Last Updated on December 11, 2024
One medical professional has begun to make a compelling case for treating sugar like a drug. Robert Lustig at the University of California has been very outspoken on the negative impact that sugar is having on society and health. In a recent interview with a Vox writer, German Lopez, he details his case for why it should be controlled like alcohol or tobacco.
Lustig begins his argument by stating that originally sugar was a condiment, like ketchup, or adding table salt after the meal has been cooked, but now it has become a staple in all foods. The problem is that humans can only digest so much sugar based on their metabolism. Similar to alcohol, a limited amount of sugar is fine, but anything after that can become harmful.
Research has shown that around 6 – 9 teaspoons of sugar every day is normal, but the average person is taking in 22 teaspoons instead. That’s double, almost triple what we should be eating.
Many people think you can’t avoid taking in too much sugar because it’s in everything. Most juices, snack foods, and processed foods have tons of sugar. But Lustig says that sugar is added to all of these foods because we are addicted to it. He compares sugar to a drug because of its adverse effects and its addictive qualities.
Lustig goes on to describe the four areas that something must meet to be classified as a substance worth regulating.
- The first is that it’s everywhere, and you can’t get rid of it.
- Secondly that it’s harmful in certain doses, just like alcohol and tobacco.
- The third is abuse.
- Last is having a negative impact on society.
Lustig says that sugar easily meets all four of these categories. While he says that sugar meets all of these categories, the idea of banning it is ridiculous and would never happen, but there should be regulations.
Lustig knows that creating taxation on sugar is a tall mountain to climb, but he believes it should be done. He goes on to explain that creating a tax will give Americans the push to change their behaviors, and he uses Mexico as an example of that. He says that Mexico’s soda tax has improved the water supply by connecting it to the soda tax.
Mexico passed the world’s highest tax on sodas. Many experts believed that the tax would create severe economic problems throughout the country. In 2013, Mexico passed a one-peso-per-liter taxation on all sugary drinks. This raised the prices on those drinks by 10% and the price of snack foods by 8%. These new laws went into effect at the beginning of 2014. So how has a new law impacted Mexico’s society? Sugary drink sales have declined by around 6% on average and by the end of the first year, it had dropped by 12%.
Later in the interview, Lustig goes on the talk about the problem of children having so much sugar. Comparing sugar to alcohol, he goes on to explain the impact sugar can have on children like liver problems or “that’s why we have adolescents with type 2 diabetes“.
In the interview, Lustig brings up many excellent points about sugar and the impact it has on society’s overall health, but how realistic are his thoughts? Well first of all, we know there is not a direct correlation between large amounts of sugar and diabetes, but that sugar is not helping.
While the idea of taxation looks good on paper, would it work in America?
American consumers love sugary drinks and snack foods, some economists and dietitians believe a 10% increase on these foods would make little to no difference.
While Americans may not restrict sugar anytime soon, you still can. Instead of choosing those sugary sodas, go for a glass of water. Instead of the junk food, try vegetables and hummus. Just say no to drugs (the drug being sugar).
