SUGAR

Initially sugar was a luxury item
Historically, around 1000 years ago, sugar was used in a variety of ways, such as:

•For medicinal purposes (because it can be beneficial in limited quantities)
•As a preservative
•As a spice
•As a sweetener, of course.
Yet up to the seventeenth century, it was an expensive luxury item. To be consumed by the masses, this luxury had to be turned into a necessity and be available in abundance to drive prices down.