Tag Archives: food regulations

Sugar Should Be Regulated Like Tobacco and Alcohol Argues Professor

pastreyIn the most recent edition of the medical journal Nature, Dr. Robert Lustig and co-authors Laura Schmidt and Clair Brindis make an argument for regulating access to sugar similar to the restrictions placed on alcohol and tobacco. Dr. Lustig, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco, writes that sugar is responsible for an increasing number chronic diseases around the world.

Lustig’s call for regulations is sure to be controversial, just as the soda tax debate has been in the past. However, Lustig says that health risks posed by increased levels of sugar consumption makes it a danger that should not be left to individual responsibility alone. The paper outlines how sugar alters the body’s chemistry, not only leading to problems like metabolic resistance but also leading people to crave more and more sweetness.

The paper further argues that sugar is a bigger underlying than obesity alone, noting that 40 percent of individuals with a normal weight have metabolic resistance problems that can lead to diabetes and health disease. The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar each day, which is three times as much as was consumed 30 years ago.

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Posted on February 2, 2024 by Health Buzz

Are New Food Laws Crossing the Line?

Do we put a fence around the pool to prevent drowning, or do we teach how to swim? When it comes to the new, pending, and purposed laws regarding food labeling, ingredients, and marketing, several states are at odds as to how best handle these issues.

Many new food related laws are being passed, such as the ban on toys in kid’s fast food meals in several cities or the requirement for nutrition information to be on the menu at any restaurant that has more than twenty chains that will be enforced by 2024. There is also the new federal law that will be setting new standards for the food sold and provided in schools. These and other new requirements are getting lots of attention.

The advocacy groups that are out to fight obesity are in favor of many of these laws, saying they could lead to a healthier country and reduce many of the ailments our children and adults are facing today.

Business owners and some legislators are seeing the other side of the coin, though. All these enforced requirements could make running a profitable business more difficult. The legislators who are supporting these thoughts are saying that it’s an issue of one’s rights and that simply it’s not the government’s job to tell people how to eat.

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Posted on July 9, 2024 by Lacy