Sugar: disease-promoting ingredient

What are the major corroborators in America's sugar consumption? Sweet drinks and sodas. One study noted that soft drink consumption has risen by 61 percent in adults from 1977 to 1997, while it has more than doubled in children and adolescents from 1977–1978 to 1994–1998. As a result, many parents are trying to get soft drink machines taken out of public and private schools. In fact, New Jersey recently prohibited snack and soda vendors from all school grounds.

What has the sugar industry done in response to the obvious dangers their product poses? They do what any industry does: Hide the facts, then fabricate their own. One trick up Big Sugar's sleeve is hiding nutritional information on food and drink packages. In order to consume 150 pounds of sugar per year, Americans have to eat a teaspoon of sugar per hour every 24 hours, seven days a week. Obviously, we don't actually chew on teaspoons of sugar. Instead, many people unknowingly consume food and drinks containing ridiculous amounts of sugar. But don't expect labels to help you determine how much sugar is added. Sugar has all sorts of names: dextrose, glucose, fructose, lactose, corn syrup, maple sugar, honey, invert sugar or malt. In 2002, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) petitioned the FDA to require food manufacturers to clearly label the amount of added sugar. The petition failed. Michael Jacobson, director of CSPI, attributes this to the powerful sugar lobby