I take it you haven’t tried a nice ripe mango from subtropical regions, or a pineapple, white grapes (or grape juice), watermelon, navel oranges? They can be sweeter than Dr. Pepper.
Sugarcane also exists and you can chew it.
They just tended to 1) come with fiber, 2) not be as easy to acquire or eat in large quantities 3) not available all year, or all at once
The fiber is afaik a big factor for slowing rate and amount of sugar absorbed (amount because apparently some of it makes it far enough to feed gut bacteria in the large intestine).
As mentioned in the sibling comment, your numbers are not comparable, and anything >10% is already an absolutely unhealthy amount of sugar.
Point being that sugary drinks/foods didn’t suddenly come to existence.
There are sugary products everywhere because we want them - or you might say we were made to want them. We made it central to our culture in many ways, and accepted terrible dietary habits as the norm. The wide availability of something like Dr Pepper is as much a cause as a reflection of that.
Yes, but when you eat fruit, you also eat the fibers. That slows down your uptake, and will prevent a sugar spike.
You don't want your blood sugar level to spike, because then your body will create insulin. The insulin's job is to move the sugar out of the blood. It does this by sending the sugar, which is fuel, to the muscles that need it. If there are no muscles needing fuel, it goes to fat cells for storage.
Then after that, sugar levels drop below normal levels. And then you get cravings for a quick snack or sugary drink, and the cycle starts over again.
If you eat your sugar with fibers, like in fruit, you don't get a sugar spike, and you don't get an insuline spike, and a sugar drop.
Also fruit contains a lot more healthy things aside from the sugar. Vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants.
So yeah, it really is a world of difference whether you drink a cola or eat an apple.
Sugarcane also exists and you can chew it.
They just tended to 1) come with fiber, 2) not be as easy to acquire or eat in large quantities 3) not available all year, or all at once