THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR By Gary Taubes


“The purpose of this book is to present the case against sugar…as the principal cause of the chronic diseases that are most likely to kill us, or at least accelerate our demise, in the 21st Century.” These are author Gary Taubes first words in The Case Against Sugar and he goes on to blame sugar for the fact that a third of all adults are obese, two-thirds of adults are overweight, almost one in seven adults are diabetic, and one in four adults will die of cancer. Taubes believes, and shows through voluminous research studies, that sugar is the culprit behind all these diseases. “If sugar didn’t exist, diabetes would be a rare disease,” Taubes maintains. Taubes shows how the Food Industry has masked sugar’s dangers and toxicity while blaming “fat” for many of these health conditions. Taubes puts the blame squarely on the aggressive use of sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup for most of our health problems. I confess, I was shaken by the end of this book. Am I going to eat less sugar? You better believe it. The Case Against Sugar is a powerful indictment of our diets. I highly recommend you all read this powerful book! And, eat less sugar! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Author’s Note
INTRODUCTION: Why Diabetes?
Chapter 1: Drug or Food?
Chapter 2: The First Ten Thousand Years
Chapter 3: The Marriage of Tobacco and Sugar
Chapter 4: A Peculiar Evil
Chapter 5: The Early (Bad) Science
Chapter 6: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Chapter 7: Big Sugar
Chapter 8: Defending Sugar
Chapter 9: What They Don’t Know
Chapter 10: The If/Then Problem: I
Chapter 11: The If/Then Problme: II
EPILOGUE: How Little Is Still Too Much?
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index

28 thoughts on “THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR By Gary Taubes

    1. george Post author

      Dan, we never had much sugar in the house and now we’re going to have a lot less. THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR is the most frightening book I’ve read since my last Stephen King!

      Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jerry, thank you for your kind words. THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR shows that instead of being a harmless substance, sugar is causing a whole array of health problems.

      Reply
  1. wolfi

    This topic has been discussed in Europe too – we have the same problems, too many obese, especially young people. Here in Hungary it’s even worse thanin Germany as my sharp sighted wife remarked (she’s Hungarain). I could go on, but probably describe the problem not as well as this author …

    What I didn’t know (came to my attention just last year) is the horrible role of HFCS: High fructose corn syrup – now that I know about it I find it everywhere, especially in all the “sweet drinks” like cola.

    Luckily we don’t crave anything sweet – only fresh fruit and juice, nothing mixed with sugar or HFCS but I know many people who consume loads of that stuff – and look like it.

    Diabetes 2 which comes often with age is rampant – I just talked with my doctor and his wife (she’s also a doc) that they’re trying to make people realise the problems, but it seems really difficult.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Wolf, Gary Taubes cites plenty of European research on sugar showing it causes health problems. In the U.S., three Harvard professors “faked” research studies in the 1960s proving sugar was “harmless.” We’re living those falsehoods today.

      Reply
  2. Deb

    Did you see recently a “scientific” study showing that sugar wasn’t “that bad” for us? There was an uproar when it was discovered that the study was funded by the sugar industry! A multi-national conglomerate self-funding research that comes to rosy conclusions? This is my shocked face!

    I’d also highly recommend, as a companion piece to this book, SALT, SUGAR, FAT: HOW THE FOOD GIANTS HOOKED US by Michael Moss. It’s about how much processed and fast food is just a delivery system for one or more of these dietary culprits.

    Ideally, we should all be eating less processed food–but, for many, finding the money and time to purchase and prepare wholesome, healthy, nutritionally-sound meals is not easy. And there’s a clear correlation (for a variety of reasons) between poverty and obesity in the world right now–starting with “bad” food being cheap, plentiful, and accessible. Sigh.

    Reply
    1. Jeff Meyerson

      Stay out of McDonald’s and other fast food places.

      As for the study, welcome to Trump’s America. This is the kind of crap he uses as his “proof” of whatever he wants to believe.

      Reply
      1. george Post author

        Jeff, sugar is pervasive in America food. It’s everywhere so avoiding it will be difficult. Diane and I are determined to consume less sugar over 2017. But it’s not going to be easy.

    2. george Post author

      Deb, I used SALT, SUGAR, FAT in my ADVERTISING class the last couple of years to show students how the Food Industry manipulated data and manufactored products that produced our current obesity crisis and the epidemic of diabetes.

      Reply
  3. Patti Abbott

    A doctor told Phil on Sunday (and Phil is thin) that if we all stopped eating bread and sugar, we would live longer and better. I am ready to try it. He said the weight will drop off. Megan eats no carbs or sugar. And hasn’t for years. A dessert never passes her lips. No pasta or rice either. It’s a spartan diet but her bp is 90/60 and the corresponding stuff is great too. Although I think she is way too thin. A mother is never happy. My son and I obviously come from another genetic pool.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Patti, that doctor is right. Less sugar and bread would improve all of our lives, but unfortunately they’re built into the America diet. Eating out (which we try to limit to once a week) will prove to be a challenge. Diane loves dessert, but she’s going to try to avoid them this year. We’ll see how we feel 12 months from now!

      Reply
    2. Jeff Meyerson

      Multi grain bread and pasta are not the same as white. A well-balanced diet and portion control are important. All of Jackie’s stomach issues disappeared after we went on the doctor’s high fiber diet, but I’m sure if you cut carbs you could lose weight. I did South Beach some years ago and it worked for me. You cut out all carbs for the first two weeks but then slowly add back “good” carbs in moderation.

      Jackie wants to comment too.

      Reply
  4. maggie mason

    I confess to having a sweet tooth, but have been trying to really cut down on sugar. I read the nutritional info on packages and am amazed at the sugar in tomato products, and juices. If I get a drink that has more than a gram or 2 of sugar per serving, I cut it with diet sprite. The grocery outlet chain every once in a while gets a brand of sugar free cookies, Murray’s I think, and I enjoy the choc chip variety. I”m a big fan of nectresse, a monk fruit based sweetner, that has sadly disappeared

    Reply
  5. Jeff Meyerson

    Believe it or not, Oprah had it right when she bellowed about “white” food referring to flour and sugar. Her new attachment to Weight Watchers is also like-minded thinking. After a lifetime of looking for the answer, I have always fallen back on Weight Watchers sensible approach advocating a balanced diet using portion control. Eliminating all carbs is a non-starter and not really logical since fruits and whole grains are essential to my gastrointestinal health.

    Jeff’s mom tried eliminating sugar for 6 years. She slipped once and it was over.

    It’s never easy, but I’ll never give up the dream of reaching goal.

    Good luck to all of you.

    Jackie

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Jackie, now that we know how deadly sugar really is, Diane and I hope to avoid it as much as possible. So much of sugar is “hidden” in our foods! As Gary Taubes asks in THE CASE AGAINST SUGAR: “How many cigarettes are safe to consume? How much sugar is safe to eat?” Scary stuff!

      Reply
      1. wolfi

        I don’t think that you have to avoid sugar completely, just cut down on it. And even if you (have to …) eat fast food, you can at least avoid the most obvious pitfalls.

        When we visited the USA I told my wife that we’d have to live on fast food, restaurants were a bit expensive and any way the portions were much too big for us old people – she acknowledged that immediately on our first trip (Miami Beach).

        So we regularly went to Wendy’s or Burger King (McD only if there was nothing else), tried just two or three restaurants during our later travels, subway only once (my wife hated it, couldn’t eat it …) and of course made our own sandwiches.

        Our typical meal at Wendy’s e g was (for the two of us):

        We shared one burger with chips and one salad with grilled chicken breast and a dressing with olive oil/vinegar – no ketchup, no mayonnaise …

        And when I was really hungray I had a chili con carne as an appetizer …

        To drink only soda or coffee – no cola etc, but in the evening of course one or two beers – and some very nice Niagara wine after our visit there.

        And of course we had fruit – my wife still remembers those wonderful oranges we got on our trip from San Francisco to Yosemite.

        We managed not to gain weight on all our holidays – I’m really proud of that!

      2. george Post author

        Wolf, Gary Gaubes’s question–“How many cigarettes are harmful? How much sugar?”–resonates with me. If you know sugar has toxic effects it’s hard to eat “just a little.”

  6. Rick Robinson

    It’s tough. Every fruit and vegetable has sugars in it. Carrot are loaded with it, as are bananas. Certainly it’s easy to avoid the obvious, like fudge and cookies. It’s okay to have something baked once in a while. We bake and then freeze most of it and take a little out over time. Those apple bars will last us 6 months or more. I drink 1 diet soda a week, so for me that’s not an issue. But eliminating carbs – which the body turns into sugar – is really, really hard. It will be interesting to see, George, if you go a year without pizza. Trying is good, cutting down is very good. Eliminating is just about impossible.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Rick, I know I might have to switch to various other foods in order to avoid sugar. I could live on nuts and veggies if I had to. I’ve tried to keep to a low-carb diet the past few years so this “Avoid Sugar” diet is just an extension of that.

      Reply
  7. Cap'n Bob

    Except, Jeff, that study was produced under Obama’s administration!

    As for sugar, it’s in nearly everything we eat or drink and there’s few ways to avoid it!

    Reply

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