IT’S TIME to TREAT SUGAR LIEK CIGARETTES
By Mark Hyman and Ron Gutman
The food we eat impacts every aspect of our lives and our bodies: our hormones, brain chemistry, immune system, microbiome; the list goes on. As consumers, we deserve the right to easily understand our foods’ nutritional value to make informed decisions about what we consume and how that will impact our health. This is especially important regarding ingredients that are detrimental when eaten in excess, like sugar.
As researchers in functional medicine, longevity, AI, and nutrition, we have dedicated our professional lives to improving the health and well-being of millions everywhere. And while we applaud the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for taking important strides to pass mandatory front-of-package labelling for packaged foods in the U.S., this change can’t come soon enough. Everyone’s health depends on it.
The FDA recommends that adults consume no more than 50 grams of added sugar per day (based on a 2,000-calorie diet), but the average American consumes closer to one-third of a pound of sugar daily, more than three times the recommended amount. To put that into perspective, the average American consumes over 100 lb. of sugar annually. With that much sugar consumption, it is no wonder that 49% of American adults are diabetic or prediabetic. What’s worse is that much of our sugar consumption occurs without our even realizing it.
Seventy-four percent of packaged foods in the U.S. contain added sugar, including seemingly healthy foods such as salad dressing, coleslaw, and even baked beans, marinades, and yogurt; some sweetened yogurts contain more sugar than a can of soda. That sugar is so biologically addictive—studies indicate it is eight times as addictive as cocaine—makes the reality that it’s hidden in so many foods even more harmful. Most of us are addicted to sugar, and we don’t even know it.
This cycle of addiction is relentless and hard to break: we eat food with sugar, which then triggers a spike in blood sugar, which lights up the pleasure center in our brain. When the inevitable sugar crash comes, we seek that spike again by craving more sugar. Without easily discernible food labelling, shoppers unknowingly create this cycle inside their bodies, even though they erroneously think the food they buy is healthy.
In many countries, labels on packaged foods serve a similar function to labels on cigarette cartons: to warn consumers of risk. In Chile, a policy of “high in” labels on the front of sugary drinks dramatically reduced the consumption of those beverages. In Israel, a front-of-package labelling system in which a red label indicates an item high in sugar has led to significant positive changes in the food-buying habits of 76% of the population.
The problem is that those in the U.S. lobbying against this front-of-package change, unsurprisingly, have an interest in the continued popularity of their products. In a February 2023 joint filing, the nation’s largest cereal producers threatened a lawsuit after the proposed changes would not allow them to label products as “healthy” if they didn’t meet nutritional standards.
This dynamic is similar to changes made in cigarette advertising in the 20th century. In the 1940s, a famous Camel cigarettes campaign featured the slogan “More doctors smoke Camels.” By 1969, a mandatory warning label was added to cigarettes, allowing consumers to make more informed choices about their health. Today the percentage of Americans who smoke is 11%, compared with nearly 50% back in the day. Life expectancy rose nearly 11 years in that period, and the decrease in smoking certainly contributed.
FDA leadership ensuring labelling of high sugar contents in packaged foods could increase awareness, reduce the negative impacts of sugar, and help millions live healthier, longer lives. This change would help us make more informed choices about our food and our health. We believe it is every American’s right to have clear and visible information about the sugar content of the foods we are eating in order to make those decisions.
Hyman is a practicing family physician. Gutman is a healthcare and technology entrepreneur