Joseph Halabi
Mrs. Ciallella
English 8C
March 23 2015
The Bitter Side of Sugar
Sugar has always been an important and influencing factor in our lives, although most of the time we don’t realize it. It is a product that is quite available in many places around the world since it is very affordable, yet is so misused by the majority such as food giants that use it in order to hook consumers, the reason for this is that sugar is cheap, sugar tastes good and sugar sells, so companies have little incentive to change. The overuse of sugar in hyper­processed food affects the American consumer negatively, causing obesity, cancer, addiction and other diet related diseases.
Sugar has become one of the long­term health disasters to consumers. For instance,
Robert Lustig, Pediatric Endocrinologist at UC San Francisco, offers his analysis in the
Public
Health article “The Toxic Truth About Sugar” that for the first time in human history, chronic non­communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, obesity and heart diseases pose a greater health burden worldwide than do infectious diseases, resulting in 35 million deaths annually, mainly caused from excessive sugar consumption (10). We consume it and think it will be burned away through any type of physical activity such as working out, not realizing the fact that it leaves back permanent traces in our body that slowly develop over time and lead to serious and life­threatening diseases. Additionally, a USDA study shows that authorities consider sugar as
‘empty calories’ — but there is nothing empty about these calories. A growing body of scientific

Halabi 2 evidence is proving that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. Consuming a little amount is not a problem, but a lot kills—slowly. It may be calories that can easily be burned, but on the long­term run it is undeniably damaging to us. Moreover, a growing body of epidemiological and mechanistic evidence argues that excessive sugar consumption affects human health beyond simply adding calories. If people around world are truly concerned about public health, they must consider limiting sugar/fructose
— and its main delivery vehicles, the added sugars sucrose and HFCS — which pose health threats to individuals and to society as a whole. If researchers are right about added sugar calories being so catastrophic, then major consequences follow for all sugar consumers around the world.
The Western diet has negatively influenced consumers around the globe. Laura A.
Schmidt, a Professor of Health Policy in the School of Medicine at UCSF, offers her analysis in the
Health agazine “Sugar Overload” that over the past 50 years, consumption of sugar has
M
tripled worldwide, meaning more people are becoming obese and suffering from other critical health conditions related to sugar. Every country that has adopted the Western diet — one dominated by low­cost, highly processed food — has experienced rising rates of obesity and related diseases. There are now 30% more people who are obese than who are undernourished.
Sugar consumption and processed food not only affect the American consumer, but the whole world in general since western food culture have shifted on to other parts of the globe.
Additionally, a study from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2012 showed that an estimated 56 million people died worldwide from noncommunicable diseases, which is 68% of

Halabi 3 all deaths globally in 2012, up from 60% in 2000. The 4 main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases. Cardiovascular diseases killed 17.5 million people in
2012, that is 3 in every 10 deaths. Of these, 7.4 million people died of ischaemic heart disease and 6.7 million from stroke.
Importantly, sugar induces all of the diseases associated with metabolic syndrome. This includes: hypertension (fructose increases uric acid, which raises blood pressure); diabetes from increased liver glucose production combined with insulin resistance; high triglycerides and insulin resistance through synthesis of fat in the liver; and the ageing process, caused by damage to lipids, proteins and DNA through nonenzymatic binding of fructose to these molecules.
The saddest part of all this is that more people in the world die due to sugar overload and western eating habits that lead to cardiovascular and many other diet­related diseases, rather than them dying from other death­leading factors such as drugs, criminals, military losses, and gun control and shootings.
Mass food producers are selfish and profit­driven. As Michael Moss states in the NPR radio interview, the “Bliss Point”, which is sugar, is an important focus of the food industry.
Their goal is to make the most convenient, most long­lasting, least­cost foods they could. It not only makes food taste better, but makes appearance, texture, and even sound better. In some cases it even makes it look bigger when necessary, and most importantly, it generates pleasurable responses from food eaters. Adding on to that, a n ew study led by researchers at University of
California, San Diego School of Medicine finds that the brains of people, especially children that are overweight/obese, literally light up differently when tasting sugar. Our brain responds so good to sugars to the point where it desires more and more, which is what makes us addicted.

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People are consuming an average of more than 500 calories per day from added sugar alone, which is way beyond what is supposed to be consumed in order to be considered “healthy”.
Based on studies from UC San Francisco by Dr. Lustig, solutions for what he calls a “public health crisis” he asserts would be that men should consume less than 150 calories of added sugars per day, and women less than 100, since ending sugar is not an option and companies have no incentive to change, we the people, can do it. Another essential point, Moss explains how large food companies employ scientists to dissect elements of the palate and tweak rations of salt, sugar, and fat to optimize taste. Similarly, marketing campaigns intentionally mislead consumers, illustrating the great pressure that food companies have to make high profits. For instance, Kellogg’s ad campaign supported a cinnamon stick over apples, convincing parents via false media information and involvement of kids and claiming that they would perform better at school if they eat the cinnamon stick.With food scientists focused on how to make their products tastier, cheaper and more convenient over natural products like apples, resisting the lure of processed food has become all but impossible. They still do what they have been doing, adding even more sugar, salt, and fat into their foods, and people are consuming sugar ­­ whether they knew it or not ­­ at breakfast, lunch and dinner. Though making food look more appealing, sugar is invisible, and therefore consumers don’t really see it; they only taste it and become more hooked by the food giants. However, we overestimate the average American’s ability to make good decisions, and it is generally stereotyped that fast food, which contains high amounts of added sugar, is bad for one’s health. Americans still make the decision to eat it despite the fact that it is bad for their health due to their lack of time and failure to find an alternative.

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More importantly, sugar is just as toxic and addictive as alcohol and tobacco. Arguments from Claire D. Brindis and other Professors of Pediatrics and Health Policy from UCSF share their research in the
Australian Science Media Centre article “Is Sugar as Toxic as Alcohol?” saying that fructose exerts toxic effects on the liver that are similar to those of alcohol. Alcohol is derived from the fermentation of sugar. Some early studies have also linked sugar consumption to human cancer and cognitive decline. Sugar also has clear potential for abuse. Like tobacco and alcohol, it acts on the brain to encourage subsequent intake and reduces dopamine signalling in the brain’s reward centre, thereby decreasing the pleasure derived from food and compelling the individual to consume more (4). Since our brain releases a quick pleasure feeling when we taste sugar, similar to cocaine, drugs, and alcohol, we must place a limit on it. Some ways of doing that would be taxing processed foods that contain any form of added sugars— in the form of special excise duties, value­added taxes and sales taxes — are some of the most popular and effective ways to reduce sugar consumption, and in turn, substance abuse and related harms.
Moreover, studies show that sugar's fructose component, like alcohol, is metabolized mainly by the liver, which is what Lustig and others believe makes it uniquely dangerous. When it hits in a rapid dose, say a soft drink or a Twinkie, it's quickly converted to fat in that organ (Lunau). It's human nature to seek out a sugar rush. High­calorie food stimulates the same parts of our brain as drugs and alcohol, brain­scan studies have shown. The long­term economic, health­care and human costs of metabolic syndrome place sugar overconsumption in the same category as tobacco and alcohol. The United States spends $65 billion in lost productivity and $150 billion on health­care resources annually for morbidities associated with metabolic syndrome. This

Halabi 6 points out how sugar not only affects our health, but our economy in the long run as well. A very large amount of that government spending on metabolic syndrome could be cut down if people were aware of all the added sugars they consume. However, it is possible to take action in favor of decreasing sugar consumption in many different ways. For instance, a limit — or, ideally, ban
— on television commercials for products with added sugars could further protect children’s health. More efficient ways would be tightening license requirements on vending machines and snack bars that sell sugary products in schools and workplaces, or limiting sales during school operation, or to designate an age limit (such as 17) for the purchase of drinks with added sugar, particularly soda. Reduced fructose consumption could also be fostered through changes in subsidization. Promotion of healthy foods in US low­income programmes, such as the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children and the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program. Ultimately, food producers and distributors must reduce the amount of sugar added to foods. But sugar is cheap, sugar tastes good and sugar sells, so companies have little incentive to change. Although one institution alone can’t turn this juggernaut around, the US Food and Drug Administration could “set the table” for change. To start, it should consider removing fructose from the Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS) list, which allows food manufacturers to add unlimited amounts to any food. Opponents will argue that other nutrients on the GRAS list, such as iron and vitamins A and D, can also be toxic when over­consumed. However, unlike sugar, these substances have no abuse potential. Removal from the GRAS list would send a powerful signal to the European Food Safety Authority and the rest of the world.

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In brief, there's a war under way, and consumers are at the heart of it. It consists of sugar and its many life­threatening diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity, addiction, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome. Poison or not, we're programmed to seek it out, and our brains are cabled to crave more. It's a craving that food industries understand and anticipate, leading us right back to them. After all they are selfish and profit­driven. Thus, we must change how we react to sugar consumption, leave addiction and pleasurable brain responses aside, we must change our style and habits of eating, the so called “Western Diet” that is made up of hyper­processed foods has negatively influenced not only the average American consumer but most of the world and has increased critical diet related diseases. Considering sugar is toxic, it should be monitored like alcohol because it is inevitable, addictive, has potential for abuse and has a negative impact on society. For now, though, that space on every nutrition label around the world will remain distressingly blank.

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DietDoctor.com
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