Are claims that sugar consumption has been declining in the US for decades true? https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/heatlhyfoodamerica/pag...
Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
31–40 of 176 posts
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#32American 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…
It would be interesting to plot the amount of sugar added to various food staples over the years.
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#33Except 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't pay for it. Just like the cigarette model (except goverments siphon cigarette taxes for everything except cancer/copd treatments).
Manufacturers will then also make low or no sugar foods that cost way less because they don't have any taxes.
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#34But if sugar is addictive, as it seems it is, this would cost a significant fraction of annual revenue to food producers, so there's no way they'd do it. Even if it's not literally addictive, it's clearly attractive and they'd take a big hit.
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] https://www.uchealth.com/articles/sweeteners-headaches-and-t...
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#35[deleted]
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#36Earlier 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 don't know how true it is, but one thing I've heard about artificial sweeteners is that your body thinks it's sugar, and will make your body feel hungrier because it expects it to have the same calories as regular sugar. I still prefer them because I hate the sticky feeling sugary products leave on my teeth, but I've talked to people who think artificial sweeteners are pointless from a calories-in/calories-out POV…
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.
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Government can pass laws
Probably not so easily against a set of lobbies that includes some of the most powerful there are: agriculture, food and health insurance.
You don't need lobbyists to explain this. Even in super-progressive SF and Seattle, there's immense popular resistance to a sugar tax on bottled drinks. The people like sugar, and the people are democracy.
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#38But if sugar is addictive, as it seems it is, this would cost a significant fraction of annual revenue to food producers, so there's no way they'd do it. Even if it's not literally addictive, it's clearly attractive and they'd take a big hit.
That's absolutely the problem. The current equilibrium is the results of an arms race. If any one manufacturer just cut sweetening by 50%, they'd be be screwed. We'd have to do it all together to reset everybody's tastes, and that's unlikely to happen. It's a similar dynamic to advertising. In theory, advertisements give us new information about products. In practice, the biggest spenders are companies you've heard o…
It's like the loudness wars[0] for your tastebuds!
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#39The 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…
This. I abstain from all sugar a few times a year for at least a week. I can't drink soda in any form anymore, it all tastes like syrup at this point. I have no cravings for it at all. But continually breaking the sugar cycle helps me realize how off things taste being overloaded with sugar. There's plenty of research showcasing how addictive sugar can be and since there's no health value to consuming it there's no d…
Sugar is a dangerous drug masquerading as a macronutrient. It is probably as dangerous as cigarettes and alcohol, and more deleterious to you health (although not as acutely dangerous) than hard drugs like opiates and amphetamines.
Re: Reducing sugar in packaged foods can prevent disease in millions
#40I usually keep to a low carb diet. Recently I had a burger from a local burger joint bun included. The entire time I’m eating this burger I keep thinking this is the best damn burger I’ve had in forever. I chalk it up to being hungry. At the end of the burger I had bite of bun left that was bare of toppings. I ate it and realized this white bread bun is so sweet it tastes more like cake than bread… no wonder I thought the burger tasted so good.