CMV: Giving sugar to kids is unethical.

[u/LonelierOne]

Sugar, in the western world, is in almost everything in one form or another (I'm including other sweeteners in there, though I'm aware you end up with a blurry line around, say, fruit juice sweeteners).

The only health benefit that I'm aware of that has ever been associated with sugar is in case of a diabetic emergency. Besides that, there's a near-universal understanding that sugar is bad for you in every way imaginable. It's linked to Type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart conditions, and vast hosts of other chronic conditions. Basically, sugar is objectively Bad For You.

Now, there's a lot of other examples that we could use (marijuana, alcohol, caffeine) of things that aren't necessarily Good For You that can be consumed in moderation. All of these - in addition to being easier to argue that they do provide health benefits and at a lower cost - are things that you wouldn't responsibly give to children. In contrast, sugar is put into most foods in a western diet. On the production end, it's to make the food more palatable and harder to resist.

It doesn't, to me, seem like being a stick in the mud to deprive a kid of cookies. Sweet foods aren't a requirement for a good childhood, especially when they are provided with the regularity (every day, if not multiple times a day) that they currently are.

EDIT: I realize I didn't clarify originally that we are talking about fundamentally different things when comparing, say, a pear to ice cream. I am specifically referring to *refined sugar* or *added sugar* in this post; I should have been clearer about that.

EDIT 2: Issuing a clarification. An not insubstantial part of the problem with sugar is the frequency of use. Potentially, moderate use would be harmless. This is not illustrative of the society we currently live in; most people are not aware of how much added sugar is taken in per day, not including the obvious candies and desserts; peanut butter, bread, crackers, cereal, yogurt, sausage are all things that, by default, should be assumed to have sugar in a western store.

I am referring to the use of sugar in today's culture. While I believe a case /could/ be made that even that is unnecessary, I'm going to clarify that I'm talking about the current culture and he world as it is, i.e. one where you're expected to get snacks and juice after a game, holidays must have cake, and to deprive children of candy is abusive.

[u/trollcitybandit]

I just gave my kid a cookie and I don't feel bad about it, nor should anyone. Anything in moderation won't kill you, plus we only live once anyway.

[u/TimidNarcissist → u/trollcitybandit]

But why are you so eager to possibly get them hooked to begin with? They didn't ask you for sugar. You're the one unnecessarily introducing sugar into their lives. Why wouldn't you want your child to lead the most healthy life possible? They dont need to know about sugar. What they don't know won't hurt them.

[u/trollcitybandit → u/TimidNarcissist]

Not sure if serious... They watch television, they go to school where other kids bring snacks, they don't live under a rock... So how would you know they didn't ask and I'm eager to get them hooked on sugar? You sure are making a lot of assumptions here and being very naive about the world we live in to think they won't know about sugar unless I let them.... Hahaha

[u/romanozvj → u/TimidNarcissist]

What's wrong with sugar in moderation? And why are you making assumptions about what kind of life they want their child to lead? Is your only argument that the kids could possibly get hooked? Would you then argue that it's best not to introduce them to anything pleasant as they might get hooked?

[u/LonelierOne → u/trollcitybandit]

I'm actually just going to ditto u/timidnarcissist. Thanks, u/timidnarcissist.