Sugar Tax

[sp1814]

A sensible move to tackle obesity, or gesture politics?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-35813973

[Hypognosis]

@ummm

Yes, a lot of it is genetic and the differences, as demonstrated within your family, are down to "the luck of the draw", or "shuffle of the pack".

The assumption that all at the family table take or are dished out equal portions is not one that any outsiders can make but I will guess, for now that this isn't a controlled experiment, so your siblings' and your inputs might be unequal to begin with. Your metabolic rates differ, the amount you fidget may differ, the efficiency of "fuel burn" during exercise may differ due to genetics but more nebulous things like "desire to exercise" are more under conscious control, not genetics. It is totally feasible to have a fat-accumulating metabolism (genetic) but a drive to exercise and stay slim (conscious lifestyle choice).

Having said that, I worry that overweight joggers are only going to wreck their knees and hip joints.

p.s. I'd forgotten that those documentaries I mentioned were actually 4 by 1hr episodes, each. Not available on iPlayer just now. My apologies.

[mikey4444]

hc...well if that was true, it wouldn't selling in such huge quantities. My daft sister-in-law insists on buying it for my nieces and nephews, despite me showing her the ingredients on the label.........its like a chemistry lesson.

[hc4361]

This from 2003, mikey
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3257820.stm

[mikey4444]

Yes hc....13 years ago I notice.

If my people read the labels on stuff like this, I am sure that they wouldn't sell as much. But a lot of people buy it, thinking that its similar to proper real fruit juice, and its not....ditto with fruit "drink"

[sp1814]

My understanding is that some pure fruit juices are just as bad (in terms of sugar content) and fizzy poop:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11130095/The-10-fruit-juices-with-more-sugar-than-Coca-Cola.html

[sp1814]

Oh for God's sake.

Fizzy pop.

[hc4361]

What about all the sugar in the Starbucks drinks? 25 spoons a cup!

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/17/cafe-chains-selling-drinks-25-teaspoons-sugar-starbucks-costa-coffee

[Prudie]

I like sugar, it's a very natural foodstuff, I accept it's bad for teeth but I had always thought (wrongly?) that it's carbs and fat that are the main reasons for obesity.

[hc4361]

Carbs are a staple foodstuff around the world - bread, rice, pasta etc and have been eaten in some form since mankind was born. It doesn't make you fat

[Prudie]

If you eat too much of it of course it makes you fat, do you think I could eat a loaf of bread a day and it not show??

[mikey4444]

SP....(18:43)....this was posted by hc earlier, but the Telegraph wasn't comparing like with like.

[BilSuth]

We pay more for food that's (allegedly) good for us. Natch.
We pay more for food that's bad for us. For our own good.
Get the picture?

[hc4361]

Course you couldn't, Prudie. But you could drink an awful lot of full sugar pop without it filling you up in the way that a loaf of bread would.

Sugar has absolutely no nutrition.

[Hypognosis]

//
ummmm
Can't the body process natural sugars better?
17:28 Wed 16th Mar 2016
//

"Natural" is a word used and abused by marketing persons. Plant poisons are both natural and organic…

White sugar is refined, but is, chemically, the same as it was when it was inside the sugar beet: sucrose.

Glucose is one half of a molecule of sucrose and is the form circulating in the blood.
Fructose is the other half of a molecule of sucrose and is present in fruit.
Lactose is the sugar found in milk.
The list goes on.

Starch is a long string of glucose molecules, bonded together. As you digest it, sugars are released.

They are all classed as carbohydrates.

Diabetic products use special sugars which our digestive enzymes cannot break down, like putting a key in the wrong lock. Any molecule which is too big will not pass through the gut membrane, so the body cannot absorb it into the bloodstream. Even sucrose has to be broken into its components first.

[Hypognosis]

@hc4361

//
Carbs are a staple foodstuff around the world - bread, rice, pasta etc and have been eaten in some form since mankind was born.
//

Correct so far.

//It doesn't make you fat //

Now here's the thing. The body cannot turn sugars into crystal form, for storage. Sugar needs to be in solution to be transported to the parts of the body which are burning them up but, to store enough of it would require large quantities of water, which would weigh a lot, slow you down and you are lunch to some passing carnivore.

Excess sugars are chemically converted into oils and fats, in droplets, out of solution, saving space and water and by being more "energy dense", weigh less *per quantity of calories*.

Despite this, taking in more calories than you use, even in carbohydrate form, will end up making you fat.

Tongan staple food is Tapioca: mostly starch. The body has to do more digestion, to break it down into glucose but it is still excess calorie intake, all the same.

[ladyalex]

Gesture politics.
Like charging for plastic bags.

Sound like good ideas , may have some merit, but unlikely to make much difference to anything.

[Mamyalynne]

Very good , do you write for comic books Wacker?

[Hypognosis]

Among other clues to the obesity epidemic is this.

40 years ago, skimmed and semi-skimmed milk were a "niche" product, most people bought full-fat milk and you either took the cream off the top yourself or you shook the bottle to blend it in, before opening.

Nowadays, semi-skimmed milk is the norm and there are shelf-loads of single cream, double cream, whipping cream, clotted cream, cream cakes, cream buns…

Something of a pattern there. The phrase "added value" springs to mind.

Far more calories per 100g than sugar but no tax on cream today. Maybe it's a sign of the strength of the dairy lobby?