Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
New public health campaign against sugar.
Options
AlabasterVerve
Posts: 3,171 Member
Liverpool in drive to name and shame fizzy drink brands
Hard-hitting campaign seeks to cut children’s sugar intake in city with some of UK’s worst rates of obesity and tooth decay
"Sugary drinks can cause tooth decay, obesity and even type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers in the future."
Even though I actually do believe "too much" sugar is harmful (regardless of calories) I do question whether the current research supports these statements. Are good intentions enough for a government sponsored campaign against sugar sweetened beverages?
2
Replies
-
I don't mind this kind of campaign. They aren't demonising sugar in fruit, regular milk or other foods but they are highlighting the amount in common drinks. I think a lot of people just don't register that the juice or flavoured/sweetened milk or sports drinks they are giving their kids are giving them a whole lot of sugar and calories and not much else in the way of nutrition.
The message is pretty simplistic, I agree that there's certainly more to it than just sugar when it comes to diabetes, heart disease etc, but for this purpose where they want a simple visual message, I don't have a problem with it.
People who want more data and more information can find a more complex message in lots of places.
14 -
I think this is a great campaign- EXCEPT that new research says that "low fat" is NOT good- especially for children!2
-
Oh- and by promoting "sugar free drinks" they are likely to sway parents to give their children ARTIFICIAL sweeteners- which are worse than sugar- some have even been shown to affect brain development.
3 -
NewMEEE2016 wrote: »Oh- and by promoting "sugar free drinks" they are likely to sway parents to give their children ARTIFICIAL sweeteners- which are worse than sugar- some have even been shown to affect brain development.
You don't know what you're talking about lol16 -
"Sugary drinks can cause tooth decay"
Rinsing the mouth with water, regular brushing, and flossing can prevent it too.9 -
I'm all for children getting proper nutrition so they can grow up properly. But a campaign that outright ließ about what sugar "causes" is just BS.8
-
NewMEEE2016 wrote: »Oh- and by promoting "sugar free drinks" they are likely to sway parents to give their children ARTIFICIAL sweeteners- which are worse than sugar- some have even been shown to affect brain development.
nope9 -
"Sugary drinks can cause ... some cancers in the future."
Atrocious English and poor science? Sounds about right for the UK DoH. Liverpool City Council is just following the poor lead.
3 -
Lets be realistic, especially with the huge advertising slush funds these companies have, children will want these drinks. However, a few things are needed: proper funding of the alternatives to sugary drink - and I don't meant artificial ones either - so that they are widely available and affordable. Next let kids have those drinks - but try to moderate the amount they have, then cut back on advertising high sugar drinks. Will that happen? I doubt the soft drinks lobby will allow it.1
-
Lets be realistic, especially with the huge advertising slush funds these companies have, children will want these drinks. However, a few things are needed: proper funding of the alternatives to sugary drink - and I don't meant artificial ones either - so that they are widely available and affordable.
Water needs funding?
11 -
I'm not opposed to public health efforts against kids getting too many calories/huge amounts of sugar from drinks, even if that's an oversimplification of the issues (and last I saw soda consumption is already going down in the US, don't know about the UK, though). I would prefer that the information be more strictly accurate -- seems to me that would be sufficient.5
-
NewMEEE2016 wrote: »Oh- and by promoting "sugar free drinks" they are likely to sway parents to give their children ARTIFICIAL sweeteners- which are worse than sugar- some have even been shown to affect brain development.
This is one of the worst things I've ever read on here. Pseudo-science should be punishable by weight gain.
20 -
-
It occurs to me that parents sometimes buy flavoured milk to get the kid to drink milk at all!
Sugared fruit drink to get at least some fruits into the kid!
Its been ages since I had young people in my home, but when I was little, I know chocolate milk was used that way, my daughter did such for her son, my grandson, so my hope is that naysayers for sugary drinks' know what they are doing demonizing all those things. Who knows what we should do or not do if we can't even find some obvious science to decide, take right actions and feel pretty confident about what we feed the kiddies?
Or is it just one more way to feed fear, raise cortisol, stress and hunger?3 -
Packerjohn wrote: »
Actually, brushing your teeth right after drinking soda is bad (or after consuming other acidic foods)-
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/really-never-brush-your-teeth-immediately-after-a-meal/?_r=06 -
NewMEEE2016 wrote: »Oh- and by promoting "sugar free drinks" they are likely to sway parents to give their children ARTIFICIAL sweeteners- which are worse than sugar- some have even been shown to affect brain development.
How are they worse than sugar?2 -
It would be a lot better if they swapped "contribute to" for "cause" IMO.
"Cause" is a bit strong.
One would think that if these products could be directly proven to cause said health problems they would be pulled off the market.2 -
Really! If soda pop causes diabetes and cancer in kiddies it should be banned to anyone under 18 years of age.2
-
I don't mind it. I couldn't give a damn how much sugar I nor my children eat, but I do understand how calories work. And a lot of people don't realize how many calories they or their family consumes via the drinks they chose. That includes myself.
As an adult, I used to drink a TON of regular soda or sugary lemonade with my meals. Even when I peeked at the calories of my meal, I somehow didn't think about the 600-1000 calories that I would regular add to a single meal. As a kid, Kool aid and Hi-C and red soda were staples. Switching some consumption over to diet drinks, lower calorie options, or even water (if it's an emergency) has the potential to help the obesity problem. It helped mine.
Demonizing sugar is dumb, but opening up people's eyes to the calories consumed in their drink choices is a net good, IMO.9 -
Love it since I'm enjoying the effects of sugar withdrawal. (headaches)0
-
When my dd was younger, I frequented parenting message boards and if you gave your child fruit juice or chocolate milk... anything other than human breastmilk or water then you were pretty much viewed as a monster. That was 15 years ago. The demonizing of products by my parenting peers did not make me give them up. I probably limited use though.
I think for me a campaign that talked about cost would be more effective. " The Average Jones family has this much budgeted for food. These drinks cost this much more than water. They are high calorie and low nutrition. You can get all this food for the cost of these drinks. Water is cheap and good for you. The Average Jones family saved $50 a week just by drinking less sugary drinks and increasing water consumption. Their children had great dental checkups this year. Because their kids were drinking less calories their weight dropped to a healthy level. They had more money to do all this great stuff."6 -
They keep saying that you get heart disease if you consume sugary drinks/foods, yet I consume these things and I have reverse my heart disease. I wonder how I did that.....I must be medical miracle!!!6
-
They keep saying that you get heart disease if you consume sugary drinks/foods, yet I consume these things and I have reverse my heart disease. I wonder how I did that.....I must be medical miracle!!!
Hearr disease is a by-product of obesity. These products with a lot of empty calories contribute to the obesity issue if their consumption isn't monitored
I'm guessing you reduced your consumption of these products and/or reduced calories somewhere else, losing weight and improving your heart health. No miracle, just CICO2 -
I think the link between consuming massive calories and obesity is pretty clear and compelling. So on that basis, consuming more calories than necessary should be avoided. On the diabetes front, I will speak from my work experience-- I've been a researcher in diabetes since 1998, and have published a number of articles on this. The issue is that your body is not really designed to consume huge amounts of any type of sugar. It's designed to take in normal mounts. So, eating an orange is perfectly fine, but drinking OJ is difficult for your body. As you do this over the long term, your beta cells (sit on the pancreas and secrete insulin) will die off. Why? Because although they secrete insulin, high levels of insulin are acutally deterimenal to beta cells, and will kill them off. This, in conjunction with a generally sedentary lifestyle, will lead to Type 2 diabetes.6
-
Packerjohn wrote: »They keep saying that you get heart disease if you consume sugary drinks/foods, yet I consume these things and I have reverse my heart disease. I wonder how I did that.....I must be medical miracle!!!
Hearr disease is a by-product of obesity. These products with a lot of empty calories contribute to the obesity issue if their consumption isn't monitored
I'm guessing you reduced your consumption of these products and/or reduced calories somewhere else, losing weight and improving your heart health. No miracle, just CICO
I agree, but then why when we/I tell people here on MFP that moderation is what they should do with all foods/drinks(unless medical issues), then go on to say if you consume anything with evil sugars in it you will gain weight, get heart disease, etc.....this happens every time!!!6 -
They keep saying that you get heart disease if you consume sugary drinks/foods, yet I consume these things and I have reverse my heart disease. I wonder how I did that.....I must be medical miracle!!!
I think recommendations are to avoid excessive sugar consumption, not all - only on MFP do I see the extremes bandied about. In the U.S. they haven't set an upper limit for sugar consumption but some countries determined 90g-100g is reasonable for a 2,000 calorie diet.
If health is a concern I think a prudent person would err on the side of caution and make some adjustments to their diet if they regularly exceed those limits instead of blowing them off. At least until some of the results from ongoing research come in and we know more either way.3 -
I think the link between consuming massive calories and obesity is pretty clear and compelling. So on that basis, consuming more calories than necessary should be avoided. On the diabetes front, I will speak from my work experience-- I've been a researcher in diabetes since 1998, and have published a number of articles on this. The issue is that your body is not really designed to consume huge amounts of any type of sugar. It's designed to take in normal mounts. So, eating an orange is perfectly fine, but drinking OJ is difficult for your body. As you do this over the long term, your beta cells (sit on the pancreas and secrete insulin) will die off. Why? Because although they secrete insulin, high levels of insulin are acutally deterimenal to beta cells, and will kill them off. This, in conjunction with a generally sedentary lifestyle, will lead to Type 2 diabetes.
What about in conjunction with a generally active lifestyle?2 -
It would be a lot better if they swapped "contribute to" for "cause" IMO.
"Cause" is a bit strong.
I see this quite a bit with articles aimed at a lay audience. Some writers figure that lay people won't understand terms such as "are associated with" or "correlate with", and dumbing down can lead to a loss of the correct meaning.
4 -
Packerjohn wrote: »They keep saying that you get heart disease if you consume sugary drinks/foods, yet I consume these things and I have reverse my heart disease. I wonder how I did that.....I must be medical miracle!!!
Hearr disease is a by-product of obesity. These products with a lot of empty calories contribute to the obesity issue if their consumption isn't monitored
I'm guessing you reduced your consumption of these products and/or reduced calories somewhere else, losing weight and improving your heart health. No miracle, just CICO
The thing is, consumption of anything without limit can contribute to obesity, "empty" calories or not.
Yet here we are, on MFP where it's always sugar that's singled out, even when the concrete named examples often have more fat calories than anything.3 -
I think this campaign were great if it said "obesity can lead to.." all the things listed. Sugar is not the only culprit. I got nice and plump eating too much of everything else...I rarely consumed sugary things.2
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 396.3K Introduce Yourself
- 44.1K Getting Started
- 260.8K Health and Weight Loss
- 176.3K Food and Nutrition
- 47.6K Recipes
- 232.8K Fitness and Exercise
- 448 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153.3K Motivation and Support
- 8.3K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 4.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 16 News and Announcements
- 18 MyFitnessPal Academy
- 1.4K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions