Is Sugar the Next Tobacco?

[MachineGhost]

This academic year Lustig is on partial sabbatical from the UCSF School of Medicine and attending Hastings College of the Law. Before he enrolled at Hastings he met with 14 lawyers; all agreed that case law supports using the judiciary to alter public health policy to moderate sugar consumption. “All health debacles were originally categorized as personal travails before they were declared public health issues,”? Lustig writes in Fat Chance. “What if our breakfast cereal was laced with heroin by some unscrupulous food company?”? Whose fault would it be if people became addicted? “Isn’t it the role of the government to protect us?”?

http://www.psmag.com/health/robert-lust ... iet-50948/

[MediumTex]

The causes of obesity in the U.S. seem so obvious.

Wouldn't regulating sugar run into opposition from the farm lobby that wants endless uses for corn-based products?

[Tortoise]

Wouldn't regulating sugar run into opposition from the farm lobby that wants endless uses for corn-based products?

But isn't the farm lobby (especially corn) heavily subsidized by the government in the first place?

Corn products like high-fructose corn syrup and cattle feed would be much more expensive if corn were not subsidized by the government. In other words, fast food and junk food would not be nearly as cheap, so people probably wouldn't eat them as much.

[KevinW]

Yes. Call me crazy, but if the government wants people to consume less refined sugar, maybe the first step should be turning off the money hose of subsidies to refined sugar producers. Ya know, stop paying for the creation of the thing you want there to be less of. "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."

[Gosso]

Looks like diet soda is just as bad as regular soda, at least in regards to depression:

People who drank more than four cans or cups per day of soda were 30 percent more likely to develop depression than those who drank no soda. Those who drank four cans of fruit punch per day were about 38 percent more likely to develop depression than those who did not drink sweetened drinks. People who drank four cups of coffee per day were about 10 percent less likely to develop depression than those who drank no coffee. The risk appeared to be greater for people who drank diet than regular soda, diet than regular fruit punches and for diet than regular iced tea.

Source: http://www.aan.com/press/index.cfm?fuse ... lease=1128

I think this has to do with overstimulating the reward system in the brain.

Tea, water, and a shot of whiskey is all I need.

[Tyler]

Sigh.

Whose deep pockets can we empty next for the "public good"?

(After my 60% legal fees, of course.).

[Gumby]

The causes of obesity in the U.S. seem so obvious.

It does seem that way, but there are many, many causes of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Just general inflammation can trigger obesity. It all depends on the person. I can eat tons of sugar and never gain weight. Others aren't so lucky. However, I no longer consume refined sugar, as I do believe it is a toxin in its refined state.

[Pointedstick]

The causes of obesity in the U.S. seem so obvious.

It does seem that way, but there are many, many causes of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Just general inflammation can trigger obesity. It all depends on the person. I can eat tons of sugar and never gain weight. Others aren't so lucky. However, I no longer consume refined sugar, as I do believe it is a toxin in its refined state.

So true. My former boss could eat pounds and pounds of nasty greasy fast food and never gain any weight. My sister-in-law and her husband recently started exercising together, and she lost 15 pounds while he saw no change at all. I need to drink about three times as much water as it seems other people do. Every body is different, in the end.

[l82start]

Every body is different, in the end.

  is that a joke about fat a**'s ? 

[Pointedstick]

http://instantrimshot.com/