Should We Regulate Sugar?






But I, for one, am having a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the idea that we should class sugar with tobacco and alcohol, and even more trouble with ceding my parental prerogative to hand my child a dollar and send her up to the concession stand for a soda during her brother’s hockey game (let alone the theory that public policy should stand in for allegedly poor parenting, which might in fact be mine). I find myself perched on the infamous slippery slope, though: I’m willing to hand the child a dollar and a dime for a taxed soda, but not to stand behind her and produce my government-issued identification.

And that’s exactly the reaction the writers both fear and expect. “We’re not talking prohibition,” Dr. Schmidt said in a press release. “We’re not advocating a major imposition of the government into people’s lives. We’re talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose. What we want is to actually increase people’s choices by making foods that aren’t loaded with sugar comparatively easier and cheaper to get.”

Should we, really, regulate sugar? Is governmental action the only way to persuade our entire population to eat less of the added sweet stuff, and more of the whole foods version? It may be that I’m hopelessly behind the times — after all, beer was once considered a healthy drink for adults and children alike, and tobacco was marketed to women as a healthier alternative to candy. Is sugar the next health threat for the list?

You can watch a video of the three researchers making the case for regulation here.