Is it time to treat sugar like smoking? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#141

Post by chronial » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:16 PM UTC

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #119

gregmac wrote: post #60

I started eating keto over a year ago, and found that I totally lost my appetite for sugary and other carb-based foods, so have just kept it up. One thing that was eye opening to me was from paying close attention to food labels. I used to try to mostly eat "healthy", so I'd tend to buy the "low calorie" options. What surprised me was how basically they just substitute fat for sugar. Ceasar dressing normal has 1g car…

I think the demonisation of fat might be partly a linguistic problem. “fat” is a derogatory term for someone who is overweight, but it also happens to describe an important component of food, so the (incorrect) connection forms itself: eating fat = getting fat. This isn't the case in all languages, though I don't know if that actually has meant Germany or wherever cares less about fat content.

Fun fact: German shares that linguistic property with English. But I agree with your point.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#142

Post by humanrebar » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:16 PM UTC

rootusrootus wrote: post #132

kazinator wrote: post #107

I'm not harmed if I'm sitting next to a someone who is consuming sugar. What we should have is health insurance premiums based on risk factors such as obesity, even in public systems.

That could get exciting. Think of all the factors we could base health insurance on. Risky outdoor activities? Higher premiums. Biking to work? Higher premiums. Alternatively, we could work to help everyone become healthier, and then use as large a risk pool as possible to leverage the benefits of insurance.

The problem with "we can work to help" is that "we" will at times be helping even if another "we" doesn't see it as particularly helpful.

I have a problem with the presumption of unrelenting competence, good faith, and humaneness in a bureaucratic organization despite the inevitable pressure from various political factions and lobbying groups.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#143

Post by Mirioron » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:18 PM UTC

jmull wrote: post #41

FYI: This article is referring to requiring sugary products to use plain packaging: > ...suggested sweets, snacks and sugary drinks should be wrapped in plain packaging to make them less appealing, given the excess consumption of the sweet stuff (I think some of the responses here are assuming the question is about treating sugar like smoking in other respects.)

I think people are afraid of a slippery slope. Legislation is almost always done in a slippery slope manner - at first you limit things a little and wait until people accept it. After a while you limit some more, then some more and then some more.

You can do whatever you want with sugar, but it's not going to solve the obesity problem. Not only are carbs one of the few macro nutrients we can digest, they're also in pretty much everything.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#144

Post by llamathrowaway » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:18 PM UTC

ardit33 wrote: post #100

llamathrowaway wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any reliable source to back up the claim that sugar is more addictive than alcohol? I am suspicious about this claim because there are plenty of people and families ruined directly as a result of alcoholism. I don’t think sugar addiction is causing nearly as much trouble as alcoholism, despite being a more widely consumed and easily available substance.

The number of "Obese People" far outweighs the number of chronic alcoholics... we are talking about almost 1/3rd of the population being obese (i.e. not just a bit fat, or chubby, just straight out obese).

Is obesity a sign of sugar addiction? I don’t think so. People addicted to substances like alcohol and heroin will go out of their way to obtain these substances breaking laws and ruining others’ lives if necessary. While obese people are just... obese, not crazy nor dangerous. Their mind don’t get wired by sugar to put sugar in front of decency and laws.

Not to mention sugar is not the only cause of obesity anyway. Sedentary lifestyle, hormones, gut bacteria, and the portion sizes in the US are all likely causes.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#145

Post by Mirioron » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:20 PM UTC

zanny wrote: post #105

_bxg1 wrote: post #58

It'd be much harder than cigarettes to define and enforce, and more prone to loopholes. What's a "sugary food"? Grams of sugar? They'd just sell fun-sized. Percentage mass? That could impact fruit. Added sugar? What is "non-added sugar"? Specific product categories like soda and candy? They'd just walk the line with things like "sweetened sparkling water". I support the idea in principle, and I hope they figure out a…

If I eat a strawberry thats non-added sugar. If I sprinkle sugar on the strawberry, thats added sugar. It would be pretty easy to deduce the distinction between added and not sugars - if you put a sugar in your food and list it in the ingredients it has added sugar. If the thing as its grown has sugar then its not an added sugar. If that leads to the GMO modification of crops even further to produce more sugars thats…

So natural juice is okay, but water with sugar added to it is labeled as harmful? Yet the former is just as bad for you as the latter.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#146

Post by Mirioron » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:21 PM UTC

impatient_bacon wrote: post #95

God I hope so. I grew up obese and am now about halfway through undoing the damage using a ketogenic diet. I really do think sugar sweetened drinks should be banned for sale to children under 18, as that causes the most damage.

So, they're only allowed water? Because you're also banning juice and milk with they ban.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#147

Post by Mizza » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:22 PM UTC

umvi wrote: post #2

How about we start treating alcohol like smoking? For example ban alcohol advertising like we have with tobacco and I bet society would improve in a lot of unforeseen ways (besides the obvious reduction in alcohol related deaths and diseases and family issues).

I like this idea.

Another thing we can do is to demand an FDA-approval process for recreational drugs! Dr. David Nutt has been developing a safer alcohol alternative, Alcarelle [1], but is having trouble finding a foothold in the marketplace as we have no process for safe-substance certification!

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/alco...

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#148

Post by AnimalMuppet » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:25 PM UTC

pfortuny wrote: post #131

fuzz4lyfe wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A small amount of wine has been shown in small scale studies to have a moderate health benefit (though it's possible that's due to economic factors), most wine users consume far more wine than was studied. Enjoy your drugs, but don't kid yourself that you are consuming bacteria excrement for your health.

Every edible thing comes from the excrement of others. Do you eat yoghourt?

Potatoes, corn, or wheat, where the field was not fertilized with animal excrement? How does that come from "the excrement of others"?

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#149

Post by impatient_bacon » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:27 PM UTC

Mirioron wrote: post #146

impatient_bacon wrote: post #95

God I hope so. I grew up obese and am now about halfway through undoing the damage using a ketogenic diet. I really do think sugar sweetened drinks should be banned for sale to children under 18, as that causes the most damage.

So, they're only allowed water? Because you're also banning juice and milk with they ban.

Parents can buy whatever they want for their kids, I said nothing about banning consumption. Milk would be fine, however most juices and chocolate milk are pretty bad for you.

Re: Is it time to treat sugar like smoking?

#150

Post by manmal » Sun, Jun 09, 2019, 7:28 PM UTC

Mirioron wrote: post #146

impatient_bacon wrote: post #95

God I hope so. I grew up obese and am now about halfway through undoing the damage using a ketogenic diet. I really do think sugar sweetened drinks should be banned for sale to children under 18, as that causes the most damage.

So, they're only allowed water? Because you're also banning juice and milk with they ban.

That would be a good thing. Milk consumption greatly reduces iron absorption (and health benefits are iffy to say the least), and fruit is better eaten than drank. Our digestive system is built on the idea of chewing food (through vagus nerve stimulation).