Study suggests government should regulate sugar like alcohol and tobacco
Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, believe that the government should regulate sugar the same way it regulates alcohol and tobacco. They claim that sugar is equally toxic to people’s health, causing changes in metabolism, high blood pressure, interfering with hormone signals and damaging the liver.
According to CBS News, the United Nations announced in September that heart disease, cancer, and diabetes contribute to nearly 35 million deaths worldwide each year. Along with alcohol and tobacco, a person’s diet is one of the biggest contributing factors to these deaths.
Robert Lustig, sugar researcher and professor of pediatrics, claims, “There has to be some sort of societal intervention. We cannot do it on our own because sugar is addictive. Personal intervention is necessary, but not sufficient.”
As reported by Medical News Today, the regulation of sugar must be a group effort with the government taking the lead. Researchers suggest using practices that already exist to limit consumption: sales taxes, control of access, and lessening of unhealthy snacks in vending machines at schools, work, and public venues.
But before your family gets all worked up, make sure they realize sugar will not be banned.
Laura Schmidt, Lustig’s colleague and co-chair of UCSF’s Translation Science Institute’s Community Engagement and Health Policy program, asserts, “We’re not talking prohibition. We’re talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose.”
