Japanese-Americans, from throughout the Hawaiian Islands, from many places on the mainland, to this obscure village hidden 87 years from the outside world by fields of tall sugar cane.

Policosanol is a mixture of alcohol compounds -- mostly octacosanol -- extracted from the waxy coatings found on leaves and stems of plants. In humans, these alcohols are thought to work as well as statin drugs in lowering levels of "bad" (or LDL) cholesterol. Policosanol research was pioneered in Cuba, where most of the supplement is derived from sugar cane. In the U.S., policosanol supplements are made from a variety of sources, including wheat germ, yams and beeswax.

The government on Monday published a proposed regulation that would prevent thousands of foreign sugar cane harvesters from qualifying for permanent U.S. residence status under a program for seasonal farm workers. The Agriculture Department published the proposed regulation to comply with an order issued last month by a judge who found that the agency had procrastinated in revising rules he had previously struck down. Last spring, U.S. District Judge Thomas F.

Cuba announced a campaign to boost sugar production to an all-time high over the next couple of years, mostly for export to Soviet Bloc countries. Production from this year's harvest, which began in November, is expected to top 8 million tons and grow to 9 million tons a year after that, the state-run Prensa Latina news agency said in a dispatch monitored in Mexico.

"Sugar Cane Alley" has a redemptive purity about it. We watch a black boy escape from Martinique's exploitative sugar cane fields and realize that life, however indifferent it seems, offers moments of justice. Director Euzhan Palcy's screenplay, based on Joseph Zobel's influential 1950 novel of the same name, often simplifies Jose's struggle and that of his people, the ghetto-dwellers who work on the white man's plantations.

Now that Brazil is slated to become the first South American country to host the Olympics, maybe Americans will pay more attention to one of its finest exports: cachaça . Made from fermented sugar cane juice, the clear, fiery liquor puts the defining kick in Brazil's national cocktail, the caipirinha . Made with cachaça , muddled lime and sugar, a caipirinha is a profoundly simple beverage that perfectly captures the restless,...

Feeding a sweet tooth won't just lead to weight gain and a mouthful of cavities. A new study suggests that diets high in added sugars can alter levels of important blood fats and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The study, published in the Wednesday edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn., found that people who got at least 25% of their daily calories from added sugars of any kind were 3.1 times more likely to have low levels of so-called good cholesterol in their bloodstream than people who got less than 5% of their calories from added sweeteners.

As a boy, Esteban Avila had only a skinny old horse and two pairs of pants, and he lived in a swampy neighborhood called The Toad. He felt stranded across a river from the rest of the world and wondered about life on the other side. He saw merchants pay bands to serenade them in the village plaza and dreamed of doing the same. He had a girlfriend but no hope of marrying her because her father was the village butcher and expected a good life for his daughter. Then Avila found an elixir and took it with him when, at 19, he went to the United States.

Immigrants from an obscure corner of Mexico are changing heroin use in many parts of America. Farm boys from a tiny county that once depended on sugar cane have perfected an ingenious business model for selling a semi-processed form of Mexican heroin known as black tar. Using convenient delivery by car and aggressive marketing, they have moved into cities and small towns across the United States, often creating demand for heroin where there...

Only the goats risk the cool shade of the century-old colonnades left standing in this provincial capital. The people have hauled themselves and their possessions into the middle of the dirt roads, away from the fallen storefront arches and tin roofs that now rest on piles of brick like crumpled hats. Leogane looks like an archaeological dig overrun by squatters who wait for food, medical attention and shelter from the sun and coming rain. International aid is starting to pour into Port-au-Prince, two hours to the east.

Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes plus chilling time for the ponche Servings: 25 cocktails FOR THE RECORD: Ponche Villa recipe: In Wednesday's Food section, a recipe titled Ponche Villa, which accompanied an article about the fruit tejocote, included the wrong nutritional values. Each cocktail has 150 calories; 0 protein; 22 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 0 fat; 0 cholesterol; 22 grams sugar; 7 mg. sodium. Note: Adapted from a recipe by John Rivera Sedlar with Julian Cox. Sedlar writes, "I've always enjoyed this classic holiday 'ponche.

Now that Brazil is slated to become the first South American country to host the Olympics, maybe Americans will pay more attention to one of its finest exports: cachaça . Made from fermented sugar cane juice, the clear, fiery liquor puts the defining kick in Brazil's national cocktail, the caipirinha . Made with cachaça , muddled lime and sugar, a caipirinha is a profoundly simple beverage that perfectly captures the restless,...

Vermont's century-old technology for producing maple syrup is helping transform the sugar cane industry in Honduras and has the potential to spread to southern Mexico and other parts of Latin America. The standard maple boiler evaporator designs, with modifications to boil sugar cane juice, are helping reduce pollution and cut production costs while increasing profits for the farmers.

As a boy, Esteban Avila had only a skinny old horse and two pairs of pants, and he lived in a swampy neighborhood called The Toad. He felt stranded across a river from the rest of the world and wondered about life on the other side. He saw merchants pay bands to serenade them in the village plaza and dreamed of doing the same. He had a girlfriend but no hope of marrying her because her father was the village butcher and expected a good life for his daughter. Then Avila found an elixir and took it with him when, at 19, he went to the United States.

Who could resent the attention being showered on electric cars? Stylish and clean, they're the darling of the renewable-energy crowd, which is hailing the scheduled rollout of several e-powered models next year as a major blow against global warming. Well, Eduardo Leao, for one. He's executive director of the Brazil's largest sugar industry association, called UNICA, and he insists that cane-based ethanol produced in massive quantities by his members is a better alternative fuel for the environment than electricity.

Despite its tongue-twisting name, this Brazilian import, which muddles cachaca (distilled from sugar cane) with lime and sugar, is fast becoming the drink du jour, as restaurants pair it with a variety of cuisines. ORTEGA 120 This newly opened beachside restaurant serves its own caipirinha de fruta with frozen peaches and peach schnapps. It teams handily with Ortega's modern Mexican cuisine, such as bite-size tacos de atun crudo with ahi tuna, jicama and mango salad, and ceviche de tilapia.