The Dangers of Too Much Sugar

Recently, scientists have come to realize that consuming too much sugar, especially too much high fructose corn syrup, can lead to very devastating health issues.

Early humans gained their sugar supplies from naturally occurring sources like fruits and honey, which were found in limited quantities.
With the industrial revolution, sugars, and especially blends of sugars like high fructose corn syrup were produced in mass quantities, with no regard to the negative effects on human health.
Scientists now have enough evidence to conclude that sugars affect humans in similar ways to alcohol and tobacco, and need to be regulated in similar ways. For example, high concentrations of sugar overstimulate feelings of hunger in the brain, which drives a person to continue eating. This can lead to obesity.
High sugar concentrations have also been shown to increase uric acid production, which leads to high blood pressure. Increased liver fat production leads to high triglycerides. Increased liver glucose production and decreased insulin production caused by sugar can also lead to diabetes.
And finally, high concentrations of sugar increase the aging process, because the sugar binds to DNA, fats and proteins in the body and causes damage to these molecules. Tobacco and alcohol have been federally regulated due to their toxic nature, their unavoidability, potential for abuse, and their negative impact on society. As mentioned above, sugar is definitely toxic in increased quantities such as those seen today. It has a negative impact on society, leading to all of the diseases mentioned above (which are collectively known as metabolic syndrome). And, like alcohol and tobacco, it creates dependency and therefore has potential for abuse. Lastly, companies can synthesize sugar cheaply, and it is put into almost every processed food, making it unavoidable.
So, some scientists feel that it should be regulated and taxed, lowering our dependence on it. Do you agree?


Marilyn Hull 2 years, 3 months ago

That's pretty drastic. But I agree that overconsumption of sugar is public health problem.

The American public is a long way from understanding this issue, much less dealing with it.

We could start with some sensible attempts to reduce sugar content in food served at schools and other public settings.


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