America's Sugar Consumption

The past fifty years has seen a spike in the consumption of sugar, that number totaling a tripling increase. However, sugar is not the only risk factor here, alcohol and tobacco can also be attributed with the spike, albeit not as prevalent as sugar. The biggest question that Lustig et al. poses to its’ readers is this: “What aspects of the Western diet should be the focus of intervention”? (par. 3) The current USDA has been deemed “boogeymen” of diets, as well as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Lustig et al. all believe that our attention should be turned towards “added sugar”, which is a sweetener that has fructose in it. Perhaps the biggest controversy from the past fifty years has been none other than a severe culprit that experts know as high fructose corn syrup or HFCS.

Before I could focus on the sugar regulation, I first need to learn more about sugar and how sugar affects public health. I started by reading a scholarly article “Dangerous Sweet: The True Impacts of Sugar on Your Health,” from Rodale News, to give me a basic understanding of this problem. The author Isaac Eliaz, MD is an integrative medicine expert and the founder of the

The documentary “Fed Up” provides some important and disturbing details of the food industry. The 1977 heart disease and diet study known as the McGovern Report warned that the obesity rate was increasing rapidly due to American diets in fatty meats, saturated fats, cholesterol, and sugar. The food industry vehemently denied these claims, but the American people still demanded lower fat food products. The food manufacturers found that the fat removal made the food bland and unpalatable so to address this they replaced the fat content with sugar. Both the documentary and the Harvard Nutrition Source discuss the role sugar has in health conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. They both link the consumption of sugar as the causality for

And though this diet surged in popularity (Remember the low-fat craze in the 80s and 90s?), many are convinced it’s actually the exact opposite of how we should be eating, and that sugar is biggest problem when it comes to weight gain and health problems. A recent article in The Guardian explores this controversy, and ventures to explain how we could have gotten so tangled up in this wild web of fat versus sugar.

When most people think about sugar, their first thoughts are not: heart disease, addiction, or slow and painful death; yet, unfortunately, these conditions are very real consequences of the unregulated and excessive consumption of sugar. In Nature’s article, “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” (2012), Robert Lustig, pediatric endocrinologist; Laura Schmidt, Professor of Health Policy at UCSF; and Claire Brindis, Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy at UCSF, evaluate the world’s ever-increasing and toxic struggle with the substance sugar – also discussing counter measures to promote healthier diets amongst American’s and other societies. Lustig and his colleagues develop their argument using statistical evidence as they address the global impact of sugar, refuting minor oppositions, before dissecting each harmful aspect of the substance – even comparing it to substances more known for their toxicity. Eventually, presenting readers with possible routes of regulation, the authors firmly suggest government intervention in the production and sale of sugary foods. Although the argument is well executed, I remain unconvinced that government intervention is actually necessary.

We see how our brains are so addictive to sugar consumption, that we need it for survival. The American

The source I found credible “Sugar 101” on the American Heart Association’s website instantly stood out to me because it’s a nonprofit organization identified by the fact that the web address is www.heart.org. All of the information on the website is well organized not just pertaining to what I searched

1. Jen Christensen’s article “New U.S. Dietary Guidelines Limit Sugar, Rethink Cholesterol” is about the 2015 recommended food guidelines set by the U.S.

One topic I would like to explore in this class is the role that sugar consumption plays in our lives. For some reason, our culture has celebrated and encouraged eating sugary foods as a means to increase energy and produce happiness. Of course, there are certain benefits that sugar provides. However, I believe most of the effects that our American sugar-rich diets incur are negative. Research has shown that an unhealthy amount of sugar in our diets can lead to obesity, anxiety, depression, weak immunity, and lower cognitive function, among a range of other consequences. Despite this, we continue to downplay this abjectly negative data and increase our consumption. Therefore, I want to bring facts about this topic to light.

In the article “How Much Harm Can Sugar Do?” by Michael Specter, we are introduced to a war against obesity taken place in the United States and how recent studies have gone to show how problematic it has become in the country. In the article, Specter goes on to support how over time belief over what is considered positive or negative to one’s diet frequently changes. As well as, stating the types of changes that include the way we view fats and carbohydrates in our meals. Specter later on goes and includes how sugar is officially the new enemy and how it has gone to affect those who aren’t even specifically obese. Letting us know as well, how studies have showed how it is primarily responsible for many diseases and illnesses such as diabetes.

First of all, sugar consumption increased between 1890- the early 1920’s. Through numerous studies sugar is shown to be damaging to our bodies and how they function. By consuming sugar we expose our bodies to becoming less immune to insulin resistance. Without insulin your body it can go into a pancreatic exhaustion, making it easier to get various forms of diabetes. Sugar became popular because of its unique taste, making it easy to understand the growing addiction to the product that we see now. In the beginning it was not believed that sugar could damage the body by consumption, so many were led to believe it was foods in high fat content that were the result of growing health epidemics. What most people don’t know is that by purchasing low- fat products in hope to maintain a healthier lifestyle they

Anne Alexander, an editorial director of Prevention Magazine, published a diet book three years ago, The Sugar Smart Diet, which reveals the potential cause of the epidemic of obesity and provides feasible diets for weight loss. Anne believes that added sugars directly attribute to continuous weight gain in modern people. Over the past 20-25 years, the consumption of added sugar has increased dramatically in processed foods, and the refined sugars have become critical and ubiquitous additives for food industry to enhance flavor and promote sales. At the same time, the number of obese Americans climbed sharply as well (Harvard). Therefore, Anna reached the conclusion that food supply “sugarjacked” people and sugar overload became a public health crisis that might result in obesity and many other diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Specifically, she stressed the strong adverse effects of fructose on body weight regulation. Fructose is usually added in foods in the form of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is the primary caloric sweetener in America and is one of the main focuses of this diet book and this paper.

Americans are obsessed with the idea of losing weight. The health and fitness industry in the United States is a billion dollar industry. If this is the truth, then why is our country the most obese country in North America? The reason is that we underestimate how poor diet affects both our physical appearance and our health. It seems as though every year, a new fad diet sweeps across the country. There’s the low fat-high carb diet, the high fat-high protein diet and many more that we hear about. However, we do not seem to address the root of our food issues: sugar. People need to understand that sugar addiction is a real epidemic and the United States government needs to step in to regulate the sugar and additives that are so accessible

Living in a world where there is seemingly a new “superfood” discovered each day and where people find solace in foods labeled “diet”, “fat-free”, “organic”, etc. it’s safe to say that people are becoming aware of the dangers some foods face to their health. Dangers like fried foods, processed meats, salt and of course sugar, or more importantly white refined sugar. Those wishing to satisfy their sweet tooth but are more concerned with dietary and health concerns should choose sugar substitutes over table sugar because they are healthier. White refined sugar, or table sugar, causes high blood glucose, teeth decay and has even been linked to cancer. Sugar substitutes on the other hand, which are explained

In recent years, sugary foods and drinks that people like to consume have become an