Is Sugar Toxic? A New Study Says Yes

Is sugar toxic? This is a question that many have pondered over amid skyrocketing obesity and diabetes rates in many developed nations. A new study, publicized in the New York Times this week, answers “yes.” 

A child reaches up to a scale model of the Tate Modern made of sugar cubes at Bankside on June 29, 2010, in London, England. The model was made using 80,000 sugar cubes. The chimney is 1 meter high. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

The number one problem with the American diet is sugar, according to a new study publicized Wednesday after Mark Bittman, in a New York Times article, described the ubiquitous sweetener as “toxic.”

The study found that when people ingest more sugar, there is an increased chance of diabetes, regardless of obesity. The study was published in a PloS One issue on Feb. 27 and used “econometric models of repeated cross-sectional data on diabetes and nutritional components of food from 175 countries,” according to an abstract.

Regarding sugar, “no other food types yielded significant individual associations with diabetes prevalence after controlling for obesity and other confounders,” the abstract reads. “Differences in sugar availability statistically explain variations in diabetes prevalence rates at a population level that are not explained by physical activity, overweight or obesity,” it continues.

Rob Lustig, an author of the study with the University of California, San Francisco, said the paper was highly comprehensive.

“You could not enact a real-world study that would be more conclusive than this one,” he told the Times.

The study took into account poverty, aging, obesity, urbanization, and physical activity. It also controlled other foods.

The study found that “for every 12 ounces of sugar-sweetened beverage introduced per person per day into a country’s food system, the rate of diabetes goes up” by 1 percent, Bittman said, and concluded: “The take-away: it isn’t simply overeating that can make you sick; it’s overeating sugar. We finally have the proof we need for a verdict: sugar is toxic.”

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• http://twitter.com/diabetesnews1 diabetes news

  This study is no study at all. Sugar is not the cause of the diabetes crisis. Billions of dollars are invested in the “fake foods” which are the real cause of Diabetes. The Fake food makers are promoted by the FDA and they all get rich. Aspartame, Sucralose, High fructose corn syrups are the true causes obesity and diabetes. The blaming of sugar is a set up to protect big business

  The blaming of sugar is to protect the billion dollar diet soda makers and the other “fake food” makers. This study concluded “too much sugar” is not good, what a joke. Too much anything is no good, Milk,eggs, fruit,apples, etc..
  Reverse Insulin resistance and the weight comes off and the diabetes goes away See here
  http://type2diabetesdietplan.blogspot.com/2013/02/can-diabetic-eat-sugar-why-it-is-only.html

• Gershom Patrioticus

  If you ingest too much of anything, it is unhealthy for you. Good old fashioned fruit juice is often the best way to keep hydrated during the summer months. But the Government should not be making our food choices for us and that is what this is leading to!

• http://www.facebook.com/tara.loki Tara Loki

  I noticed that they said sugar sweeten beverage, not actual sugar.. I have never drank soda, nor fruit juices for that matter, i drink water or milk…. i have a sweet tooth and know i eat to much sugar in my diet.. i find it interesting though with my family history of diabetes that i am the one that does not have it, every family member that does is a heavy soda drinker.