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What Do You Think About This Banning Sugar Business?

Mep said:
I'm in Australia and on my tv tonight they said manufacturers have signed up to reduce sugar in all soft drinks, energy drinks, and fruit juices by 20% by 2025. Yesterday I heard they would like to ban fruit juice.
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Yep I heard that too. 20% however is peanuts really and how long before the next "instalment" ?
 
KK123 said:
What do I think?, I think the sooner they ban it the better. There is no reason why sugar should be added to pretty much everything, it is hidden sugar and that is the problem. People know that a bag of sweets is sugar but would they know about the amount of sugar in their cereals or tins of peas or bread or just about everything else? That hidden sugar is part of why people (many unwittingly) become addicts at a very early age and right through adulthood, retail WANT us to eat sugar, it's profitable for them. As for those who prefer a sugary liquid for their hypo's, well for them there is always an alternative. Yes, it would be annoying if you had to drink twice as much to get that sugary fix but come on, surely a healthier society is a price we would all pay, who knows, it may stop people suffering from the many conditions that are certainly not helped by sugar.
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Yes and no.... I don't know about you but I often feel nauseated with hypos. I also suffer from bad reflux and severe GI issues. Do you think having to drink even more than I need to of sweet stuff is going to help? Nope. I face the risk of vomiting and also face the risk of putting myself in more pain. I strongly disagree with nanny states and everyone has a brain they can use it to choose how they eat. What's more governments around the world can do the right thing and make healthy food choices more readily available and cheaper than the alternative. They can market things differently than they do now.... do you see healthy food heavily marketed? No, of course not.... it's always the unhealthy options. Walk into a supermarket and you're flooded with all the unhealthy options. But what is happening? They're just adding artificial sweeteners to products to reduce sugar... is that healthy?... nope.
 
jlarsson said:
While the intent is noble and everything, the approach is wrong. What needs to happen is for people to have a better understanding of nutrition in general, regardless of your condition, and it needs to be learned from a young age. If people then still want to eat and drink unhealthy things, that's fine, I have no problem with that.
Banning things or slapping a tax on top of things as a means to reduce something is just ignoring why the problem is there in the first place.
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While I agree that education is a key element you only have to look at the tobacco issue. Big business has its fingers in every pie (no pun intended) so until there is a change of mindset governments have to curtail the rise in chronic illness by any means possible.
 
Guzzler said:
While I agree that education is a key element you only have to look at the tobacco issue. Big business has its fingers in every pie (no pun intended) so until there is a change of mindset governments have to curtail the rise in chronic illness by any means possible.
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Yes, by keeping the big players in business of course so they can continue to pay their taxes.
 
Mep said:
Yes, by keeping the big players in business of course so they can continue to pay their taxes.
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I'm not sure I follow you? Big Food likes the staus quo, they stack 'em high and selll 'em cheap all the way to the bank. Subsidies need scrutinising, food politics need to change and lobbying needs to be stopped.
 
Mep said:
Yes and no.... I don't know about you but I often feel nauseated with hypos. I also suffer from bad reflux and severe GI issues. Do you think having to drink even more than I need to of sweet stuff is going to help? Nope. I face the risk of vomiting and also face the risk of putting myself in more pain. I strongly disagree with nanny states and everyone has a brain they can use it to choose how they eat. What's more governments around the world can do the right thing and make healthy food choices more readily available and cheaper than the alternative. They can market things differently than they do now.... do you see healthy food heavily marketed? No, of course not.... it's always the unhealthy options. Walk into a supermarket and you're flooded with all the unhealthy options. But what is happening? They're just adding artificial sweeteners to products to reduce sugar... is that healthy?... nope.
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There are other ways to treat hypos rather than sweet drinks, apart from finding out what causes the hypos in the first place and preventing or minimising them.. I suppose no one has tried to give you a sweet drink whilst you are uncooperative in a hypo ? Makes a mess. Ever heard of slipping a glucose tablet in the side of the cheek ? Might help.
meanwhile intake of soft drinks and other sweetened products cause T2D, obesity and dental decay. ( in humans and pets) That is an enormous cost in health dollars and human suffering.. And whilst local community action can do things like boycott shops that sell such stuff only governments can do anything about "Big Food": Without Government intervention there would be no addition of iodine to salt and folate to flour - without which you can get children born with mental deficiencies and/or abnormalities nor would there be labelling of food for gluten content and labelling for amounts of sugar, protein etc. That is a a 'state' looking after its citizens, It needs to take on Big Food whilst education is pushed. The sugar tax is a joke !!
 
kitedoc said:
There are other ways to treat hypos rather than sweet drinks, apart from finding out what causes the hypos in the first place and preventing or minimising them.. I suppose no one has tried to give you a sweet drink whilst you are uncooperative in a hypo ? Makes a mess. Ever heard of slipping a glucose tablet in the side of the cheek ? Might help.
meanwhile intake of soft drinks and other sweetened products cause T2D, obesity and dental decay. ( in humans and pets) That is an enormous cost in health dollars and human suffering.. And whilst local community action can do things like boycott shops that sell such stuff only governments can do anything about "Big Food": Without Government intervention there would be no addition of iodine to salt and folate to flour - without which you can get children born with mental deficiencies and/or abnormalities nor would there be labelling of food for gluten content and labelling for amounts of sugar, protein etc. That is a a 'state' looking after its citizens, It needs to take on Big Food whilst education is pushed. The sugar tax is a joke !!
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Yes, not disputing what sugar can do to the general public... made that clear in my original posting. I think people are missing the point here. Telling me I have other options.... really? You know what I suffer with do you? My throat doesn't work properly... let that sink in. Glucose tabs I've tried and I get them stuck. Letting them dissolve in my mouth helps me to choke even more on the sugar getting stuck in my throat. No thanks. I prefer to drink water and decaf tea usually. How I treat my diabetes is my business and every one is different.... I wouldn't tell anyone what to do here as I don't know what they're dealing with. I'm simply venting here.... that's the whole point of my post! Why on earth do they think it's a great idea to replace sugar with artificial stuff I'll never know... smart? not at all. I certainly think the focus is all wrong. And from my perspective I'd like to be given the option to still continue to choose my own hypo treatment without some holier than thou messing with my preferred treatment.
 
Mep said:
Yes, not disputing what sugar can do to the general public... made that clear in my original posting. I think people are missing the point here. Telling me I have other options.... really? You know what I suffer with do you? My throat doesn't work properly... let that sink in. Glucose tabs I've tried and I get them stuck. Letting them dissolve in my mouth helps me to choke even more on the sugar getting stuck in my throat. No thanks. I prefer to drink water and decaf tea usually. How I treat my diabetes is my business and every one is different.... I wouldn't tell anyone what to do here as I don't know what they're dealing with. I'm simply venting here.... that's the whole point of my post! Why on earth do they think it's a great idea to replace sugar with artificial stuff I'll never know... smart? not at all. I certainly think the focus is all wrong. And from my perspective I'd like to be given the option to still continue to choose my own hypo treatment without some holier than thou messing with my preferred treatment.
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OK Mep I apologise. Only trying to help: what about a glucose solution, less damage to the teeth, That is a viable option for your needs.? By lowering sugar in drinks I did not advocate that artificial sweeteners should be a substitute. You do have options. Public health measures have a place and neither you or I can halt that .
 
kitedoc said:
OK Mep I apologise. Only trying to help: what about a glucose solution, less damage to the teeth, That is a viable option for your needs.? By lowering sugar in drinks I did not advocate that artificial sweeteners should be a substitute. You do have options. Public health measures have a place and neither you or I can halt that .
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Apology accepted. :) Glucose solution is a lot more expensive than a juice box. I already spend a fortune at my pharmacy. I'd rather not pay more for hypo treatment just because I've been forced to.
 
Mep said:
Apology accepted. :) Glucose solution is a lot more expensive than a juice box. I already spend a fortune at my pharmacy. I'd rather not pay more for hypo treatment just because I've been forced to.
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Fair enough. I used to get the glucose powder and make up a solution to carry when I was younger during canoe trips. No tetra packs etc back then !!
 
Mep said:
They are here in Australia... maybe UK it's just the sugar tax, but here they're actually more focused on removing sugar from products. What they're doing is replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners. They already sell coke here with sugar & stevia.
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I'm in Australia @Mep & the only people happy about the announcement of this industry 'commitment' are the health minister & the Beverage Council. Both can pretend they're taking action when in fact they're doing absolutely nothing. Again, they're not removing sugar - they're adding more sugar free options (in addition to the full sugar drinks) & including recent years reduced consumption figures to achieve their 'goal'. Smoke & mirrors. I personally think they could & should be doing a lot more.

I'm sorry for your particular circumstances & yes they sell coke with a combination of other sweeteners but they also sell sugar sweetened beverages everywhere & cheaply (& will continue to do so) so I really don't think you should let this bother you.
 
The sugar cane crushing season starts here in Bundaberg's three sugar cane crushing mills in July, and it promises to be a good season with well over one million tonnes crushed.

The cane trains are placing the cut cane bins out ready, the sugar terminal at the port has been refurbished as have the three mills.

People are happy as they have employment to pay the bills etc. :D
 
Safi said:
I'm in Australia @Mep & the only people happy about the announcement of this industry 'commitment' are the health minister & the Beverage Council. Both can pretend they're taking action when in fact they're doing absolutely nothing. Again, they're not removing sugar - they're adding more sugar free options (in addition to the full sugar drinks) & including recent years reduced consumption figures to achieve their 'goal'. Smoke & mirrors. I personally think they could & should be doing a lot more.

I'm sorry for your particular circumstances & yes they sell coke with a combination of other sweeteners but they also sell sugar sweetened beverages everywhere & cheaply (& will continue to do so) so I really don't think you should let this bother you.
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You didn't watch Today Tonight where they announced they intend to reduce the sugar content by 20% for all soft drinks, energy drinks, and fruit juices by 2025? They will just replace the lost sugar with artificial sweeteners so people will still buy them. And then of course they will likely just keep reducing the sugar content over time. I personally don't want the only fruit juice box I can tolerate messed with.... especially don't want artificial sweetener added.
 
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kitedoc said:
OK Mep I apologise. Only trying to help: what about a glucose solution, less damage to the teeth, That is a viable option for your needs.? By lowering sugar in drinks I did not advocate that artificial sweeteners should be a substitute. You do have options. Public health measures have a place and neither you or I can halt that .
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Surely the solution should be to treat sugar like any other addiction I do not mean going cold turkey but all mfg should be required to reduce the amount of sugar by 50% gradually over say 3 years this should be monitored by and gradual so that the consumer does not notice No artificial sweeteners should be added Food mfg should have the right of appeal at PUBLIC HEARINGS not behind closed doors Companies that fail to comply should be Taxed Heavily so it hurts them and their shareholders in their pockets. These ae only my thought. As for the people who talk about a nanny state they dont like the idea of for instance The Police Policing themselves etc but they want the public(Many ill informed ) to monitor their own consumption PIGS MIGHT FLY Maybe people who use the NHS (nanny state ?) should consider the health beefits and cost savings in the NHS From eating more healthily. My Last thought People should eat more FRESH FOOD and LESS PROCESSED
 
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