The War on Sugar

by — Jun 11, 2012

From The Grio — Mayor Bloomberg’s proposed ban on large serving sizes of sugary drinks is yet another effort to curtail the dangers that come along with high sugar intake — namely, obesity.

“There is an obesity epidemic in New York and across the nation,” says Constance Brown-Riggs, Registered Dietitian and National Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Every day, I counsel people in my office with type 2 diabetes, one of the first consequences of the obesity epidemic.”

“The healthcare cost of these ‘twin epidemics’ is increasing, while life expectancy is decreasing,” she adds.

Obesity is now said to be on a par with cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke. The difference? Its effects now impact a younger and younger population.

Protecting the kids

Bloomberg’s concept of linking sugar to obesity is not new. The medical and nutritional community has long sang the woes of sugary beverages, especially among children.

A 32-ounce “super sized” Hi-C orange drink from McDonald’s provides 350 calories and 94 grams of sugar in one serving. Based on a 2,000-calorie diet, and three meals a day, that’s more than half of the allotted calories for an entire meal — and one-third of the recommended amount of sugar for the whole day. Increasing calories from sugar can lead to increasing pounds.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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2 Comments

  1. that man in the picture has some ashy ass hands. LMAOO that can’t be healthy!

  2. Banning a certain size of soft drink or size of fries or whatever won´t help much to fight obesity.

    Maybe people won´t buy a second drink or pack of fries because it would be more costly..but I guess many will just buy a second portion or shop more junk when buying groceries..and sugary drinks are not the only problem.

    Same with the prohibition..alcohol was forbidden but people still wanted and bought it with different means.

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