Is sugar the new smoking? \ stacker news ~HealthAndFitness

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913 sats \ 31 comments \ @Signal312 3 Feb HealthAndFitness

We just watched the Cole Porter movie last night (De-Lovely, 2004). Cole Porter, of course, is a famous composer and songwriter, (Night and Day, TODO), and lived from 1891 to 1964.

Anyway, one thing that really struck me is just how much everyone smoked. Constantly, everyone had cigarettes in their hands, and was puffing away. And later, of course, it turns out that smoking causes heart disease, stroke, cancer, etc. It also turns out that the cigarette industry knew about these health issues very early, but they buried the evidence as much as they could. They also specialized in creating studies that would muddy the waters, casting doubt on the studies that were clearly showing the dangers of smoking .

That made me think. I believe society currently is experiencing something similar with sugar. It's constantly available, in all kinds of formats. It's okay and encouraged to eat sugary treats at all meals and between meals, at all events and in all situations. It's clearly somewhat unhealthy, but I don't believe that people really understand exactly how bad it is for us, to constantly be eating sugar, and so dramatically much more sugar than we've eaten in previous eras of human evolution.

And of course, sugar is addictive as well, just like cigarettes.

What do you all think? I just did a little research on "sugar the new smoking" and it turns out I'm not the first one to have thought of this. Here's one of them: https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/01/13/sugar-smoking-nutrition-health

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77 sats \ 6 replies \ @south_korea_ln 3 Feb

I had a similar thought recently about alcohol being the new smoking.

I grew up with social drinking being completely acceptable, but more and more, it's dawning on people that even one glass of alcohol is bad for you. All the studies claiming otherwise focus on supposed benefits that are insignificant in the big picture.

Sugar and processed food very much fit that picture, albeit even more insidious and slow-acting.

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Bell_curve 3 Feb

I am skeptical of the new studies regarding alcohol.

We shouldn't smoke or drink or eat sugar. Water and vegetables. Kill me with boredom.

9 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 3 Feb

Meat, eggs, butter, yum!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 3 Feb

Animal fat is under rated

9 sats \ 2 replies \ @south_korea_ln 3 Feb

Of the three, I only stopped smoking. The other ones are still part of my life, to varying extents, and no study will convince me to completely cut them out.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 3 Feb

I switched to vaping nicotine in 2021

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 3 Feb

Nicotine on its own is relatively harmless. Moved to vaping over ten years ago and have saved my lungs and over $NZ100,000 in tax. Was paying more in tobacco tax than income tax. IMO sugar is the primary cause of obesity and that has a massive negative effect on a large part of the population and the health system.

34 sats \ 2 replies \ @stack_harder 3 Feb

I would say vaping is the new smoking, but sugar for sure is an insidious one.

did you hear about Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) Scandal? Joe Rogan mentions it a lot

gpt summary:

in 2016 historical documents revealed that the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to downplay the role of sugar in heart disease and instead shift the blame to fat.

What Happened? In 1967, the Sugar Research Foundation (SRF) (now the Sugar Association) funded researchers at Harvard University to publish a review in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

The scientists were paid the equivalent of $50,000 (in today's money) to cherry-pick studies that downplayed sugar’s role in cardiovascular disease and instead shifted the blame onto dietary fats.

The review paper concluded that there was "no doubt" that fat and cholesterol were the main dietary culprits behind heart disease, effectively diverting attention from sugar's role.

The scientists involved in the study included Dr. Fredrick Stare, a highly influential nutritionist at Harvard, and Dr. Mark Hegsted, who later became the head of nutrition at the USDA and helped draft U.S. dietary guidelines.

32 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 3 Feb

I think vaping, though, is quite a bit less harmful - at least, that's what I'm hearing, could be wrong. Definitely it's addictive.

No, I hadn't heard about this one, it's very interesting. I would have expected to find it in The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholtz, she has some very similar stories, but it looks like it only came to light in 2016, and she published her book in 2012, I think.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @stack_harder 3 Feb

yeah it's a juicy one, classic industry shenanigans! thanks to the low fat bollocks the US has a 4x increase in diabetes since the 80s and about 3x in the UK

a lot of the issue with vapes is the dodgy mixes that are often sold and kids sucking on them around the clock thinking they're harmless, no free lunch when you're sucking stuff into your lungs tho

34 sats \ 2 replies \ @OT 3 Feb

It is funny looking back where people smoked casually on TV. Here's Bill Evans:

Wes Montgomery:

34 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 3 Feb

Anyone that has tried a keto diet knows how addictive sugar is.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 3 Feb

If you're strict, I'd say it disappears within a couple months. The cravings.

Strictness seems to be is key, if you're constantly thinking, "oh well, today's my daughter's birthday", (or Sunday, or July 4th, etc, etc), and I'm going to have a treat, then it's lots more difficult.

34 sats \ 1 reply \ @TheBTCManual 3 Feb

I think so, sugar is just the most acceptible vice, but not only sugar overeating in general is so celebrated. Whenever I go to the mall, which is not often I am always shocked to count the amount of thin people I walk past lol

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 3 Feb

Yeah true - I don't know if new objective studies have been done, but it seems like it's gotten worse even in the past 5 years. Especially with kids and young people.

Of course, not a huge surprise, what with the covid craziness.

34 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bell_curve 3 Feb

Sugar is terrible but nowhere near as bad as smoking.

For the record, smokers knew the risks of smoking. The class action lawsuits versus tobacco companies were based on greed not morality or tort justice.

9 sats \ 1 reply \ @Signal312 OP 3 Feb

What year do you think that smokers really KNEW that smoking was so unhealthy? They were still able to run ads like "9 out of 10 doctors smoke camels" until 1952.

(AI note: The "More Doctors Smoke Camels" advertising campaign was run by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company from 1946 to 1952. The exact slogan was "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette.")

I'm not denying the greed thing. But I wonder when specifically it penetrated public consciousness that smoking wasn't just a LITTLE bit bad, but instead extremely unhealthy.

That's where I think sugar is right now. People think, "Oh, it's a little bit of a guilty pleasure, sure it's not great but it's not THAT bad".

But the problem of course, is that people are usually not able to moderate because it's addictive. Just as with cigarettes.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 3 Feb

By 1960 the evidence was strong that smoking was terrible for your health

By 1998 smoking in bars became illegal.

Despite the health warnings you should not sue tobacco or sugar companies for your health ailments. No one forced you to smoke or eat sugar

16 sats \ 2 replies \ @Kontext 3 Feb

Related to both the original post and the reply by @south_korea_ln:

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @zuspotirko 3 Feb

I mean really really obese people are suffering a lot (e.g. if you have ever seen documentaries about the most obese people in the world)

But it really is no comparison to hard drug addicts. Even really bad alcoholics.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ogi099 3 Feb

Of course there are some drugs more destructive than alcohol (i mean mainly opioids), but still huuge majority of substances known as psychoactive, especially those of natural origin (and still illegal), are less harmful, and objectively better for health&surroundings.

I'd say alcohol is easily in top3 in terms of being harmful and toxic substances, while you can find dozens of lighter ones. It's really sad that alcohol is the legal, accepted and popular one. Also it is not even that fun, that shit is actually degrading for your brain in the long run

5 sats \ 0 replies \ @Solomonsatoshi 3 Feb

Yes it is. And chemically very close to alcohol. Keeps the masses docile and obese all the more convenient for the fiat debt slavery bankers cartel who are farming them.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 4 Feb

100%

High fructose Corn syrup

Sedentary lifestyle

Smoking!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 3 Feb

BTW in case anyone is interested, there's a great book by Gary Taube called The Case Against Sugar.

It might seem like a dense, not very fun read, but I actually enjoyed it.

And as a bonus - you give your brain LOTS AND LOTS of ammo to fight any kind of temptation to eat sugar. Because your brain has, at its fingertips, all the counterarguments, all the ways sugar can harm you.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @MANI 3 Feb

Just found out my sugar levels are 218. -_-

It's worse than smoking tbh.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 3 Feb

My only reservation with this claim is that there are so many other common elements of our food that are also disastrously unhealthy that one of them might be the "next smoking".

In terms of ubiquity and cultural significance, though, I think sugar is the most likely "next smoking".

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undergotten 3 Feb

It does appear to be killing me. But I'm far more worried about what the military is doing to our skies right now. It just snowed but the horizon is a silver metallic haze. Looks like LA smog out there, but it's not.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @sangekrypto 3 Feb

I am a smoker, of course smoking is an art that makes me open my mind, but not everyone can smoke, because there are some people who don't like cigarettes.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Butterfinger 3 Feb

Smoking good tabacco is actually good for your health and kills cancer

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SwapMarket 3 Feb

All artificial stimulants mess with your natural hormones and damage their receptors, so you crave for more. Alcohol, caffeine, nicotine. They just want you to consume more. Fight back!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @denlillaapan 3 Feb

Yes, always was