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Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

eurekalert.org

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Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#131

Post by imtringued »

BatteryMountain wrote: post #122

(Speculation ahead!) Interesting point in video posted recently by Veritasium: Basically, they are doing experiments to track evolution in "realtime" of some organisms. During the conversation the guy mentions that the population growth of their organisms are controlled by adding or removing glucose for them to consume - basically as long as glucose is available, there will be growth. (First 5 minutes of video) This…

Maybe there is a synergy with meat that is pumped with anti biotics.

You eat sugar which feeds microbes so its not perfectly absorbed into your body. Then you eat meat with anti-biotics which kills the microbes and lets your body absorb the sugar directly.

Random HN comment alert by the way.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#132

Post by imtringued »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #16

In theory. But sugar is a pain killer. Makes me wonder why it's so popular and what would really need to happen to effectively make such changes.

Are you implying the food industry is abusing depression to sell its products?

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#133

Post by imtringued »

sjwalter wrote: post #73
ck2 wrote: post #33

Except in the United States that will never be done voluntarily by the manufacturers or most consumers, we just had two years now proving "freedumbs". The only "solution" is the cigarette model, all food now has an "added sugar" nutrition label, add a dollar to price for every added gram. Those dollars go towards health care fund for sugar based diseases. If you don't eat sugar-added foods, great for you and you don'…

IMO this is attacking it from the wrong angle. What I want is a change to insurance industry regulations to make it so fat people and sedentary people can start paying their fair way and not be subsidized by those of us who maintain their health. Could be done a number of ways. Life insurance already sometimes requires a physical at signup. Why not for health insurance too? Could also just be a discount. Could even,…

Why would you tax the symptoms? It's like taxing oil companies for melting glaciers.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#134

Post by DoreenMichele »

imtringued wrote: post #132
DoreenMichele wrote: post #16

In theory. But sugar is a pain killer. Makes me wonder why it's so popular and what would really need to happen to effectively make such changes.

Are you implying the food industry is abusing depression to sell its products?

Nope.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#135

Post by EamonnMR »

wpietri wrote: post #34
EamonnMR wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What baffles me is that artificial sweeteners exist and yet there is enough (imo) unfounded FUD about them that leads people to instead choose Sugar or Nothing (which inevitably translates to Sugar because of the pseudo-addictiveness you mention.) Is wireheading bad? Maybe, but if I'm going to be doing it either way I'd rather reduce the harm.

I used to be a regular Diet Coke consumer. I used to get frequent migraines. A doctor suggested that might be related. I quit drinking them and sure enough, the migraines became way less frequent. Seems like only 2% of people have this problem with aspartame [1], but some of the fear is definitely justified. Maybe that's the only neurological effect it has, but I can see why some people pick sugar or nothing. [1] htt…

There are many alternative sweeteners to aspartame fortunately. Sucralose is my go-to personally.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#136

Post by EamonnMR »

worik wrote: post #71
EamonnMR wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What baffles me is that artificial sweeteners exist and yet there is enough (imo) unfounded FUD about them that leads people to instead choose Sugar or Nothing (which inevitably translates to Sugar because of the pseudo-addictiveness you mention.) Is wireheading bad? Maybe, but if I'm going to be doing it either way I'd rather reduce the harm.

Artificial sweeteners are not getting to the root of the problem. What people expect their food to taste like. Why not dial back on the sweetness? Is it really that addictive? Why not drink water rather than cans of genuine or artificial sugar water. FUD, sure. Personally I am uneasy about tricking my body that it is getting sugar when it is not. I am not waiting for scientific evidence. The hippies were right. Eat f…

I personally do drink water instead of soda usually and definitely endorse that idea.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#137

Post by EamonnMR »

crdrost wrote: post #88
caturopath wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure most of the "artificial sweeteners are evil" stuff is just moral panic to how they seem like cheating. It seems so unbelievable that any of them are especially bad for you or your habits, especially when compared to sugar.

It's bigger than that. So first off, just about all of these artificial sweeteners are like 200x sweeter than sugar or higher. This kind of means that you have high amplification which comes with distortion—artificial sweeteners do not taste like the real thing. So those chemical aftertastes are probably the biggest contributors to skepticism. Second, the most common artificial sweetener right now is aspartame, and i…

This is the exact kind of FuD that I'm talking about. There is a whole world of low-calorie sweeteners, Aspartame isn't the only one by a long shot. As you pointed out It's uncanny potency means that the amount of metabolites you end up with is vanishingly small. For most people it does not cause any problems. Certainly fewer than the 100% of people who art consuming calories when they consume sugar.

My suggestion is that for any food, read the ingredients! If you don't like Aspartame and won't trust anything made in a lab go with Stevia.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#138

Post by swiley »

nimbius wrote: post #26

American here. I generally stick to a vegan/vegetarian diet to try and work on my "numbers" from our company healthcare bio-screening. My woke moment was when I was told exactly how much sugar is in a teaspoon. 4 grams. After that day I started seeing just how criminally insane some food products were and just how far most companies go to make sure you dont accidentally find out how much refined sugar you eat. tricks…

Airheads are vegan, in fact I would say you're likely to eat more sugar on a vegan diet.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#139

Post by scotty79 »

bschwindHN wrote: post #19
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

The nice thing about reducing sugar is that after a while your taste buds realize how insanely over-sweetened many products are in the US. My current favorite example is bottled teas. When I was a kid I remember drinking Snapple, now I can't understand how I ever downed that stuff, it's like drinking syrup. If I'm lazy I'll get a bottle of unsweetened tea and mix it about 4-1 with sweetened tea. I get something that…

I witnessed a lot of Japanese exchange students happily purchasing a bottle of "green tea" in the states only to see a look of pure shock on their face as they tried it. It only takes a few weeks to get used to unsweetened tea but it's so much better for you, and honestly really refreshing. Oi Ocha and Ayataka green tea are my personal favorites. If the states had more of a vending machine culture (like Japan) with t…

I think Japanese generally don't put sugar in tea as a cultural thing. Same way most of the world wouldn't even think of putting milk in tea like Brits do.

I read some story about "customer is always right" in US vs. "customer must be saved from his ignorance" in Japan.

Author ordered green tea with sugar in Japan. She got no sugar when she requested it she was told that sugar ran out. But she could order black tea with sugar right after.

Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions

#140

Post by bschwindHN »

scotty79 wrote: post #139
bschwindHN wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I witnessed a lot of Japanese exchange students happily purchasing a bottle of "green tea" in the states only to see a look of pure shock on their face as they tried it. It only takes a few weeks to get used to unsweetened tea but it's so much better for you, and honestly really refreshing. Oi Ocha and Ayataka green tea are my personal favorites. If the states had more of a vending machine culture (like Japan) with t…

I think Japanese generally don't put sugar in tea as a cultural thing. Same way most of the world wouldn't even think of putting milk in tea like Brits do. I read some story about "customer is always right" in US vs. "customer must be saved from his ignorance" in Japan. Author ordered green tea with sugar in Japan. She got no sugar when she requested it she was told that sugar ran out. But she could order black tea w…

> I read some story about "customer is always right" in US vs. "customer must be saved from his ignorance" in Japan.

I think the typical phrasing is "The customer is god" in Japan, though thankfully this mindset is changing somewhat. It leads to great customer service, but also some super entitled customers who treat servers like crap.

I would guess the tea and sugar story is more about the rigidity of Japanese menus. If the green tea doesn't have a sugar option, it won't ever come with it even if the black tea version does. Though I'm fairly sure I could order a green tea with sugar if I really wanted it.

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