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Honestly, I'd say an even bigger problem is that we add sugar to everything. Ketchup? Sugar added. Some brands of milk? Sugar added. Lunch meat? Sugar added. Br

Honestly, I'd say an even bigger problem is that we add sugar to everything. Ketchup? Sugar added. Some brands of milk? Sugar added. Lunch meat? Sugar added. Bread? Made with so much sugar that people from other countries complain that American bread is practically cake. Sure, sugarry drinks are a problem, but they're a part of the larger overarching problem that is everything has sugar, so for something like soda or dessert to taste particularly sweet, we add even more sugar.

magashna 7y ago
It's hard to get away from. Unless you're having plain salad/meat meals every time, you're getting an overload of sugar in one way or another.
- excessive 7y ago
  A lot of salad dressings have sugar in them, and they add sugar (corn syrup) to most sausage and some bacon now too.
  - orev 7y ago
    I think you missed the part about “plain salad”. As soon as you add dressing, you’ve shot yourself in the foot.
- pizza234 7y ago
  It's not correct to conflate complex and simple carbohydrates into "sugars", as the complex ones have a significantly different profile.
openasocket 7y ago
Interestingly, sugar was originally added to mass-produced Ketchup to act as a preservative. I'm not sure if that was the only reason, mind you, but it was a part of it. At the beginning of the 20th century there was a lot of public outcry about the use of preservatives in various food items. I actually wouldn't be surprised if a lot of food manufacturers switched from using some of those chemical preservatives like sodium benzoate to sugar to avoid some of that public scrutiny, and kept using it to improve the flavor. Which of course raises a question. I suspect most food products could cut back on the majority of the added sugar and be fine, but for some of those food products some portion of that sugar is necessary as a preservative. So, in those cases, would the public prefer to have some added sugar, a more "artificial" preservative like nitrates, another preservation method (freezing, canning, pickling, etc.), or accept food products that will have a much shorter shelf life?
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
  > or accept food products that will have a much shorter shelf life? This is rarely a problem for the customer, but a huge one for everyone else in the chain.
rfdearborn 7y ago
+1 As with so many things, it seems like incentives are at the root of this problem: manufacturers want to sell more foods, and adding sugar (whose addictive properties are likely to increase consumption x retention) is an easy tactic to pursue. What should be done to counter this? Tax sugar and it will be substituted for some other unhealthy, manipulative thing. Perhaps only shifting preferences via culture / education (s.t. sweetened products sell relatively worse) can work?

magashna 7y ago

It's hard to get away from. Unless you're having plain salad/meat meals every time, you're getting an overload of sugar in one way or another.

excessive 7y ago
A lot of salad dressings have sugar in them, and they add sugar (corn syrup) to most sausage and some bacon now too.
- orev 7y ago
  I think you missed the part about “plain salad”. As soon as you add dressing, you’ve shot yourself in the foot.
pizza234 7y ago
It's not correct to conflate complex and simple carbohydrates into "sugars", as the complex ones have a significantly different profile.

openasocket 7y ago

Interestingly, sugar was originally added to mass-produced Ketchup to act as a preservative. I'm not sure if that was the only reason, mind you, but it was a part of it. At the beginning of the 20th century there was a lot of public outcry about the use of preservatives in various food items. I actually wouldn't be surprised if a lot of food manufacturers switched from using some of those chemical preservatives like sodium benzoate to sugar to avoid some of that public scrutiny, and kept using it to improve the flavor. Which of course raises a question. I suspect most food products could cut back on the majority of the added sugar and be fine, but for some of those food products some portion of that sugar is necessary as a preservative. So, in those cases, would the public prefer to have some added sugar, a more "artificial" preservative like nitrates, another preservation method (freezing, canning, pickling, etc.), or accept food products that will have a much shorter shelf life?

dvfjsdhgfv 7y ago
> or accept food products that will have a much shorter shelf life? This is rarely a problem for the customer, but a huge one for everyone else in the chain.

rfdearborn 7y ago

+1 As with so many things, it seems like incentives are at the root of this problem: manufacturers want to sell more foods, and adding sugar (whose addictive properties are likely to increase consumption x retention) is an easy tactic to pursue. What should be done to counter this? Tax sugar and it will be substituted for some other unhealthy, manipulative thing. Perhaps only shifting preferences via culture / education (s.t. sweetened products sell relatively worse) can work?