Carly Keone
Nancy Cook
Writing 122
12 November 2013
Robert Lusting, “a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country”, gave a 90 minute speech of the negative effects of sugar and it’s potential of actually being a toxin (Taubes). He is one of the only researchers who is “willing to insist publicly and unambiguously, when most researchers are not, that sugar is a toxic substance that people abuse” (Taubes). Sugar and high fructose corn syrup have been regarded as two different substances with separate effects when in fact they are one in the same. Sugar makes you fat, which can be related to causes of obesity, diabetes and other medical conditions which can lead to chronic illnesses or even death. This was originally thought to be the result of the over-consumption of sugar, and not necessarily the sugar itself that has the potential to be fatal. However, Lusting suggests that it is, indeed, the sugar that is killing us. Sugar calories and carbohydrates have more harmful effects on the body than other calories or carbohydrates have. Among many other problems, sugar has been found to increase the risk for metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance, which may actually be a cause of cancer. “Cancer researchers now consider that the problem with insulin resistance is that it leads us to secrete more insulin, and insulin (as well as a related hormone known as insulin-like growth factor) actually promotes tumor growth” (Taubes) Although the research is technically non-conclusive, this is only due to the fact that not enough research has been made in this area to really support or deny the overwhelming amount of evidence that is appearing which suggests that sugar can indeed be a toxin.
Works Cited
Taubes, Gary. "Is Sugar Toxic?" The New York Times 17 Apr. 2011:
MM47+.Nytimes.com. The New York Times, 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Hi Carly,
ReplyDeleteI like that you took on such a controversial topic.
You made a good transition from the negative side effects of eating too much sugar, getting fat with all the bad things that happen then, to the thesis that sugar itself is a toxin. I have to consider it a thesis because, like you wrote, there’s not enough evidence, yet.
Under the assumption that the thesis is correct, it looks like a person has to eat a lot of sugar to be poisoned because the side effects seem to kill people first.
I’m missing your conclusion on this thought.
Joe