India has a ravenous appetite for the sweet stuff, way above any other country, if both traditional and modern sugars are counted. We also take excessive amounts of poor-quality carbohydrates, especially, refined cereals like white rice and white wheat, sugar-sweetened drinks and fruit juice, sweet treats and savouries, which ultimately turn into glucose, a simple sugar the body uses for energy. And Indians today manifest an increased predilection for diseases linked to sugar (and the fat with which sugar is inextricably linked): obesity to diabetes, heart disease to hypertension, cancers to dementia, Covid-19 to black fungus. Despite a long association with sugar, there has been very few attempts to understand sugar’s hold in India. Books have been written mainly on the sugar industry, some on diabetes and low-sugar diets. Sugar: The Silent Killer attempts to fill the lacunae. It attempts to demystify the way we eat now, the pre-eminence of refined sugar in our diet, what it does to us and what we can do to mitigate its malign influence. Weaving together history, culture and science, it seeks to analyse why we have such an intimate relation with sugar, why it holds on to us so doggedly, why we do can’t do without it, even when we know it can harm us. About the Author Damayanti Datta has worn several hats over the years: a researcher, a teacher, a communicator, a correspondent, an editor and, now, an independent writer. Starting with a PhD in history from Cambridge University, her career path has taken her towards storytelling in various fields. Over her 14 years at India Today magazine, she has reported from places as diverse as hospital wards, courthouses, science labs, police stations, heritage landscapes and tribal homes. She has been honoured with numerous fellowships and awards, including the first Press Council of India Award for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. Sugar: The Silent Killer is her maiden book on the public health disaster the ubiquitous kitchen ingredient can trigger—from diabetes to Covid-19.