Author Topic: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?  (Read 39748 times)

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Offline SugarfreeJazz

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #105 on: February 03, 2012, 07:22:23 pm »
Relevant http://justlikesugarinc.com/ (visit the intro page)
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Offline m52nickerson

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #106 on: February 03, 2012, 07:56:16 pm »
Oh, and for those who complained about high fructose corn syrup instead of "sugar" sugar: they are the same thing and everyone who's bothered to read even the OP has no reason not to know such as it was directly stated how and why they are essentially the same.

That point is debatable.

The ratio of fructose and glucose are slightly different depending on the type of high fructose corn syrup used.

Also a few studies have found differences between them, such as...
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eatingwell/sugar-corn-syrup_b_1250010.html
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Offline Kit Walker

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #107 on: February 03, 2012, 10:55:51 pm »
Why exactly is just about every suggestion on combating the obesity problem being treated like it must exist in a vacuum? Seriously, comprehensive plan:

1) Institute a nominal tax on non-necessity food items that are high in sugar (sodas and candy and ice cream and etc). Use the revenues to subsidize healthier food.
2) Institute regulations on how much sugar can be added to "necessity" food items like bread, milk products, crackers, canned fruits and veggies, etc.
3) Bridging points one and two, set a standard for sugar content that heat'n'eat meals that would place some of them under the sugar tax and some not. Microwavable meals aren't strictly a necessity, but they are a definite boon to some families.
4) Institute regulations on what foods are available in school cafeterias.
5) Better nutritional education in schools! Phys ed classes that focus more on exercise than learning a bunch of different games!
6) Go after corn subsidies and sugar tariffs that artificially skew prices on cane sugar and HFCS.

Seriously, there isn't a magic bullet of regulation that will make the problem go bye-bye and personal responsibility does play a role. However, there are steps that can be taken to try and minimize the problem. It's not "tax sweets or end subsidies or better education".
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Offline TheL

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #108 on: February 04, 2012, 09:51:21 am »
Why exactly is just about every suggestion on combating the obesity problem being treated like it must exist in a vacuum? Seriously, comprehensive plan:

1) Institute a nominal tax on non-necessity food items that are high in sugar (sodas and candy and ice cream and etc). Use the revenues to subsidize healthier food.
2) Institute regulations on how much sugar can be added to "necessity" food items like bread, milk products, crackers, canned fruits and veggies, etc.
3) Bridging points one and two, set a standard for sugar content that heat'n'eat meals that would place some of them under the sugar tax and some not. Microwavable meals aren't strictly a necessity, but they are a definite boon to some families.
4) Institute regulations on what foods are available in school cafeterias.
5) Better nutritional education in schools! Phys ed classes that focus more on exercise than learning a bunch of different games!
6) Go after corn subsidies and sugar tariffs that artificially skew prices on cane sugar and HFCS.

Seriously, there isn't a magic bullet of regulation that will make the problem go bye-bye and personal responsibility does play a role. However, there are steps that can be taken to try and minimize the problem. It's not "tax sweets or end subsidies or better education".

I agree with this post n its entirety.
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Offline Mira

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #109 on: February 04, 2012, 01:27:44 pm »
Why exactly is just about every suggestion on combating the obesity problem being treated like it must exist in a vacuum? Seriously, comprehensive plan:

I never stated or meant to imply that I believe in a single solution to the obesity problem (or any other problem really). I was simply discussing one possible means of tackling the problem.
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Offline Kit Walker

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #110 on: February 04, 2012, 01:48:33 pm »
I never stated or meant to imply that I believe in a single solution to the obesity problem (or any other problem really). I was simply discussing one possible means of tackling the problem.

Fair point. My post was somewhat directed at people who were saying "X won't solve the problem, Y would be more helpful".
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Offline GLaDOS

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #111 on: February 04, 2012, 02:17:52 pm »
In my opinion, the use of HFCS in food products needs to be restricted, as it is much worse than corn syrup [1]. The US government should also stop the practice of mass subsidies of corn, as a large 4.1% of subsidized corn becomes hight fructose corn syrup ]. Over the past 17 years, the US has directly spent 16.9 billion dollars on corn syrup subsidies [2]. The US government also has Tariffs on the import of sugar in place, making it corn syrup cheaper and sugar more expensive (the tariff raises the cost of sugar by $1.25 for each $1) [3]. This tariff should be repealed. This is my opinion. I do NOT believe that we should be regulating the sale of it, just the usage in manufacturing.
Sources:
1. http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/HFCS_Rats_10.pdf
2. http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/09/ag-subsidies-fund-junk-food-report-says/
3. http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2012/01/28/sugar-tariffs-cost-americans-3-86-billion-in-2011/
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Offline sandman

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #112 on: February 04, 2012, 08:23:43 pm »
In my considered opinion, This quote:

Quote from: vene
Sleepy, I live with the person who wrote those rules and I've ran  a number of my posts by her. She didn't see a problem. Napoleon is also in this thread and he didn't see need to give me a warning (official or unofficial).

....does not constitute "hiding behind Oriet's mod status. Are there any other incidents in which people think he has done this?
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Offline Quasirodent

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #113 on: February 05, 2012, 03:33:46 pm »
Organic sugar
Cane sugar
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup
Evaporated cane juice
Fructose
Fruit extract
Crystalline fructose
High-fructose corn syrup
Invert sugar
Liquid Invert Sugar
Malt syrup
Molasses
Raw sugar
Sugar Alcohol

This is what I have an issue with.  Especially when they're worded to avoid calling them 'sugar'.  Because food ingredients must be listed in order of percentage, a common tactic in food production is to break up an undesirable additive - such as fillers - into several ingredient names, of each of which there are less than the more desirable components, and therefore can be included further down the list.

They're all sugar, but the food industry allows different names based on source or impurities.  If your bread only contains half a gram of sugar, but half a gram of five other hidden sugar items, that's six grams they're trying to sneak past you.
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Offline Mira

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #114 on: February 05, 2012, 03:53:10 pm »
Organic sugar
Cane sugar
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup
Evaporated cane juice
Fructose
Fruit extract
Crystalline fructose
High-fructose corn syrup
Invert sugar
Liquid Invert Sugar
Malt syrup
Molasses
Raw sugar
Sugar Alcohol

This is what I have an issue with.  Especially when they're worded to avoid calling them 'sugar'.  Because food ingredients must be listed in order of percentage, a common tactic in food production is to break up an undesirable additive - such as fillers - into several ingredient names, of each of which there are less than the more desirable components, and therefore can be included further down the list.

They're all sugar, but the food industry allows different names based on source or impurities.  If your bread only contains half a gram of sugar, but half a gram of five other hidden sugar items, that's six grams they're trying to sneak past you.


So? It still tells you how many grams of sugar total are in the product. Look at the carbohydrates in the DV% section for goodness sake!
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Offline Vene

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #115 on: February 05, 2012, 03:56:58 pm »
There is also the issue of when somebody has an allergy to, say, cane sugar and not to the others. Listing different chemical compounds as the same thing can lead to some very real issues. And Mira is right that if you look underneath the number of grams of carbohydrates you see the total amount of sugar in the food (kind of like how if you look under fat you see how much is trans fat or saturated fat).

Offline Quasirodent

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #116 on: February 05, 2012, 04:01:28 pm »
I admit you're right about the allergy thing.
Still, 'carbohydrates' covers a wide range, from forms of fiber to complex carbs, starches, and sugars.  Some are good for you, others are really bad.
And even if there are good reasons for the naming convention,  the food companies are still using that to their advantage to add more sugar to their products than is necessary.
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Offline Mira

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #117 on: February 05, 2012, 04:13:24 pm »
I admit you're right about the allergy thing.
Still, 'carbohydrates' covers a wide range, from forms of fiber to complex carbs, starches, and sugars.  Some are good for you, others are really bad.
And even if there are good reasons for the naming convention,  the food companies are still using that to their advantage to add more sugar to their products than is necessary.

It is a carbohydrates section. It tells you how many grams of sugar are in there. Take a look at a label.
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Offline Vene

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #118 on: February 05, 2012, 04:14:40 pm »
Here is an example:

Of 17 grams of carbs, 13 of them are sugars. Problem solved.

Offline TheL

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Re: Regulate sugar like alcohol and cigarettes?
« Reply #119 on: February 05, 2012, 11:00:16 pm »
Yes, but I still hear the old "don't buy it if one of the first 3 ingredients is sugar" rule.  Which doesn't work as well if you are only looking for a single 5-letter word starting with "S."

Still better than nothing, though.
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