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Sugar Addiction Myths
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ndj1979
Posts: 29,139 Member
in Debate Club
I was browsing the interwebs during lunch and came across the below article.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/10_myths_about_sugar/14526#.WQOG8ojyuUk
I found it interesting as it debunks every myth that we see posted in the forums about sugar every day.
discuss...
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/10_myths_about_sugar/14526#.WQOG8ojyuUk
I found it interesting as it debunks every myth that we see posted in the forums about sugar every day.
discuss...
10
Replies
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It disagrees with the "myths" but I'm not sure I'd say it debunks anything. It's just someone's opinion.
The one about sugar not being just empty calories is just a facile semantic argument. Basically, its reasoning is that calories are a nutritional component, and since sugar has calories it has nutritional value. That's basically just denying that there's any such thing as "empty calories." Pure refined table sugar is the prime example of empty calories, as that term is used by the medical community.
ETA I also noticed whoever wrote this doesn't think alcohol addiction exists either. So I'm not sure I'd put much stock in what he says.24 -
sugar provides energy so it can't be "emtpy" that is the point...6
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anyway, I found it interesting and it is no way peer reviewed...4
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I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.2
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I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.
So you don't eat fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta, etc?1 -
I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.
how exactly is sugar toxic?3 -
I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.
how exactly is sugar toxic?
Given that the basic definition of a carbohydrate is something that the body can break down into glucose (SUGAR) to be used by the body for energy, how exactly is this toxic? Is the body trying to kill itself?!?!?5 -
I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.
how exactly is sugar toxic?
Given that the basic definition of a carbohydrate is something that the body can break down into glucose (SUGAR) to be used by the body for energy, how exactly is this toxic? Is the body trying to kill itself?!?!?
don't know and never really understood that claim. Technically, water is toxic because if you drink too much you can die from water poisoning but I don't see anyone saying "avoid water."4 -
I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.
how exactly is sugar toxic?
Oops. Major typo there; I meant to type "false" not "fact". I completely agree that sugar is neither bad nor toxic. HUGE typing error there.18 -
I also found it interesting regardless of the "validity". I do have to agree that I do not find sugar to be addictive and/or toxic. I know people will argue the idea of "mental addiction" to sugar, but I personally find that to be more habit than anything else. That could just be my opinion; I think the idea that sugar is always "bad" or "toxic" is very much fact though.
how exactly is sugar toxic?
Oops. Major typo there; I meant to type "false" not "fact". I completely agree that sugar is neither bad nor toxic. HUGE typing error there.
bahahahahaha.....
LOL, no problem. I kind of thought that might be a typo...3 -
It disagrees with the "myths" but I'm not sure I'd say it debunks anything. It's just someone's opinion.
The one about sugar not being just empty calories is just a facile semantic argument. Basically, its reasoning is that calories are a nutritional component, and since sugar has calories it has nutritional value. That's basically just denying that there's any such thing as "empty calories." Pure refined table sugar is the prime example of empty calories, as that term is used by the medical community.
ETA I also noticed whoever wrote this doesn't think alcohol addiction exists either. So I'm not sure I'd put much stock in what he says.
So carbohydrates aren't nutrients and have no calories? Sorry for me being literal when someone claims a food has empty calories.3 -
I know someone who's naturopath diagnosed her allergic to sugar, even fruit.
I wanted to tell her her blood always has sugar in it; and if it didn't she would be dead.5 -
It disagrees with the "myths" but I'm not sure I'd say it debunks anything. It's just someone's opinion.
The one about sugar not being just empty calories is just a facile semantic argument. Basically, its reasoning is that calories are a nutritional component, and since sugar has calories it has nutritional value. That's basically just denying that there's any such thing as "empty calories." Pure refined table sugar is the prime example of empty calories, as that term is used by the medical community.
ETA I also noticed whoever wrote this doesn't think alcohol addiction exists either. So I'm not sure I'd put much stock in what he says.
So carbohydrates aren't nutrients and have no calories? Sorry for me being literal when someone claims a food has empty calories.
No. When doctors, etc. say something is just "empty calories" they mean it has calories but little or no other food value - or at least, not that most people can't get just as easily from something more nutritious. They do not mean, as the article's author suggests, that the food has calories and also lacks calories. The article redefines the term so as to make it meaningless.
The term is only used in contexts where more calories aren't desirable. It's not used, for example, when an unconscious patient is given glucose intravenously, or when undernourished refugees are fed high calorie rations.
But I'm guessing you may have known all that already.9 -
This one is especially funny:
Myth 7: Sugary foods are a food industry plot to get us hooked on cheap ingredients
The idea that we are controlled by the food industry is as bad as the idea that we are controlled by sugar. Nobody is piling our shopping trolleys with sweet treats but us.
Sure, it's a myth that the food industry is in business to get us hooked on their products. Really? For what other purpose do they exist but to sell you more of their products?15 -
I like this one:
"Myth 2: Sugar is unnecessary in food
Here, anti-sugar campaigners seem unable to distinguish between ‘food’ and ‘diet’. No, we don’t need sugar in our diets. There are lots of ways we can obtain dietary energy. But that doesn’t mean sugar is not essential to many foods - particularly sweet foods like cakes, biscuits, chocolate and puddings. In many instances, those foods are basically impossible without sugar, particularly foods that rely on the texture that comes from caramelising sugar. Crème brûlée, anyone?"
Sugar is essential because it is needed in chocolate and pudding. LOL
I don't see much in this article except opinion - one I don't agree with much. Sugar is no cocaine, but there is something different about it, and large amounts are very closely linked to some health issues... It may not be addictive, but people defend their sugar with a lot of zeal that is often not seen with the other food or macros.
I don't think sugar is a benign food is what it comes down to for me. I think at best it is a neutral caloric source. There are most likely better ways to get your energy, although your chocolate and puddings may suffer somewhat without it.
JMO15 -
I like this one:
"Myth 2: Sugar is unnecessary in food
Here, anti-sugar campaigners seem unable to distinguish between ‘food’ and ‘diet’. No, we don’t need sugar in our diets. There are lots of ways we can obtain dietary energy. But that doesn’t mean sugar is not essential to many foods - particularly sweet foods like cakes, biscuits, chocolate and puddings. In many instances, those foods are basically impossible without sugar, particularly foods that rely on the texture that comes from caramelising sugar. Crème brûlée, anyone?"
Sugar is essential because it is needed in chocolate and pudding. LOL
I don't see much in this article except opinion - one I don't agree with much. Sugar is no cocaine, but there is something different about it, and large amounts are very closely linked to some health issues... It may not be addictive, but people defend their sugar with a lot of zeal that is often not seen with the other food or macros.
I don't think sugar is a benign food is what it comes down to for me. I think at best it is a neutral caloric source. There are most likely better ways to get your energy, although your chocolate and puddings may suffer somewhat without it.
JMO
A lot of things are not essential in life, it doesn't not make them bad, addictive, toxic , or Satan,...
5 -
JohnnyPenso wrote: »This one is especially funny:
Myth 7: Sugary foods are a food industry plot to get us hooked on cheap ingredients
The idea that we are controlled by the food industry is as bad as the idea that we are controlled by sugar. Nobody is piling our shopping trolleys with sweet treats but us.
Sure, it's a myth that the food industry is in business to get us hooked on their products. Really? For what other purpose do they exist but to sell you more of their products?
So making food taste good is now a food corporation plot?
If you go to a restaurant and the food sucks are you going to go back????7 -
people defend their sugar with a lot of zeal that is often not seen with the other food or macros.
I don't actually think this is true. It's just under more attack on these forums (sugar is the devil and all that). I'm currently avoiding it (the added kind, not fruits, veg, or dairy), so am not knee jerk defending it, but people respond in similar ways to the rarer attacks on meat, dairy (I've been in some of those), fat, and cheese (I remember one thread mocking the idea of cheese addiction, which seems to be a thing in some WFPB forums similar to sugar addiction among some on the lower carb side).
Me, I think it's all about hedonism (more specifically, I basically agree with Stephan Guyenet's explanation).
I do enjoy the argument that sugar is essential because you can't make a good apple pie without it. I think a better version of the same argument against "sugar is unnecessary in food" is that it's obviously not unnecessary to all foods, many foods (that almost everyone will recognize as perfectly good additions to the diet) come with it, like broccoli and blueberries, sweet potatoes and milk, and the idea of trying to remove it from those foods so as to improve them is absurd. But that says nothing about needing it in the diet, as the link says.
In other words, IF the argument is that sugar is unnecessary and therefore less sugar is ALWAYS better (which I do think is an argument that one runs into), that would mean that we would have to consider the sugar with broccoli et al. a bad side to it (vs. an inherent part of why anyone eats it in the first place). That's messed up, IMO. Better not to suggest (at least for the vast majority of people) that the ideal is no sugar, but that avoiding excess sugar is a good thing. A diet with fruits and veg and dairy and various other foods (even if you ate all whole foods) would contribute sugar into the diet. You don't need that sugar to live (we are adapted to making what we need if we have to), but suggesting that it might be better to avoid such foods (or removing the sugar from them) seems to me absurd, yet that's the logical conclusion of the "food doesn't need sugar" argument.
Not getting into any other parts of this discussion, at least not yet. ;-)5 -
It could be just me, but apple pie doesn't really need sugar, or strawberry shortcake imo.
Course then again I put cocoa powder in full fat unsweetened yogurt and call it fantastic, so idk, my tastbuds are different?2 -
Does anyone listen to podcasts? Freakonomics just released one on sugar. They do a good job of showing both arguments although it's pretty clear at the end of the episode which one is the standout.2
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