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A spoonful of sugar might make the medicine go down. But it also makes blood
pressure and cholesterol go up, along with your risk for liver failure,
obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
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).
The researchers propose regulations such as taxing all foods and drinks that
include added sugar, banning sales in or near schools and placing age limits on
purchases.
Although the commentary might seem straight out of the Journal of Ideas That
Will Never Fly, the researchers cite numerous studies and statistics to make
their case that added sugar or, more specifically, sucrose, an even mix of
glucose and fructose found in high-fructose corn syrup and in table sugar made
from sugar cane and sugar beets has been as detrimental to society as alcohol
and tobacco.
Sour words about sugar
The background is well-known: In the United States, more than two-thirds of the
population is overweight, and half of them are obese. About 80 percent of those
who are obese will have diabetes or metabolic disorders and will have shortened
lives, according to the UCSF authors of the commentary, led by Robert Lustig.
And about 75 percent of U.S. health-care dollars are spent on diet-related
diseases, the authors said.
Worldwide, the obese now greatly outnumber the undernourished, according to the
World Health Organization. Obesity is a public health problem in most
countries. And chronic diseases related to diet such as heart diseases,
diabetes and some cancers for the first time in human history kill more
people than infectious diseases, according to the United Nations.
Less known, and still debated, is sugar's role in the obesity and chronic
disease pandemic. 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. [6 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits & Veggies]
Today, added sugar, as opposed to natural sugars found in fruits, is often
added in foods ranging from soup to soda. Americans consume on average more
than 600 calories per day from added sugar, equivalent to a whopping 40
teaspoons. "Nature made sugar hard to get; man made it easy," the researchers
write.
Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just "empty calories," but rather a
chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is the fact that glucose from
complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, is safely metabolized by cells
throughout the body, but the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily
by the liver. This is where the trouble can begin taxing the liver, causing
fatty liver disease, and ultimately leading to insulin resistance, the
underlying causes of obesity and diabetes.
Added sugar, more so than the fructose in fiber-rich fruit, hits the liver more
directly and can cause more damage in laboratory rodents, anyway. Some
researchers, however, remained unconvinced of the evidence of sugar's toxic
effect on the human body at current consumption levels, as high as they are.
Economists to the rescue
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.
Economists, however, debate as to whether a consumer tax such as a soda tax
proposed in many U.S. states is the most effective means of curbing sugar
consumption. Economists at Iowa State University led by John Beghin suggest
taxing the sweetener itself at the manufacturer level, not the end product
containing sugar.
This concept, published last year in the journal Contemporary Economic Policy,
would give companies an incentive to add less sweetener to their products.
After all, high-fructose corn syrup is ubiquitous in food in part because it is
so cheap and serves as a convenient substitute for more high-quality
ingredients, such as fresher vegetables in processed foods.
Some researchers argue that saturated fat, not sugar, is the root cause of
obesity and chronic disease. Others argue that it is highly processed foods
with simple carbohydrates. Still others argue that it is a lack of physical
exercise. It could, of course, be a matter of all these issues.