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Thread: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

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    Avalon Member MorningSong's Avatar
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    Default Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    ..and will it be taxed like them?

    Quote Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, argue that sugar is toxic and needs to be taxed and controlled. Why it's so hard to break our addiction.
    By Bonnie Rochman | @brochman | February 2, 2012

    Sugar poses enough health risks that it should be considered a controlled substance just like alcohol and tobacco, contend a team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

    In an opinion piece called “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” that was published Feb. 1 in the journal Nature, Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis argue that it’s a misnomer to consider sugar just “empty calories.” They write: “There is nothing empty about these calories. A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills — slowly.”

    Almost everyone’s heard of — or personally experienced — the proverbial sugar high, so perhaps the comparison between sugar and alcohol or tobacco shouldn’t come as a surprise. But it’s doubtful that Americans will look favorably upon regulating their favorite vice. We’re a nation that’s sweet on sugar: the average U.S. adult downs 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to the American Heart Association, and surveys have found that teens swallow 34 teaspoons.

    To counter our consumption, the authors advocate taxing sugary foods and controlling sales to kids under 17. Already, 17% of U.S. children and teens are obese, and across the world the sugar intake has tripled in the past 50 years. The increase has helped create a global obesity pandemic that contributes to 35 million annual deaths worldwide from noninfectious diseases including diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

    “There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates,” Lustig, a professor of pediatrics and director of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) program at UCSF, said in a statement. “But sugar is toxic beyond its calories.”

    The food industry tries to imply that “a calorie is a calorie,” says Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. “But this and other research suggests there is something different about sugar,” says Brownell.
    Read more at http://healthland.time.com/2012/02/0...l-and-tobacco/

    Here is the responce of The Sugar Association:

    http://www.sugar.org/press-releases/...sponsible.html
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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Hey friend!

    Well, In my opinion, sugar and salt are both poisons.

    Anything you eat, that can´t be found in nature, is, well, unnatural.

    When we ingest sugar in it´s natural form, from fruits vegetables and cereals (and almost every kind of natural food), it´s very healthy. However, processed sugar is terrible for health.

    My advice is to avoid excessive consume of sugar and salt at any cost. If you can cut it off from your diet for good, it´s even better.

    Cheers,

    Raf.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Did you even read the article?

    Quote A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills — slowly.”
    Fructose IS sugar found in fruit!
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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Quote Posted by MorningSong (here)
    Did you even read the article?

    Quote A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills — slowly.”
    Fructose IS sugar found in fruit!
    Yes my friend, I´ve read it.

    Like I´ve said, if you ingest sugar directly from it´s natural source, including fruits (and frutose), it´s very healthy.

    For someone to process frutose from, let´s say, Mangoes, it would take about 10Kg of mangoes to have 100g of processed frutose.

    Who could eat 10Kg of mangoes?

    We are not able to ingested the amount of fruits necessary to make frutose poisonous.

    However, using processed frutose in large quantities, like they do in the food industry, is indeed very bad for health, like any kind of processed sugar.

    Cheers,

    Raf.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    A more serious issue is actually giving the government any more power to "regulate" what we eat. I can think of many substances more poisonous than sugar but I AM AN ADULT. I will not have my power, nor anyone else's power, to discern and choose FOR MYSELF taken away. Other adults can read information just as well as you can, and they--not you, and not the government--are responsible for their own health.

    Government regulation is NOT the solution to ANYTHING, and is an insidious cancer in and of itself.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Like virtually everything it can have a negative affect. The world needs less legislation and more personal responsibility if we are going to evolve.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Who would regulate this The F D A. I think not. THE Food and Drug Cartel.
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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    NO! Just as they should not regulate alcohol and tabacco. I do not need a nanny! It's none of their business if I want to drown myself in sugar, its my choice and mine alone. That said, I have chosen to educate myself and know not to swim in sugar, or alcohol, or tabacco. Even though pure tabacco is healthful in moderation.

    As to salt, you must differentiate between sodium chloride and real salt. Processed salt? Avoid it. Real salt? Use it without fear of health issues resulting.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    The gov't controll is the reason I posted this article....things are truely getting out of hand! Our bodies need sugars to produce ATP to give us energy. Even carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, etc) are complex sugars that our bodies know how to break down...heck, even beans have sugars in them! Fructus is fruit sugar... will they ourlaw fruit/pasta, bread, etc. next? Where and/or when will this end?
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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Morningsong, I agree that the government is overboad in our personal lives. As to where and/or when it will end it is up to us to say NO MORE!


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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    I wonder if this is a back door way of pushing Donald Rumsfeld's aspartame. Although sugar is bad for you I would much prefer to eat sugar than aspartame.

    http://www.rense.com/general67/rum.htm

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    One, not many know of Rumsfeld's role in the approval of Aspartame. The man is a real monster and he has sucessfully placed his vile poison in many kitchens around the world.

    ....breads, pasta, and rice are simple sugars. There is no place for them in the human body.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Quote Posted by RMorgan (here)
    Hey friend!

    Well, In my opinion, sugar and salt are both poisons.

    Anything you eat, that can´t be found in nature, is, well, unnatural.

    When we ingest sugar in it´s natural form, from fruits vegetables and cereals (and almost every kind of natural food), it´s very healthy. However, processed sugar is terrible for health.

    My advice is to avoid excessive consume of sugar and salt at any cost. If you can cut it off from your diet for good, it´s even better.



    When you say salt is poison, you mean refined salt; 100% sodium chloride.
    Real natural salt as found in the sea; celtic salt, has over 96 components and it is very beneficial to your health.

    As for regulating sugar, that is madness. Use it in moderation, as everything else and you're good.
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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    GEEZ! No more regulations! They (govt types) have gotten so out of hand that pretty soon they'll regulate when we go to the bathroom....They don't have the right to tell us what to do with our own bodies! THAT'S our responsibility and right. PERIOD!

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    It is just another tax grab. Although I do believe sugar is extremely addictive. I tried this ph alkaline diet and eliminated sugar completely from my diet and I have to say that I was going crazy. All I was thinking about was sugar all day, it was truly a mental torture. Try it for at least two weeks and see how it feels to deprive the body of a sugar drug. I have not stopped consuming sugar, instead I replaced it with brown sugar, which is still sugar but a little healthier, and stevia.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    When it comes to sugar we are living in an upside down world. Sugar is actually the most healthy sweetener on the planet. High Fructose corn syrup is processed with lead in many cases. Aspartame, Splenda, etc. are really made from the crap of the e. coli bacteria. Literally the poo poo of tiny bacteria is used to make aspartame. No kidding. Aspartame was discovered by scientists searching for a bacteriological weapon. Its patent is held by Searle which is a sub corp of MONSANTO! Ex United States Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is a major investor/owner of Searle.

    I didn't believe that last one at first until I checked myself. Aspartame degrades into wood alcohol if the beverage that contains it reaches above 82deg F. In the end if you want something sweet sugar may be way less dangerous than any of the alternatives. Just word search "aspartame, e.coli" and you will see this is true. Alex Jones has several shows about aspartame. Stick to Sugar. They want it illegal so you will buy their processed poison.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Brown sugar is no healthier than white sugar.

    And Cartomancer? Sugar is the healthiest sweetener on the planet? Dude, what planet are you talking about? Sugar is poison to the human body! Certainly agree it's better than the synthetic alternatives, but healthy it ain't.

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    I agree that it's very unhealthy, perhaps even toxic, since such concentrated energy must play havoc with the metabolism, including having the body create insulin in eventually toxic concentrations (ok, some people who eat a lot of sugar don't get diabetes, but some people who drink a lot of alcohol don't get cirrhosis of the liver). In addition, insulin tells the body to begin storing fat not because we might not have enough but because it has detected a more easily used source of energy. In biology as in physics, it's the path of least resistance every time.

    In addition, we say that governments should put people first and prevent fluoridation of the drinking water, and so on. We say our food shouldn't have inedible chemicals in them. Maybe, in addition, we should say that sugar is unhealthy and should be restricted.

    But really, when has government regulation ever benefited people? I've never seen a government regulation that says people should have access to fluoridated water if they want it and real water if they don't. We have to strike a balance between allowing something, like fluoride or sugar, to flood the market until a choice to avoid it becomes difficult, and regulating so excessively that we remove from ourselves any burden to look after our own health; I completely agree that people should have access to only the very healthiest things, but a lack of personal responsibility is what has the hallmark of societal problems for as long as any of us living can remember.

    In my ideal world, people just wouldn't want sugar. Maybe those who wanted it would have to be the ones to apply the extraordinary effort to get it, rather than to avoid it, but people would decide against it for themselves and not have to put up with it. In such a world, there might be government help for those who have got themselves addicted and cannot get off on their own, but that should be a help in specific cases, rather than help in the general case (i.e., regulatory restrictions).

    Of course, in that world government would be a servant of the people, rather than the slave-driver. Can we trust regulation from a government in which we have, deservedly, no confidence?

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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Every piece of restrictive regulation (NOT LAW!, there are very few laws...) should be converted to an education program at 10% of the funding (or drasticaly less in some cases).

    Yes sugar is a poison and is metabolized exactly like alcohol..

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

    but we should EDUCATE people that sugar is why we are fat, that it is a posion to be used sparingly.. not regulate, it's been said before & bears saying again:

    the focus should be PERSONAL responsability, not restricting an action or attempting to push some retarded social change via legislation... change via EDUCATION is so much better.
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    Default Re: Should Sugar Be Regulated like Alcohol and Tobacco?

    Quote Posted by TargeT (here)
    Every piece of restrictive regulation (NOT LAW!, there are very few laws...) should be converted to an education program at 10% of the funding (or drasticaly less in some cases).

    Yes sugar is a poison and is metabolized exactly like alcohol..
    The fructose half (give or take) of common table sugar or corn syrup is metabolized like alcohol.

    The other half, dextrose aka glucose, is metabolized rather easily. (Well, to be more precise, L-glucose aka dextrose is easily metabolized, whereas R-glucose not metabolized.)

    Glucose and fructose are simple sugars.

    More complex polymers of sugars, called polysacchrarides, play various essential structural roles in the body.

    So I would not say that all sugurs are bad for us. Some polysaccharides are essential, and L-glucose is an efficient source of energy.

    Moreover some of the wide variety of other phytonutrients in various fruits are of sufficient value to the body that various fruits can be quite healthy for us, despite providing fructose as well. The liver can metabolize some fructose (and some alcohol) easily enough; it just has a rather limited capacity to do it well.
    Last edited by ThePythonicCow; 7th February 2012 at 01:06.
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