Sugar Tax Pressure Building

Sugar's Role In Rise Of Diabetes Gets Clearer

Robert Lustig wants to convince the world that sugar is making us very sick. And lately he's turned to an unconventional field – econometrics – to do it.

Lustig rounded up statisticians and epidemiologists to look at the relationship between food and diabetes risk. The paper, published this week in the journal PLoS One, found that the more sugar on the market in 175 countries, the higher the country's diabetes rate.

"I'm not suggesting sugar is the only cause of diabetes," Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Franciso, tells The Salt. "But in this analysis it was the only thing that predicted it. And it was worldwide and over a decade."

The article concludes:

"The point is, if [diabetes is caused by] many things, you can handle each one, one at a time," says Lustig.

Where to start, then? Well, Lustig says, we could start by regulating sugar better, with stricter guidelines for sugar consumption, and taxes on it.

Sounds like he'll soon be pushing for legislation — especially since the doctor is pursuing a law degree.

Read the rest here.

Get ready for another federal government onslaught of our rights.