A Sugary Debate

Sugary beverages suggest a poor dietary quality; they are loaded with added sugars and attribute to the body’s energy density. “A 20-year study on 120,000 men and women found that people who increased their sugary drink consumption by one 12-ounce serving per day gained more weight over time—about 4 pounds per year” (19). Through increasing the daily intake in trivial increments, the body substantially results in an increased BMI (body mass index) and an increased body fat percentage score. Another study conducted at Harvard found that a 60 percent increase occurs in children for each 12-ounce they additionally drink daily. (________) The growing correlation between obesity and sugar has led to further studies, and statistical data. Researchers have revealed that in total, “half the people in the U.S. consume sugary drinks; 1 in 4 get at least 200 calories from such drinks; and 5% get at least 567 calories.” It was additionally found that one-fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams of sugar per day from soda and other sweetened beverages, which compares to people of the past who only had 10 grams of fructose a day (_____). Such a high daily intake of sugar and calories illustrates the risk that arises when people consume too much sugar; that is, sugary drinks result in weight issues and medical consequences.

Soda consumption can lead to numerous, serious health issues. It can decrease calcium absorption in the intestines. Calcium is necessary not only for keeping our bones strong, but also to help our nerves send messages to our brain and muscles contract. Less calcium can lead low bone density and fractured bones. Soda consumption can lead to health issues such as obesity and diabetes. The more soda consumed the higher insulin level. High insulin levels can result in visceral fat gain, leading to America’s major problem; obesity. 24.1% of Californians are obese and 18.4% are obese in Cupertino. Although our body needs cholesterol to function like anything, too much can be harmful. High cholesterol can clog the coronary arteries, which surround and supply the heart. The outcome of high cholesterol is heart disease. Another health issue which can occur if consumption of soda is very high is diabetes. Diabetes occurs when the body can’t produce enough insulin or can’t use the insulin the body produces properly. The higher the consumption of SSB(Sugar sweetened beverages) the higher chance of getting diabetes. Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, says that "the people getting diabetes are people who consume very high levels of SSBs and have only slightly reduced in these very high levels of their soda consumption."

Today, despite technological and scientific discoveries of the past century, we live in a country filled with mysterious sicknesses. While America continues to prosper in other ways, our health continues to decline. What has helped to cause this terrible battle? Sugar. Even though it may pack a great taste, sugar has captured and addicted us to it. Our addiction to sugar has negative consequences such as severe chronic disease and obesity. Americans need to reduce sugar consumption to prevent, cure, or limit problems of chronic disease, addiction, and obesity.

Down the road, added sugar has increased health complications tenfold. According to Quanhe Yang, from the Center of Disease and Control, “ 'death resulting from cardiovascular disease increases exponentially from added sugar consumption.' ”(Hellmich) Atherosclerosis, the most common cause of cardiovascular disease, is caused by correctable problems such as

Next, many consumers believe that drinking diet soda is healthier for you than drinking regular soda filled with sugar but studies are starting to show that artificial sweeteners may actually lead to diabetes. Mary Ann Yantis, PhD, RN, a nurse educator for Nursing Education Consultants and Kate Hunter, RD, LD (2010), a clinical dietitian at Adventist Medical Center reports (2010) that drinking more than one serving of diet soda per day can increase your risk of metabolic syndrome by more than 36%. Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors, which includes hypertension, abdominal obesity, hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia. These risk factors increase a person’s risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and stroke. This same study also reports (2010) that one diet soda per day can increase a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes by more the 67%. This is possibly due to the fact that artificial sweeteners can be up to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar and this intense sweetness can be addictive thus creating cravings for more sweetness in order to feel satisfied. Yantis and Hunter (2010) point out that the sweet taste triggers the same dopamine signals that are also triggered by drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Craving for more intense artificial sweetness will result in consuming more calories, increase the likelihood of developing insulin resistance, and more than likely affect the glucose metabolism (Yantis & Hunter, 2010).

Gary Taubes argues that sugar is a killer. The major flaw of his argument is that he doesn’t have any concrete evidence that shows that sugar is indeed the killer. However, a lot of the evidence hints that sugar may be the cause of many of the catastrophic health problems. He has built a case that leads back to the 1600’s about different studies and how they have might of hinted to the dangers of sugar. He shows how places like Southeast Asia who once lived off a lot of reined grains had a low level of obesity and health problems, but once they adopted a Western diet those rates increased. Sugar may not be the only possibility this happened, but it has a lot of potential to be. Another key point to this whole argument is how a lot of studies

In the article from USA Today, “Eating Too Much Added Sugars May Be Killing You,” Nanci Hellmich claims added sugars in soda, candy, and many more sweets may be killing you. Hellmich says that added sugar can lead to an increased risk of death caused by heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and stroke. She supports her claim by referring to a survey recorded by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey done on 31,000 people, then reflecting on the dietary habits of citizens based on interviews, and finally providing the evidence that most adults consume 10% of their daily calories from added sugar which is very unhealthy and hazardous for people’s health. Hellmich writes it in an informative tone for the public

Consumption of sugary drink can lead to many health risks such as stroke, diabetes, cancer and many more.

There are plenty of reasons and research studies that show how destructive sugar can be for your health if not managed properly, “and unfortunately our standard American Diet is anything but balanced.”(Konie 1) Americans don’t manage their sugar levels, let alone manage their sugar intake. The exponential growth of obesity in underway and the main cause. Sugar. Many people don’t understand this but sugar is perfectly fine as long as you can control it, many also don’t realize just, “how dangerous the extremes can be.”(Konie 1)

Tobacco, alcohol and poor diet are the main risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and respiratory disease that kills approximately 35 million per year. Out of the three risk factors, an inadequate diet was found to the culprit of more diseases than smoking and liquor consumption combined. In Aseem Malhorta’s (2014) article “Sugar is now enemy number one in the western diet”, he claims that added sugar should be regulated as it is a health hazard that has caused the increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity. Malhorta only focuses on sugar being the main causative agent in causing negative health outcomes, he fails to address the fact that there are many other confounding factors associated with each disease

Todays people are quick to blame dieting problems on sugar, saying "I cant avoid it!!" or "Theirs sugar in everything." Turns out dieting is not the greatest problem. Heart Disease is one most common problems with eating sugar. People who consume more than the average 30 grams (1.0 oz.) of sugar a day are more likely to contract this disease.

The author’s for the article “Regional Differences in Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake among US Adults” are Sohyun Park, PhD; Lisa C. McGuire, PhD; and Deborah A. Galuska, PhD. All of the author’s credentials are the same which is a Doctor of Philosophy, which is short abbreviated as PhD where a person who attains a doctorate of philosophy is awarded the academic title of a doctor. Sohyun Park is also an epidemiologist, Lisa McGuires is the lead epidemiologist and Deborah Galuska is an associate director for science, division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity. I believe that the author Deborah Galuska is a credible source for nutrition because first and foremost she has a PhD, and is also an Associate Director for Science for Division

Throughout the years America has started to blame sugar for obesity, heart disease, etc. To an extent we can blame sugar. When someone eats too much or eats the processed chemical filled sugar it could have a negative impact on that person's health. For example: “[..] Chemical makeup enters the bloodstream more quickly than plain sugar.” (Richards). Processed sugar enters into the body and bloodstream much faster than natural sugar does. Which causes too much sugar build up in our bloodstream makes the insulin work harder to process it all out. Until the insulin does its job the sugar just floats around in the blood. We as people can blame sugar for all of our issues when a person eats too much sugar. “I do not support unbelievable amount of GMO high fructose corn syrup” (Konie). That is when heart disease and obesity come into play, when you personally consume too much.

Food consumption that is high in sugar has been linked with obesity rates, so in order to cut obesity rates we must avoid a heavy load of sugar intake. In order to understand why sugar is “trending” as something to avoid in our diet, here are some reasons why: sugar has been found to be poor for our metabolism and harmful to our health (Flegal). It contains no essential nutrients. Sugar is also high in fructose, which can essentially overload your liver. Sugar can also cause insulin resistance. This is something strongly correlated with obesity rates, which can also be associated with diabetes. So with sugars effects to insulin resistance, it can be a contributor to type II diabetes as well as other chronic diseases. A specific note of this diabetes influence sugar has comes for an analysis done on caloric consumption and diabetes. “When people ate 150 calories more every day, the rate of diabetes went up 0.1%. But if those 150 calories came from a can of fizzy drink, the rate went up 1.1%” (Lambert) showing that added sugar is eleven times more harmful within the same calorie

Although pop can be quite refreshing, we need to be careful of how much we consume. According to Dr. Judith Valentine from the Global Health Center, the National Soft Drink Association ranks the United States first in the world for soft drink consumption. With this being said, the amount of people with type two diabetes has increased from 6.6 million to 20.8 million within a 20 year span. It is astonishing what health risks a single pop can give to you.