Sugar is indeed toxic. It may not be the only problem with the Standard American Diet, but it’s fast becoming clear that it’s the major one.
A study published in the Feb. 27 issue of the journal PLoS One links increased consumption of sugar with increased rates of diabetes by examining the data on sugar availability and the rate of diabetes in 175 countries over the past decade. And after accounting for many other factors, the researchers found that increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates independent of rates of obesity.
In other words, according to this study, obesity doesn’t cause diabetes: sugar does.
The study demonstrates this with the same level of confidence that linked cigarettes and lung cancer in the 1960s. As Rob Lustig, one of the study’s authors and a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said to me, “You could not enact a real-world study that would be more conclusive than this one.”
Link to the entire article below. Bittman's own conclusion that obesity isn't also a big risk factor is questionable. But, if the grave danger too much sugar poses all by itself is confirmed, what might come next in battling our public health crises of diabetes and the various obesity morbidities? Actually, I'm trying to think of some other sugar bomb NYC could limit the size of (like soft drinks) and can't think of anything that might come close in public health impact. Don't see that many triple-decker ice cream cones walking by.
OTOH, what might be in all those school lunches across our nation? The chocolate milk so many schools offer because kids like it and drink more of it? The spaghetti sauce, meatloaf, macroni salad and so on through the week liberally sugared up because kids like them that way and eat more of them?
