The Case Against Sugar

by Gary Taubes

The traditional response to the how-little-is-too-much question is that we should eat sugar in moderation—not eat too much of it. But this is a tautology. We only know we’re consuming too much when we’re getting fatter or manifesting other symptoms of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. At that point, the assumption is that we can dial it back a little and be fine—drink one or two sugary beverages a day instead of three, or, if we’re parenting, allow our children ice cream on weekends only, say, rather than as a daily treat. But if it takes years or decades, or even generations, for us to get to the point where we manifest symptoms of metabolic syndrome, it’s quite possible that even these apparently moderate amounts of sugar will turn out to be too much to reverse the situation and return us to health. And if the symptom or complication of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance that manifests first is something other than getting fatter—cancer, for instance—we’re truly out of luck. The authorities (or self-appointed authorities) who argue for moderation in our eating habits tend to be those who are relatively lean and healthy; they define moderation as what works for them. This assumes that the same approach and amount will have the same beneficial effect on all of us (and that it will continue to work for them as well). If it doesn’t, of course, if we fail to remain lean and healthy or our children fail to do so, the assumption that, naturally again, follows fr...