Big Featured Discussions | February 02, 2012 | 23 comments

Should sugar be regulated the same way as tobacco and alcohol?

Scientists at UCSF say sugar is toxic and addictive, like tobacco and alcohol. They claim it should be regulated with taxes and restrictions on advertising and sale.

The scientists say it's sugar, not obesity, that's the cause of increasingly common conditions like diabetes and heart disease. They have called for public policy that will guide people toward healthier options, as well as the removal of sugar from processed foods, which is a common way sugar sneaks unnoticed into one's diet.

Should sugar be regulated?

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23 comments // Should sugar be regulated the same way as tobacco and alcohol?

  • MotherForTruth
    • 0
      MotherForTruth  

    • I am health conscious and choose organics, no additives, no processed foods. I believe in education and not in regulation of sugar or any other natural product.
      Government should instead regulate GMO.

    • 4 months ago
  • artemis6
    • +1
      artemis6  

    • Let me explain , as no one has mentioned it . Sugar , HFCS and many sweeteners are highly inflammatory . You can subtract 10 years and tank the quality of life of the years left , because of this . It AGES you . Unless you have some uncommon genes , i do not recommend it daily .

    • 4 months ago
  • ampersand
    • +1
      ampersand  
    • artemis6:

      Very good point and a very good reminder.
      Sugar, as now even doctors know, is fuel for cancer cells.
      It can be used in treatment to "coat" cancer-killing agents so the cancer gobbles it up.
      Cutting it out of one's diet as much as possible in our world of mass produced factory food is probably one of the greatest cancer prevention strategies available to us.

    • 4 months ago
  • artemis6
  • JoanneJ
    • 0
      JoanneJ  

    • PS: I gave up red meat 20 years ago which is hyped up on antibiotics and who knows what else. I think that has had a more important impact on my health.

    • 4 months ago
  • JoanneJ
    • 0
      JoanneJ  

    • I think consumers should educate themselves as to what they put in their body. High fructose corn syrup should be regulated, but not sugar. The food industry cannot be trusted and have tried to confuse the sugar issue versus high fructose corn syrup that it is not sugar. Please!!! Instead of taxing sugar, they should fine the food industry for falsifying the ads that run on TV and information they put on packaging. But please not another tax. I read the discussions below and all are relevant to the discussion and there are many well educated people talking about this subject and I agree with them. But only one expressed a no to taxing sugar. Enough is enough!! Now there is a series of children's cereal ads (Count Chocula, Honeycomb something, and others that are loaded with sugar but trying to brainwash them how good they are under the guise of the amount of "fiber" they contain. When will it stop? I am hitting my head against the wall!! I do not believe parents are doing their job when they consider a good breakfast from the choices from these high sugared cereals, and toaster pastry. End of rant

    • 4 months ago
  • ampersand
    • 0
      ampersand  
    • JoanneJ:

      A good rant.
      I do think however, that a small tax on high sugar foods will prove effective in having consumers make other choices. It's worked that way in other places outside the U.S.
      It's easy to grab a brightly colored heavily marketed sugar laden soda or cereal.
      Having that few second pause of,"Hey, maybe I could just buy some fruit or oats..." would make a profound difference.
      I agree with the woman in Texas who was a flack for the food industry until she learned how devastating most of their products were for her children.
      Now she'd like to see those cynical and manipulative marketeers in jail.
      So would I.

    • 4 months ago
  • djoy
    • +1
      djoy  

    • It IS addictive and toxic. I have been weaning myself off of it for over 6 months and its VERY difficult. No - you CANT use sugar subs either (except stevia) because of the dangerous chemicals that cause a plethora of problems just as bad as diabetes!

    • 4 months ago
  • Michael_Lambrose
  • djoy
    • +1
      djoy  
    • Michael_Lambrose:

      I grew up with it too, but somewhere along the way they started putting it in EVERYTHING so we began to use more & more and want more and more....I woke up with type 2 diabetes one day because I ate what I thought was a "normal" amount of sugar...

    • 4 months ago
  • James_Collins
  • djoy
  • FreeSpiritMuse
    • +1
      FreeSpiritMuse  

    • Today there's as much concern about carbohydrates in our diets causing diabetes as sugar. Then there's the artificial sweeteners and that silly commercial by the Corn Refiners Association. The one with the spokeswoman says that "your body can't tell the difference" between HFCS and table sugar (sucrose). We just need for it to be clear about what it is we're consuming.

    • 4 months ago
  • djoy
    • +2
      djoy  
    • FreeSpiritMuse:

      Since carbs turn into sugar in your body, I had to give them up as well since I am using diet to reverse diabetes. I still eat vegetable carbs but had to quit bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, and corn and of course all sugars and sugar subs (except stevia). It was really hard because they are all addictive but after only about 7 months I have lowered my numbers significantly.

    • 4 months ago
  • James_Collins
  • djoy
  • bobbi777
  • jimstoner
    • +2
      jimstoner  

    • I thought "REGULATION" was a bad word. You aren't actually putting public health above corporate profits are you. As any good Republican will tell you, regulations are anti-business, and anti-business, is anti-American!

    • 4 months ago
  • djoy
  • remanns
    • 0
      remanns  

    • Yes -no more sugar should be in your cold coffee the morning after than rum and cigarette ash. PARTY ON,...GARTH !

      self regulate

    • 4 months ago
  • RaisedByWolves
  • MSII
    • +1
      MSII  
    • Image

    • The paragraph above is wrong. It's not real, regular REAL sugar that everything is pumped full of, it's high fructose corn syrup. Because it's cheap! Human beings naturally like fat, sugar, and salt, crave it in fact so our horrible corporate food industry pumps everything and anything full to-bursting with these 3 things. Not as much real sugar as high fructose corn syrup, because it's so cheap (because of our very bad farm subsidies system that massively over produces corn and so encourages it to be made into "value added" bs, like you guessed it - high fructose corn syrup- !). I'm reminded of the wise words of Huey Freeman "high fructose corn syrup, the white mans poison!"

    • 4 months ago
  • MSII
    • +1
      MSII  

    • Maybe high fructose corn syrup should, but not sugar. And pot definitely should be instead of this endless mindless "war on drugs" right-winger boondoggle.

    • 4 months ago
sgwhites
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