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Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

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Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#321
post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. As someone with Type 1 diabetes (look up the difference if you don't know), I'm always interested in this distinction. Sugary foods neither "give people" nor cause Type 2 diabetes. A person consistently consuming too many sugary foods over a long period of time causes themselves to be at higher risk for Type 2 diabetes. Cigarettes are a different beast, due to the chemically-addictive nature of them (although…

"Sugary foods neither 'give people' nor cause Type 2 diabetes" High Sugar Consumption Linked To Type 2 Diabetes http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257108.php "For a while the association between sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes was thought to solely relate to weight gain, but new research conducted at UC San Francisco indicates that sugar intake may also be directly linked to diabetes. ... "This suggests f…

The very next sentence they wrote (after what you quoted out of context) is in alignment with the studies you linked.

Their point was that consumption behavior causes Type 2 diabetes, not the substance alone.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First of all, diabetes pills are not really 'health products.' They are more like 'you fucked up your health, now try not to die' products. Even Nestle's low-fat and low-sugar "foods" are a far cry from "health products." You are being disingenuous by conflating the two, or even for suggesting that Nestle is in the business of selling "health products." Beyond that, however, I see a pretty big flaw in your reasoning…

How much of the cause of the diabetes endemic is Nestle though? Isn't lack of nutritional education more to blame? It's easy to come down hard on the smoking industry due to the chemically addictive nature and serious health hazards of the product, but there are many consumers who moderate their fat and sugar intake. And then there are diabetics who don't consume any Nestle products - so why can't they be given treat…

> Isn't lack of nutritional education more to blame?

This is so easy to blame though, it is a cop out. Yes, lets spend more on education, but lets not raise taxes.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market forces companies to peddle garbage to children who generally lack the capacity to make a healthy informed decision in the face of multimillion dollar campaigns designed to get them to consume sugary cereal? > He said everyone tells them to do so, but once it's on the shelves it does not sell. People want less sugar in the abstract. But they love sugar in their shopping carts, in the mornings, and in their…

> peddle garbage to children who generally lack the capacity to make a healthy informed decision I don't know many kids that do the shopping :) It's parents that choose the sugary breakfast cereals for their children. I think many have the capacity to make a healthy, informed decision, but for some reason they do not. Marketing is likely at least part of the reason.

How many cereal advertisements do you see marketing towards parents vs their children?

Companies know they influence purchasing decisions through the manipulation of children.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#324

The offerings of humongous multinational conglomerations are not coherent. You could generate stories of this type all day, because the offerings of the likes of Nestle, GE, J&J, P&G, Coca-Cola, et. al. are the results of the efforts of hundreds of thousands of employees (for each conglomerate) subdivided into thousands of business units [read sub-companies], each with its own goals, challenges, and many existing wit…

I don't disagree with you at all that there's probably not a scheming executive trying to maliciously mine and sell the spice of Arrakis, but it might be instructive to understand why large conglomerates like this might end up in such a position simply as a matter of emergent behavior.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#325
post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Sugary foods neither 'give people' nor cause Type 2 diabetes" High Sugar Consumption Linked To Type 2 Diabetes http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257108.php "For a while the association between sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes was thought to solely relate to weight gain, but new research conducted at UC San Francisco indicates that sugar intake may also be directly linked to diabetes. ... "This suggests f…

The very next sentence they wrote (after what you quoted out of context) is in alignment with the studies you linked. Their point was that consumption behavior causes Type 2 diabetes, not the substance alone.

I'm not sure this can be much clearer:

"For a while the association between sugar consumption and type 2 diabetes was thought to solely relate to weight gain, but new research conducted at UC San Francisco indicates that sugar intake may also be directly linked to diabetes."

"As far as I know, this is the first paper that has had data on the relationship of sugar consumption to diabetes. This has been a source of controversy forever. It's been very, very difficult to separate sugar from the calories it provides. This work is carefully done, it's interesting and it deserves attention."

Here's more on the study:

Quantity of sugar in food supply linked to diabetes rates, researcher says https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2013/02/quantity-of-s...

"Does eating too much sugar cause diabetes? For years, scientists have said 'not exactly.' Eating too much of any food, including sugar, can cause you to gain weight; it’s the resulting obesity that predisposes people to diabetes, according to the prevailing theory.

"But now the results of a large epidemiological study suggest sugar may also have a direct, independent link to diabetes. Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine, the University of California-Berkeley and the University of California-San Francisco examined data on sugar availability and diabetes rates from 175 countries over the past decade. After accounting for obesity and a large array of other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates, independent of obesity rates. Their study was published Feb. 27 in PLOS ONE."

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#327
post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sugar they sell you is bad, period. Every gram of their nutritionally empty sugar takes away from the caloric input that you could have got from real food with many other nutrients than pure energy. This in the long run makes a difference. And all this beside other bad effects of processed sugar like insulin spikes, etc.

You're absolutely right! I'm going to tell my 4 year old she's done having chocolate. Period. No sense in taking way from the caloric input she could have gotten from real food. Ice cream, jellybeans, and cake is out too. She'll get a tofu slab for her birthdays and a cold, crisp glass of water for her desserts.

Actually, just switching to non-sweetened water can mean no obesity. There are also studies that show heavily mechanically processed food is more caloric than expected - because it is ground so fine that there is real difference in energy required to break it down.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Joint pain and reduced mobility are also issues with obesity.

Lets assume that all the physical health problems are solvable with a magic pill, even if this is 500 years in the future. Is there an intrinsic, rather than pragmatic, reason why mass obesity would be a bad thing? To use the given WALL-E example, what would be so bad about living in that world?

WALL-E is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the last few survivors who escape to space become lazy and ignorant. When they return to Earth at the end of the movie, they finally realize how much they had lost, such as the ability to dance.

For such a magic pill to exist would be wonderful and I'd love to have that option, but WALL-E as an example undermines your argument...

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#329
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how the final to drugs you've listed are for problems caused by advanced society. I can sort of see where you may be coming from regarding asthma but not antidepressants.

Regarding asthma: it is currently considered to be an auto-immune disorder. The latest theory I read is that the lungs need to develop their own resistance to infection; more specifically, developing lungs need exposure to hazards to tune the immune system and prevent overreactions of the immune system later [1]. Regarding antidepressants: there exist strong links between depression and stress. Current society is arg…

Interesting theory on asthma. I also wouldn't be surprised if it was one of those things that just gets diagnosed a lot more than in the past. For example I've been diagnosed since I was around 10 but despite it being quite bad when I exercise I rarely use medication and have never had an attack. I get out of breath much more easily than a regular person but I'm guessing in the past it just wouldn't have been diagnosed as there was really no episode that led to the diagnosis other than the doctor measuring the strength of my breath during a routine visit I believe.

Re: Nestlé Wants to Sell You Both Sugary Snacks and Diabetes Pills

#330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was my first thought when I saw the headline. Water is a human need. All that out, however, I do actually agree with some of what is being done. I'd seriously prefer to eat a gummy candy than swallow a pill - no matter how small a pill is, I can only swallow one at a time. Patients with dementia get crushed medicines mixed with jelly or another substance here - and a pre-mixed solution of some sort would be easi…

> Children wouldn't mind taking medicines so much. This assumes children can only tolerate maximally-sweet foods like fruit juices, soda, cookies and candy. This fundamental assumption that kids won't eat healthy foods is very dangerous.

Not really. I'm assuming most children cannot swallow pills and that most chewables and liquids taste badly.

It is pretty easy to get children to eat healthily - my nieces and nephew does so. But if the medicine actually tastes of a strawberry or carrot or piece of bread rather than a weird chemical taste, some of the struggle would be over with.

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