{"id":1292,"date":"2012-02-29T06:16:26","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T11:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2012-02-29T06:16:26","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T11:16:26","slug":"sugar-as-bad-for-you-as-tobacco-or-alcohol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/02\/sugar-as-bad-for-you-as-tobacco-or-alcohol.html","title":{"rendered":"Sugar — As Bad for You as Tobacco or Alcohol?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How bad for you is sugar?\u00a0 Bad enough to rate government intervention? Dr. Robert H. Lustig, a professor of pediatrics, in the division of endocrinology at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, thinks so.\u00a0 In a recent article in Nature <\/em>magazine, co-written by two other specialists, Dr. Laura Schmidt and Dr. Claire Brindis, he recommends treating sugar in the same way as other health hazards such as alcohol and tobacco.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>“There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates\u00a0and bad carbohydrates. But sugar is toxic beyond its calories,” Lustig said.<\/p>\n

Sugar, the article\u2019s authors say, is fueling a worldwide obesity pandemic.\u00a0 Its contribution to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes and the related health problems brought on by these diseases, causes about 35 million deaths worldwide.\u00a0 About 75% of the healthcare dollars in the U.S. are spent on treating these three diseases.<\/p>\n

The authors argue that sugar does more than make people fat.\u00a0 It also is responsible for changing metabolism, raising blood pressure, altering the signaling of hormones, and damaging the liver.<\/p>\n

So what can the government do?\u00a0 The article recommends the same tactics used against alcohol and tobacco consumption.\u00a0 Taxes which make particularly harmful foods, like sodas, prohibitive is one suggestion.\u00a0 Tightening licensing on vending machines and snack bars, and educational programs to make inform the public of the hazards of sugar were also among the authors\u2019 suggestions.<\/p>\n

Whether the government should get involved in our diet choices may be a matter for argument, but the fact that we need to cut out the sugar is not! \u00a0We\u2019ll be looking at the different types of sweeteners in the next few posts to check out options for cutting down on sugar and the even more toxic high fructose corn syrup.<\/p>\n

Eating to live and living for Christ,<\/p>\n

Susan Jordan Brown<\/p>\n

Nature<\/em> 482<\/strong>, 27\u201329 (02 February 2012) doi:10.1038\/482027a<\/p>\n

Published online 01 February 2012<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How bad for you is sugar?\u00a0 Bad enough to rate government intervention? Dr. Robert H. Lustig, a professor of pediatrics, in the division of endocrinology at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, thinks so.\u00a0 In a recent article in Nature magazine, co-written by two other specialists, Dr. Laura Schmidt and Dr. Claire Brindis, he recommends treating…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[369],"tags":[667,370,141,371],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clinical-studies","tag-clinical-studies","tag-lustig","tag-sugar","tag-toxic"],"yoast_head":"\nSugar - As Bad for You as Tobacco or Alcohol? - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2012\/02\/sugar-as-bad-for-you-as-tobacco-or-alcohol.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sugar - As Bad for You as Tobacco or Alcohol? - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How bad for you is sugar?\u00a0 Bad enough to rate government intervention? 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