Time to regulate sugar?
An article in Nature (original source with paywall here) claims that sugar should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco through taxes and age restrictions because it is equally “toxic” to people. According to CBS News:
“The United Nations announced in September that chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes contribute to 35 million deaths worldwide each year, according to the commentary. The U.N. pegged tobacco, alcohol, and diet as big risk factors that contributed to this death rate.
Two of those are regulated by governments, ‘leaving one of the primary culprits behind this worldwide health crisis unchecked,’ the authors, Robert H. Lustig, Laura A. Schmidt and Claire D. Brindis, argued.”
If sugar was something inflicted on people against their will, like pollutants in the air, then it would make sense to regulate it. But sugar is something that people can choose to eat, or not to eat. Consuming lots of sugar, just like consuming lots of alcohol or tobacco, may very well increase the risk of dying of heart disease, cancer, or diabetes. But “experts” have no right to assume that it would be beneficial for these risks to be lowered no matter the cost. Each person is the ultimate expert in his or her own well-being, and each person will arrive at a different conclusion when it comes to balancing health and quantity of life with enjoyment and quality of life. It’s not a bad thing for decisions about what to consume to be “unchecked,” as the authors of the article characterize it; it’s a basic part of a free society.
Sugar, alcohol, and tobacco do have some similarities. Sure, they all can have negative health effects. But choosing to consume them does not interfere with anyone else’s life; therefore people have a fundamental right to consume as much or as little as they choose. Instead of considering the similarities a reason to regulate sugar, why not consider de-regulating tobacco and alcohol?
