Everybody knows the effects sugar has on people. If you didn't, then thank God you stumbled upon this article.

According to UC San Francisco pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, society should establish a drinking age for sugary sodas! His reasoning is that added sweeteners have health effects comparable to alcohol and tobacco, and should be regulated accordingly.



Lustig has been an advocate against added sugar for years, specifically sweeteners that include fructose. Lustig and his colleagues Laura A. Schmidt and Claire D. Brindis explain that fructose and other sugars can cause liver toxicity, among other chronic diseases.

A little is not a problem, but a lot kills - slowly. If international bodies are truly concerned about public health, they must consider limiting fructose - and its main delivery vehicles, the added sugars HFCS and sucrose - which pose dangers to individuals and to society as a whole.

The researchers drew ideas from existing tobacco and alcohol restrictions and suggest establishing taxes on sweetened fizzy drinks (soda), sugared cereal, and other sweetened beverages such as juice, sports drinks and chocolate milk. They advocate that the availability of sugar be reduced, especially for children.

States could apply zoning ordinances to control the number of fast-food outlets and convenience stores in low-income communities, and especially around schools, while providing incentives for the establishment of grocery stores and farmer's markets. Another option would be to limit sales during school operation, or to designate an age limit (such as 17) for the purchase of drinks with added sugar, particularly soda. Indeed, parents in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recently took this upon themselves by lining up outside convenience stores and blocking children from entering them after school. Why couldn't a public-health directive do the same?

Lustig and his team don't seem to think the society's sugar withdrawal will be as big a problem as:

Regulating sugar will not be easy - particularly in the ‘emerging markets' of developing countries where soft drinks are often cheaper than potable water or milk. We recognize that societal intervention to reduce the supply and demand for sugar faces an uphill political battle against a powerful sugar lobby, and will require active engagement from all stakeholders.

While sugar remains as one of the biggest villains in our weight and health issues, retracting or regulaitng sugary F&B is very likely to cause an uproar among the world's sugar-dependent citizens. But if we're talking about healthy eating for kids to curb obesity and diabetes -and that schools or eateries deny kids access to sodas- we're probably not going to oppose the idea.