Regulating… Sugar?!
In an article swirling around the internet, Time’s Healthland blogger Bonnie Brochman informs us that according to researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF):
Sugar poses enough health risks that it should be considered a controlled substance just like alcohol and tobacco.
Arguing that sugar leads to liver toxicity and chronic disease the researchers are not trying to hand out ration cards so you can have a monthly hit of chocolate, rather they argue that
[m]any of the interventions that have reduced alcohol and tobacco consumption can be models for addressing the sugar problem, such as levying special sales taxes, controlling access, and tightening licensing requirements on vending machines and snack bars that sell high sugar products in schools and workplaces.
When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound that horrible, or at least much more of requirement than some of the new menu labeling requirements that are coming soon to chain restaurants and vending machines near you thanks to health care reform. We’ve even discussed the over-consumption of sugar here at the Curvy Girl Guide.
We want to know what you think.
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~Daisy
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Angie Lynch, Daily Curve & Social Media Editor. Angie is a Native Floridian without a tan, probably because she spends her days hard at work on the magical internet. For the past several years, Angie has worked way too hard at building clout as an influencer in food and margaritas as well as being a source for laughable pop culture commentary. 
I am surprisingly okay with this suggestion. Yes, new labeling requirements exist or are about to be rolled out, and ingredient lists have been available for some time, but companies counteract this with marketing. For instance, the commercial with the woman at the clothes donation station responding to a comment about weight loss: “eating right. Whole grains.” And then you see Whole Grains plastered on the upper corner of sugary and delicious cereals like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Fruit Loops. So the connection has been made for the *weaker* among us that you can lose weight, or at least manage it, on a healthy diet of fruit loops.
I think making access to these sugar rich foods just a bit harder might give pause to enough people to really consider what the term moderation is. After all, we have a beeping plastic cover that must be set off to buy razors, and I haven’t seen anyone complain about this yet. And if you are hungry enough to eat stale food from a vending machine at the office, would you really lament the missing snickers if granola bars are available?
I understand the thought process here, but in my mind this circles around to politics, and my own opinion is that we already allow the government too much say-so in our day to day lives. They already regulate so much (no, I am not making an argument for legalizing drugs), and I think it creates a pseudo dependency on big brother when, as adults, shouldn’t we be allowed to police ourselves?
I get it: Obese= not a good thing, salt= blood pressure risk, sugar= liver risk, alcohol, tobacco, etc., etc., etc..
If the nation as a whole has decided that a woman has a right to her own body and what happens to it with the abortion debate, shouldn’t we, as a nation, also be allowed the same rights regarding what we eat? I am a big girl, I can choose what is right for me and my family.
Excuse me, I have a box of Krispy Kreme calling me.
I get the rationale here but I can’t help but think about how it will affect local backers and businesses like that. I also think that this is the wrong direction to take this. I think schools (and some parents) need to teach more about healthy eating. I know when I was in high school health class was half a year long and only required freshman year. We can’t protect everyone from making bad/unhealthy choices but we can teach better options. I agree with Lori, as adults we should be able to police our own eating habits.
I think this is very interesting, but I would definitely need more information. I am not sure that levying taxes on sugary foods will accomplish what they hope. I don’t know many (if any) people who quit smoking or drinking (or bought less of those items) because of tax implications.
Sugar is fine ( in moderation) – it is the hidden sugar in things like High Fructose Corn syrup that is -literally – killing us. Since HFCS is in nearly everything, it is impossible to avoid – adding calories and stressing our pancreas’.
( btw, some scientists wonder if the additional sugar in our foods is causing us to use a “lifetime” of insulin by childhood…meaning that the pancreas has a life limit to how much it can produce before exhausting)
I was an insulin dependent diabetic through my pregnancy ( like 6 injections a day , with a TON of insulin) so I had to learn to really curb my sugar 14 years ago, or get used to injections and health problems. Sugar can be nearly impossible to avoid in any processed food, and even “healthy” choices like Yogurt can be laden with sugar.
When the deck is stacked against the “healthy choice”, it can make the cycle of obesity nearly impossible to avoid.
Finally, I have noticed a HUGE difference in food here in Canada versus U.S. – particularly things like Crackers or other “processed” foods. The U.S versions of things like Ritz crackers? MUCH sweeter. Also, for the most part people here buy their daily bread at local bakeries – no preservatives needed, since they produce just what will sell that day.
Finally – portion size. We moved here in 2006 – and my style of eating has changed dramatically. When we go “home” to New Hampshire, I can’t believe how HUGE portions are at restaurants, as well as how FAST the food is served ( and eaten). Meals in Montreal in restaurants are long leisurely affairs. Don’t arrive starving, because it will take a while to be served.