Is ‘Sugar’ a Toxic Five-Letter Word?
The second I came across this article on sugar on the CBC website, I knew it would be the perfect topic to cover for my EatSavvy Blog.
Sugar made headlines last week, thanks to the results of a research study that was recently conducted by doctors at the University of California. According to them, the global rise in death rates as a result of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes isn’t due to obesity, as originally thought, but actually sugar.
The study states that obesity is simply a marker for potentially fatal diseases and that sugar is the true culprit in our diets. The authors of the study have suggested the following measures
be taken in attempt to regulate the supply and demand of sugar:
- Taxing all products that contain ‘added sugar’ (i.e. sugar-sweetened beverages or sugary cereals)
- Controlling the location of fast-food outlets around school and instead offering incentives to open grocery stores and farmers’ markets.
- Creating an age limit to buy drinks with added sugar
The study goes on to say that sugar meets four of the criteria (accepted by public health experts) that apply to the dangers of alcohol, including toxicity, potential for abuse and a negative impact on our society.
As moms, do you agree or disagree with these results? Is sugar really that bad and do you think it should be controlled like alcohol? Do your kids consume too much sugar? Let’s discuss!
