Sugar Coated: Documentary Analysis

In their 2012 article, "The Toxic Truth about Sugar," Lustig et al argue that sugar, like alcohol, ought to be regulated by governments due to the harm it can cause to individuals' health and the public good. Their argument, at first glance, appears to be highly logical and virtually unassailable: alcohol is regulated because it is bad for health and causes other problems for society, and so sugar which is the cause of much greater and more pervasive health problems and is also detrimental to the social and cultural fabric of the peoples of the world in a variety of ways involving the agricultural industry and global development should also be carefully regulated and controlled. The researchers cite actions taken in other countries along the same lines as a further justification of their call for more control when it comes to sugar content and consumption, and clearly spell out some of the concrete harms that increased sugar consumption has had and will have on the world's population, not just in developed/industrialized countries but in all countries adopting similar diets. This adds up to a very compelling picture of the threat that sugar specifically and "junk food" (calorie-dense and nutritionally-lacking consumables) generally constitutes to the world population.

This is a fact that is not only staggering, but also shocking that we’ve let this happen to the modern age what with all the technology that could perhaps help reduce this. Paragraph 3’s testimonial is in short order, the UN says that sugar is now in the same league of products as tobacco and alcohol, especially when consumed in large amount, can pose a serious health threat, however it is OK, but only if used in moderation.

Sugar is everywhere in our lives. When you eat, sugar is in the food such as hamburger, sandwiches, pizza, bread, etc. When you drink, sugar is in the beverage like soda, juice, coffee and even milk. Furthermore, sugar exists in snacks such as cookies, cupcakes, biscuits and so on. I cannot list everything with sugar here. Actually, when we eat, we eat sugar. Unfortunately, sugar is now considering a toxic to our bodies. It causes diseases like obesity, diabetes, heart attack and cancer, etc. As sugar threatens the public health, government is considering curb sugar consumption by taxes on sugar; restrictions placed on food production and even age requirements on purchasing sugary foods. For this research project, I decided to pursue the question, Should sugar be regulated? This question deserves to be examined because we need to make some change for life to reduce sugar intake but at the same time it’s controversial that whether the government should intervene and regulate sugar. I wonder how the government will take appropriate measures to regulate sugar as well as improve public health.

Overall, sugar consumption has increased immensely. We know that our health is worse than it was just two hundred years ago, and yet we do nothing more than add sugar. Sugar is not a good thing, and it’s even worse when we eat a lot of it. Sugar has had a negative effect on everyone, not only our youth. We, as a whole, eat way too much sugar and either need to eat less sugar, or eradicate it

In the article "How Candy Conquered America by Lauren Tarshis" and the article “This Cupcake Is Trying to Hurt You by Kristin Lewis" they both talk about candy and how it became so popular and how it is unhealthy. In the first article it says "They removed the chemical flavorings and colors. Big mistake! Loyal customers were furious. sales dropped 35 percent, and the company decided to return to the original formula." (Tarshis 25). In the second article it says "New studies have linked high-sugar diets to a host of other terrifying diseases too--Diabetes, cancer, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and stroke. Sugar may also contribute to depression, tiredness, and learning and memory issues (not so great on the day of a big test).”

Recent evidence linking sugar to non-communicable disorders shows that we need to rethink and re-evaluate what we know about sugar and how we consume it. According to the World Health Organization, sugar should not be more than 10% of the calories you consume daily. This is about 30-50 grams or 6-10 teaspoons of added sugar, depending on the age. Are all types of sugar bed? What are the common sources of added sugar? Are you concerned about eating too much sugar? Should you? Consider the answers to 3 most common questions about sugar and their answers

Pollan and Hastings et al gave their idea on sugar and diabetes while Bittman did concern a little. Just take a glance at some statics now. 25.8 million children and adults in the United States—8.3% of the population—have diabetes. 1.9 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010. (Cited from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diabetes-statistics/) Seriously, syrup is the culprit and we can see it everywhere from drinks, snacks, food, and oil. Hastings et al call syrup empty calories because syrup can’t give people any benefit; otherwise people still need to do a lot exercise to burn those calories. In the “Deadly Noodles”, Hastings et al said in both developed and developing countries, people are doing less and less activities, so diabetes always trouble people there. Compared with Hastings et al, Michael Pollan is a real detective at this issue, who see the truth for why there is growing more diabetes. He said generally, it’s us, not something else, are doing contributing to the diseases. Government over subsidizes on crops especially on crop syrup, then syrup becomes cheaper and is used more comprehensively in producing what people eat every day, and finally, as people consume more, they get bigger possibility to get diabetes. That’s the problem, and Pollan said that one in three Americans born in the year

I don’t think that sugar alone is the main cause of these health issues, but one of many factors found in our lifestyle. Southeast Asia primarily consumed refined grains and were observed to have low levels of diseases related to obesity. After adopting the western diet these levels started to increase at a rate higher than their previous diet. This evidence alone doesn’t show that sugar alone causes these issues, when they “adopted” this western diet, it includes a lot of other chemicals and ingredients that can be also be factors in. The “Adult and kids are eating well above the recommended amount of added sugar” this chart shows that there has been an increase of sugar intake throughout the years, this and the rising obesity rate can be used to infer that obesity may be the effect of high sugar intake. However, this graph does not show the increase in intake of other chemicals and ingredients found in food. To say that the only thing that has increased in our diet from the 1970’s to where we are today is sugar is foolish. Without the ability to create experiments that can remove all the complex factors that play into our overall diet and health, it is almost impossible to even prove if sugar is the cause. In the future as technology advances hopefully we will be able to run these experiments and gather data to help society have a healthier and safer

This week’s Core Friday was not a lecture, but a documentary named The Pluto Files, which was coordinated by one of Core’s co-coordinator, Tom Hothem. The purpose documentary was that Pluto lacked a well-defined criteria to determine if it was or was not a planet. The documentary followed Neil Tyson as he traveled to different states in finding out the truth and views about Pluto being a planet and not a planet. There were many controversies about this topic when it was concluded that Pluto would no longer be considered a planet. This issue relates to how we must evaluate the Drake Equation in the Quantitative Essay. It connects because both lack a well-defined criteria that allow us to determine what is and what is not. It makes us question

Do you intake a lot of sugar daily? Do you think you are a sugar addict? To put things in perspective, the average people drink soda a year is almost 57 gallons! Which counts about 600 cans or even more than a year! And that’s one of the reasons get too much sugar in their bodies. Sugar is everywhere. When you eat, sugar is in the food such as hamburgers, pizza, sandwiches, & breads, also found in snacks. Unfortunately sugar is now considering a toxic to our body. And this needs to be maintained because, it may give us diseases such as diabetes, as well as obesity. However regulation needs to happen.

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

Not only does sugar cause diabetes and obesity, but it causes acne, gum disease, which can lead to heart disease, and much more terrifying diseases. children that are on a high sugar diet aren't living as long as their parents, kids are becoming obse, getting diabets and diseases that are majorly impacting them. These obese people have the risk of stroke, artery disease, and even

Most of the American adults and children have the addiction of craving sweets, either if it is a treat or drink. The sweet drinks that are mostly consumed are soda and are affordable, a man-made package full of sugar. Even though the drinks are affordable, sugar can lead to lifelong health problems like diabetes and obesity. With diabetes, excessive sugar consumption lowers the metabolism, and then it becomes an addiction to create obesity. Sugary consumption benefits the company that makes the sugary goods, yet the people with addiction of sugary goods lose their health and have diabetes and/or

Sugar is a very dangerous thing it can cause tooth loss, heart attacks, diabetes, weight gain, and other problems with the body. The whole population on earth should start limiting the amount of sugar it consumes.

These are diseases that can be improved or avoided with a healthy balanced diet. Taxing sugary products will encourage consumers to avoid purchasing those items.