Is sugar addictive? American scholars propose "sugar tax" control

Recently, strong cold air masses have been coming one after another, and the weather is wet and cold, which can easily cause people to have a "sugar addiction" and want to eat some sweets to replenish calories and satisfy their picky taste buds. Recently, some scholars in the United States put forward a controversial argument that sugar is like tobacco, alcohol and drugs. It is easy to become addicted if consumed too much, and the harm it causes to health should not be underestimated. Therefore, it is suggested that the government should impose a "sugar tax" to reduce people's willingness to eat desserts.

According to The New York Times, Robert of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California. As early as 2009, Professor Robert Lustig pointed out in a public speech that a sugary diet is the culprit for the obesity and abnormal hormone secretion of most children in the United States. He described sugar as a toxin/poison. Once you are "addicted" to it, it is impossible to quit. In particular, sucrose is rich in fructose, which easily accumulates in the liver to form fatty liver disease, causing diabetes, hypertension and many other types of cancer. After this video was uploaded to Youtube, it has received nearly 2 million views.

A research team led by Professor Robert published a paper in the internationally renowned journal Nature on February 2, stating that the amount of sugar consumed by humans has increased threefold in the past 50 years, and that sugar-related chronic diseases claim at least 35 million lives worldwide each year. Because sugar products are readily available and easily "abused", society as a whole has long paid a huge price to solve the sequelae of excessive sugar addiction. Therefore, they call on the government to follow the tobacco and alcohol control model, increase the unit price of goods through taxation or restrict the locations where beverages and sweets are sold, so as to keep children away from the "harm" of sugar. It is reported that countries such as Denmark and Hungary have begun to impose taxes on sugary carbonated drinks, which has indeed caused a decline in sales of this type of goods.

However, many scholars believe that such a proposal is quite unrealistic, because sugar is already widely used in daily life. Setting up barriers to prevent consumers from purchasing and consuming it will only increase public resentment. There are many causes of chronic diseases. Attributing all the causes to "sugar intake" will not allow people to develop correct eating habits. In short, advocating more exercise is the only way to avoid disease.