Americans have become heavier over the years – and not just Americans – and the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes has rapidly increased. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 10 percent of American adults have Type 2 diabetes, and that 86 million (!) adults over age 20 are prediabetic.
Call that 86 million and 1. The writer has recently been told that he is on the cusp of being diabetic. This despite an excellent diet, lots of excercise, and weight less than when he was 18. (all my clothes seem too big for me). Now all sources of sugar have been reduced – no sweets, cakes, puddings, sweet drinks (and even chocolate has been reduced to a measly one square of dark chocolate a day). We will overcome!
This situation is probably long- standing and is caused by a life-long sweet tooth and a foolish belief that, if you get enough excercise, you will be o.k. Ignorance is bliss. The truth is that eating too many sweet things all one’s life probably (?) gradually degrades the pancreas, which metabolizes the sugar, leaving you wishing you hadn’t guzzled that fruit cake over the years. Now I am faced with reversing gears suddenly and with vigor. Ouch! ( I mention this as a serious warning: sugar is a poison).
“The good news here is that by finding people while they’re still at that abnormal blood sugar range and making lifestyle interventions at that time, we can reduce the burden of diabetes,” says Dr. Michael Pignone, chief of general internal medicine at the University of North Carolina.
“New trials since 2008 that have more definitively shown that intensive lifestyle interventions directed to people who have abnormal blood sugar but not yet diabetes are effective in reducing the progression to diabetes and improving cardiovascular risk factor control,” Pignone says. (source NPR Oct 2015)
All very well, but in America they even put sugar in prepared soups. Suddenly, one is peerring at every label: can I possibly eat this? Epicurus probably ate simply and healthily; wish I had!
What do you think about proposals for a sugar tax?
A sugar tax is a good idea, but how you get it passed into law is a big problem. Food and drink manufacturers add sugar to products for a reaon – it sells product. moreover, large swathesof the countryside are devoted to growing corn, from which sucrose is made. But we can go on wishing! ( is this resignation I detect from myself?)
I agree that as a society, we ought to reduce our sugar consumption. But I don’t believe in a sugar tax, because it is regressive. Poor people will no longer be able to afford to buy sugary things as easily, but rich people will be unaffected. (The same goes for all consumption taxes.) Efforts to make people eat healthier, whether it is cutting out sugar or meat, should be done using peaceful persuasion and education, not the force of the state. I’m open to the idea of health warnings on high-sugar foods. But at the end of the day, people have the right to make their own decisions, and shouldn’t be coerced by the government- even if what they are doing is bad for them.
Well, if they hadn’t taxed cigarettes like crazy we would be in the middle of a cancer epidemic that would blow your mind. The government accompanied higher tax with a heavy education program, and it had a good effect, although silly people still smoke to stay slim(?). Perhaps if they were not fed so much sugar in their diets they wouldn’t feel they had to endanger their lives. This all leaves aside the huge burden on the NHS, for which the innocent taxpayer has to pay. No , you can take libertarianism too far. I have to disagree with you. There are some things society in general has to address.