According to a new study from Massachusetts General Hospital, “cutting 20% of sugar from packaged foods and 40% from beverages could prevent 2.48 million cardiovascular disease events.”
What a revelation, but I thought we knew that quite some time ago.
The real question is how do we make those cuts? The real answer is it probably won’t happen.
Apologies for the cynicism, but the article goes on to say, “Implementing a national policy, however, will require government support to monitor companies as they work toward the targets and to publicly report on their progress.” However, governmental support is the problem. How easy will it be to get Corporate American food manufacturers to change their ways to do what’s in the best interest of the public?
Cutting sugar from processed food would turn off millions of customers and guarantee lower profits. Something tells me that food manufacturers won’t willingly accept that.
So, every few years we come up with another senselessly redundant study that states the obvious, while nothing is done to implement the solution.
That said, as the buying public, we must use discipline to stay away from mass manufactured food, laden with added sugar. But the food manufacturers know how difficult that is. They know we’re addicted to sugar and they have enough lobbyists to fend off regulatory changes to keep us addicted to it.
The good news is that some of us will break through the addiction. Some of us will come to the revelation that much processed food isn’t really “food” at all. It’s just chemicals that we drink and chew on to satisfy our cravings, pad our bellies and improve our moods. We can’t expect the government to intercede on our behalf and do what’s in the public’s interest regarding food manufacturing.
There’s too much money on the line for Corporate America for the government to get involved, regardless of how many studies say how bad sugar is.
Therefore, the last question is whether the person who breaks through the addiction will be you?
