Sweetness and Dark

I think my brain just suffered an aneurysm.

Sugar Should Be Regulated As Toxin, Researchers Say

Tell me this is a nightmare. I SAID TELL ME!!!

Sugar and other sweeteners are, in fact, so toxic to the human body that they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol by governments worldwide, according to a commentary in the current issue of the journal Nature by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). (emphasis mine)

First of all, that whole “regulating alcohol” bit won’t wash, seeing as every government has its own laws about consumption, and they are all different. Maybe I’m misunderstanding it, but my guess is the researchers want the regulations to be as strict as OUR alcohol laws, not Spain’s. They go on to tell us that over 67% of our population is overweight, and half of those are considered obese, and of those that are obese, 80% will suffer from diabetes or other metabolic diseases, and that 75% of U.S. health-care dollars are spent on such diseases.

You knew it was coming down to money, right?

They also note that even though the role of sugar in obesity is not well known, we still need to learn us some prehistorical stuff.

From an evolutionary perceptive, sugar in the form of fruit was available only a few months of the year, at harvest time, the UCSF researchers said. Similarly, honey was guarded by bees and therefore was a treat, not a dietary staple.

Having studied Nutritional Anthropology, I can tell you that makes sense. But what the researchers forget to add is, we evolved right along with our diet. They forget about the Theory of Evolution when it’s convenient.

I did say this was about money, right?

Lustig, a medical doctor in UCSF’s Department of Pediatrics, compares added sugar to tobacco and alcohol (coincidentally made from sugar) in that it is addictive, toxic and has a negative impact on society, thus meeting established public health criteria for regulation. Lustig advocates a consumer tax on any product with added sugar.

Among Lustig’s more radical proposals are to ban the sale of sugary drinks to children under age 17 and to tighten zoning laws for the sale of sugary beverages and snacks around schools and in low-income areas plagued by obesity, analogous to alcoholism and alcohol regulation.

This is a bit too radical, even for San Francisco. And economists agree!

Economists at Iowa State University led by John Beghin suggest taxing the sweetener itself at the manufacturer level, not the end product containing sugar.

Because as we all know, the manufacturer would never, ever pass along that tax to the consumer, right?

First we regulate trans fats, then we regulate salt, and now sugar. Alcohol is made from sugar. I wonder how that will be greeted by distilleries. Now, I’m not saying there are no obese people. But what happened to fats being the culprit? Or carbohydrates?

What about lack of exercise?? When I was in school, we had PE every day. We could go outside after lunch and play in the playground, or as we got older, we walked around greeting people and hanging out. Here in this school district, PE is done 2 or 3 times a week at the elementary level, and you must stay seated at the cafeteria table until the teacher dismisses your class. Intermediate is 3 times a week, and you must also stay at the cafeteria table. Hell, you have to raise your hand to get permission from a teacher to go to the bathroom during lunch. As kids we were very active in school. Things have changed.

But sugar is to blame for obesity now.

I feel the need for some very rich chocolate right now.