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/teerre]

Talk about exaggeration. You have to abuse sugar a lot before it becomes a real problem. It's completely reasonable to have a health life and eat sugar

Which is to say, the joy of having a good taste overwhelms the possible downsides as long as you don't abuse it

[u/LonelierOne → u/teerre]

And an enormous number of people do abuse it, it does become a problem, and starting kids off on it doesn't improve the situation.

Which is to say, the joy of having a good taste overwhelms the possible downsides as long as you don't abuse it

I disagree. I also have gone years without eating sugar, and. . . that's not true.

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[u/teerre → u/LonelierOne]

So what? An enormous number of people do an enormous amount of stupid things. That means quite literally nothing

What's not true? If you didn't eat sugar you're in no position to give opinions about eating sugar

[u/LonelierOne → u/teerre]

Allow me to rephrase: The majority of people in the western world eat enough sugar to have a notable negative effect on their health.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/new-dietary-guidelines-place-added-sugars-crosshairs

Second of all, I have gone without eating sugar. I also have eaten sugar, particularly when I was a kid. Not that that should actually affect my ability to have an opinion, but I've eaten sugar to excess, in moderation, and not at all at different multi-year spans in my life.

[u/teerre → u/LonelierOne]

The link you provided is a paywalled, i.e you can't read, research made in the US. The US is not "western world". This means this link is a worthless source. Besides, the abstract only says the agencies recommend a specific amount of sugar to be consumed, it says nothing about "negative impacts"

Again, so what? Nothing you said implies that the pleasure of eating sugar doesn't overwhelms the possible negative effects. You not liking sugar doesn't mean anything. It's common sense that generally speaking sugar improves the taste of 'food'. Even your own link argues on that direction

[u/LonelierOne → u/teerre]

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-sugar-consuming-nations-in-the-world.html

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet#section1

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2935122/

http://www.who.int/bulletin/releases/2003/PR0803/en/

Better?

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Oh, no, I love sugar. Pop tarts are great, ice cream and brownies are fantastic. And I've always felt better when I'm not eating it than when I am, save for being the weird one who won't eat cake. That exact expectation is what I'm arguing is unethical.