Sugar is poison

[DGuller]

I completely disagree. Start running five miles a day and you are going to lose some weight unless you start doing something crazy. Watching a five minute ab video may be less effective.

Running five miles would take me 2-3 hours.  Ditching the sugar is free.

[Fate]

Isn't "sugar", ie. C6H12O6, the very thing your digestive system converts your food to, in other words, the thing in which it carries energy to your cells?

That's a "simple" sugar- a disaccharide.  Fructose and sucrose are polysaccharides, which we already knew were harder for the body to metabolize.  The flaw in the "sugar is poison" argument is that it relies mostly on correlation in historical analysis- that attributes a certain static quality that we know isn't the case in human biology- it's why I mentioned lactase, since our bodies have adapted to produce it for digestion of dairy products.

No, fructose and sucrose are not polysaccharides. Fructose is a monosaccharide. Sucrose is a disaccharide of fructose and glucose. An example of a polysaccharide would be starch or glycogen.

[Malthus]

The article is by Gary Taubes - he's a self styled dieting guru, widely considered a peddler of pseudo-science on the topic of dieting. His previous work was all about why carbohydrates alone make you fat (as opposed to eating too much and not exercising enough).

I'd take any extreme pronouncements on totally avoiding sugar with - as they say - a grain of salt. 

[DGuller]

You can say this theory is a refinement of the previous one.  Now it turns out that not all carbohydrates are bad, but only a subset of them.  People like Atkins may have been quacks, but they may also have stumbled upon a piece of the puzzle, which is why their diets were successful in a limited way.

[grumbler]

Like the theory that 'the sky is falling!' is a refinement of the theory that 'the sky is blue!' 

[DGuller]

Like the theory that 'the sky is falling!' is a refinement of the theory that 'the sky is blue!' 

I don't see it, Marty.  It sounds more like "saturated and tran fats are bad" from "all fats are bad".  You start with a theory that explains some observations, and prune and refine it until it fits more of the observations.  That's how science works, scientists don't get things perfectly right the first time, especially sciences where cause and effect is very difficult to test.

If sugars are indeed as bad as claimed, then a diet that restricts all carbohydrates will still be likely a successful one.  It is not at all unreasonable to draw the connection in the absence of other evidence.  The only unreasonable thing is to stick to the old model when a new model explains the obervations better.  That's why Malthus's bit by itself doesn't strike me as damning at all.

[Legbiter]

This article is crap. Who wrote that shit?

[Valmy]

I've never been on board the idea that eating too much and not exercising is all there is to the obesity epidemic.

Well it is not like Americans were super disciplined with their diets in the 1960s and 1970s yet people were dramatically thinner.  Nor do I think everybody just exercised all the time 20, 30, and 40 years ago.  It is puzzling that is for sure.  But then I was not there.  Maybe eating healthy food and exercising was vastly more common in 1975.

[Brazen]

I'd take any extreme pronouncements on totally avoiding sugar with - as they say - a grain of salt. 

Make sure it's low-sodium.

[Brazen]

Really? I found that found in Korea (when it's not bitter or hot) is often much sweeter than American food.

Oriental food makes a big thing about balancing out the four flavours - sweet, salty, spicy and 'umami', so you'll encounter all of this in most dishes.

The difference between US and UK versions of the same European foods is very marked. Maybe it's one of the reasons Americans find our food bland and we find American food stodgy?

[DGuller]

I've never been on board the idea that eating too much and not exercising is all there is to the obesity epidemic.

Well it is not like Americans were super disciplined with their diets in the 1960s and 1970s yet people were dramatically thinner.  Nor do I think everybody just exercised all the time 20, 30, and 40 years ago.  It is puzzling that is for sure.  But then I was not there.  Maybe eating healthy food and exercising was vastly more common in 1975.

Agreed.  It's not like we were an agrarian society that instantly urbanized and sub-urbanized 30 years ago. 

Personally, the difference is most striking to me when I'm watching some old NASCAR footage on pit road.  If you watch a clip from 1975, most pit crews look like sticks.  If you watch NASCAR now, pretty much every crew member looks like a whale on very fat legs, and it's not muscle.  You can't say that NASCAR pit crew doesn't excercise enough.

[Habbaku]

I'd take any extreme pronouncements on totally avoiding sugar with - as they say - a grain of salt. 

Make sure it's low-sodium.

Just use sea salt!

[Brazen]

Well it is not like Americans were super disciplined with their diets in the 1960s and 1970s yet people were dramatically thinner.  Nor do I think everybody just exercised all the time 20, 30, and 40 years ago.  It is puzzling that is for sure.  But then I was not there.  Maybe eating healthy food and exercising was vastly more common in 1975.

Having lived through the 70s, I can tell you the difference is snacking and eating out. Looking back, I just don't remember eating between meals or even wanting to. And any day out, whether just going to work or a leisure trip, you'd bring a sandwich. Eating out was a very special occasion thing. For example, we'd go for a burger (Wimpy's, before McDonalds hit our shores) as a birthday treat!

[KRonn]

Boston is with the flow of non-sugar!        Banning it on public areas, including the hospital where I work. I won't drink the aspertame stuff much anymore so I guess sweet drinks are out for me.  Heh, I usually drink water or coffee anyway, and the Dunkin Donuts shops in the hospital still have sugar available. Sheesh, let adults make their own decisions. I can see in schools limiting fatty and sugary stuff for kids.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/08/city_properties_added_to_boston_ban_on_sugary_drinks_1302233569/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed4

Menino expands sugary drink ban
Some beverages won't be allowed on city properties

By Meghan E. Irons
Globe Staff / April 8, 2011

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday that he is expanding his ban on sugar-sweetened drinks in schools to include all city properties and functions, a sweeping restriction that means that calorie-laden soft drinks, juices with added sugar, and sports drinks like Gatorade will no longer be offered in vending machines, concession stands, and city-run meetings, programs and events.

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"It's going to be bad for morale around here,'' said Jim Hardy, who runs Station 10 Cafe at police headquarters, where officers get daily doses of soda, fruit juices, and sugary iced tea, along with their sandwiches.

The mayor, who has battled weight issues, said that too many Bostonians are overweight or obese and that he wants to make healthy choices easy for them.

"I haven't had a glass of soda in two years,'' Menino said during a press conference at City Hall announcing the measure.

The move follows other anti-obesity initiatives across the country, including the fight against childhood obesity by Michelle Obama at the White House, as communities grapple with a problem deemed a national epidemic.

Yesterday, Carney Hospital in Dorchester followed Menino's lead, saying it will ban sweetened beverages on hospital grounds. Hospital president Bill Walczak called on other health institutions to follow Carney's plan.

"We all know that good health is built around a couple of things,'' such as exercising and eating healthy, Walczak said. "So why do we spend so much effort in providing unhealthy food in our cafeterias, vending machines, and various other institutions? It just doesn't make sense.''

Barbara Ferrer, executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission, said the new city policy will curb health care costs and boost worker productivity. She said 1-in-3 Boston public high school students and 1-in-2 middle and elementary school students are overweight or obese.

While soda and sweetened beverages are major contributors, Ferrer also faults a super-sized culture and the abundance of inexpensive processed food in supermarkets.

In efforts to promote healthier eating, Boston has pushed for farmers markets selling fresh fruits and vegetables, backyard gardens, and neighborhood walking groups.

In 2004, the city fought off huge resistance and banned junk food and soft drinks from vending machines at Boston public schools. This summer, the city is planning to launch a bike share program that would make 600 bicycles available for borrowing.

"We've made tremendous strides in changing the food and beverage environment in the city, and creating more opportunities for residents to be more active,'' said Ferrer.

The mayor's executive order sets so-called science-based, color-coded standards for what is considered a healthy beverage and what can be sold or served on city property.

City buildings and departments have six months before they are required to phase out the sale of beverages coded red: those loaded with sugar, such as nondiet sodas, presweetened iced teas, refrigerated coffee drinks, energy and sports drinks, and juices with added sugar. The promotion of red beverages on banners, panels, and vending machines will be banned.

The new policy allows for the sale of yellow beverages such as diet sodas, diet iced teas, 100 percent juices, low-calorie sports drinks, low-sugar sweetened beverages, sweetened soymilk, and flavored sweetened milk.

Green beverages, such as bottled water, flavored and unflavored seltzer water, low-fat milk, and unsweetened soymilk will also be allowed.

So far, the ban is getting a cool reaction from some independent contractors who serve city employees. John Moreira, who manages the Coffee Stop Cafe on the first floor of City Hall, spent a part of the afternoon turning around bottles to scan the nutrition labels, trying to guess which drinks would no longer be allowed. He said that he will conform to the new policy, but that he has reservations.

At police headquarters, Hardy said the new plan could curb 20 percent of his business if officers and civilian employees begin bringing in their own sodas and eventually sandwiches, instead of buying them from him.

Yesterday, he said, complaints were coming in from those who love their sodas and do not like being told what to do or to drink.

"The city banned saturated fat two years ago, and they can do without,'' Hardy said of the officers. "But I don't think they can do without their'' Coca-Colas.

Meghan Irons can be reached at [email protected].

[DGuller]

I don't have a problem with it.  Sugar ban is a lot like smoking ban.  Just like you don't want to inhale other people's smoke, you also don't want to look at other people's obesity.