The Toxic Turth About Sugar by Lustig et al.

1642 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Obesity in america research paper

“The Toxic Truth About Sugar”, written by Lustig et al. varies in their usage of rhetorical strategies to try to have their readers better understand that sugar, as common as it is, can be very dangerous when a big amount is consumed in one day. The numbers in our world don’t lie: A shocking statistic is that there are currently thirty percent more people who are obese than there are healthy. This discussion arose from the staggering facts that obesity is becoming more of an epidemic than ever before. The United States has a choice to make: Take the steps necessary to slow obesity or do nothing at all, like it feels we are currently doing. This can be a good or bad rush, depending on how you assess the situation.
A good example of a logical appeal, also known as logos, is that Lustig et al. clearly argue that sugar “warrants some form of societal intervention”, and should definitely be regulated as much as tobacco and alcohol are currently. Robert Lustig, a clinical pediatrics at the Univ. or California San Francisco, with an emphasis on childhood obesity, also working with two females from UCSF: Claire Brindis and Laura Schmidt also worked with Lustig on the article of The Toxic Truth about Sugar, which was published in a 2012 version of Nature Magazine (Intro).
A testimonial appeal stemming from the article, was taken up by Denmark, who, in 2011 said that “any foods high in saturated fat” were to be taxed, and this was passed into law. A secondary testimonial came from the United Nations, which declared that heart disease and “uncatchable” diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, etc. pose a greater risk now than ever before. Another testimonial taken from the text was this: “Western diet is now dominated by “low-cost, highly-proc...

... middle of paper ...

...products, because right now, producers can put unlimited amounts of whatever they please in their products. (par. 14)
This essay is not one to be taken lightly, but rather realize that as Americans, we are responsible for our children’s health, and to ensure the future of the nation at a healthy rate, then we must show them that sugar is not as kind as it seems. What will it take for us to realize that sugar is very toxic, and once we understand that, who is willing to step up and work together towards the goal of a healthier America? There are two Americas that we need to work towards for a healthy country: today’s America and tomorrow’s America.

Works Cited

Lustig, Robert, Laura Schmidt, and Claire Brindis. “The Toxic Truth About Sugar.” The Norton Sampler: Short Essays for Composition. Ed. Thomas Cooley. 8th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 284-289. Print.

Show More
Related

  • Problems with Obesity in America

    603 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Bad Food? Tax it, and Subsidize Vegetables”, Mark Bittman suggests that the people of America should stop eating unhealthy foods so often. In the article, Bittman tells his audience that people have “heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all in large part caused by the standard American Diet” (page 35). He also states that eating healthy can result to a better health care system saving millions of lives. The big issue is Americans eating unhealthy every day, but proposing a plan to help stop it from happening.

    Read More

  • Summary: The Gruen Transfer

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    This is an increasingly concerning factor in the growing national epidemic of obesity. Adverts often mask foods that are unhealthy by emphasising their positive nutritional features – such as dietary fibre and protein. While at the same time ignoring its negative features – including the high amounts of saturated fat and sugar content. In some cases, even products that mention any alleged health benefits are usually outweighed by the health risks associated with consuming the product, that they just fail to mention. In summary, big businesses are using recurring and manipulative persuasive techniques on vulnerable consumers to try to convey the false message of health and nutrition in products when they are in fact more harmful than helpful.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Fed Up

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    In addition, the fast food industry’s main goal is to produce profit, and advertisements for unhealthy nutrition options flood schools, television, billboards, and multitudes of other outputs, all places where young children can view endorsements for fast food. Drawing a parallel between fast food and tobacco, Fed Up claims that soda resembles the cigarettes of the 21st century and that both of these toxins present many future health implications. While continuing to discuss long term effects of unhealthy food and eating habits, various scientific researchers and individuals share that up to “40% of non-obese people have metabolic diseases” (Fed Up). While not everyone may appear overweight or obese, they may have diabetes, heart related problems, high blood pressure, and/or numerous other health concerns. Overall, Stephanie Soechtig’s Fed Up discusses the issues of obesity and how private provide and special interests place themselves above public

    Read More

  • Mark Bittman Bad Food

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    The argument talked about how the American diet should be changed since it is unhealthy and can cause numerous problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. In light of this issue, Bittman proposed the idea of taxing unhealthy food and drinks while promoting vegetables. This plan could potentially kill six birds with one stone. The benefits would include less unhealthy food consumption, the decrease of diseases, and the decrease of public health costs. They would also include in making healthy food more available to the masses, the environment would improve, and it would save billions of dollars annually that could be raised for other places and activities. Americans should implement ideas from countries like Japan and Denmark to help with this problem.

    Read More

  • Obesity In Michael Moss's Escape From The Western Diet

    1217 Words  | 3 Pages

    American health, specifically our obesity epidemic, has grown into a trending media topic. A quick Google search will bring up thousands of results containing a multitude of opinions and suggested solutions to our nation’s weight gain, authored by anyone ranging from expert food scientists to common, concerned citizens. Amongst the sea of public opinion on obesity, you can find two articles: Escape from the Western Diet by Michael Pollan and The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss. Each article presents a different view on where the blame lies in this public health crisis and what we should do to amend the issue. Pollan’s attempt to provide an explanation pales in comparison to Moss’s reasonable discussion and viable

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Michael Pollan's Escape From The Western Diet

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    As the Western world experiences increasing occurrences of certain diseases, society is focusing not only on finding the source of this phenomena but also on finding a solution to the problem. In his essay “Escape from the Western Diet”, Michael Pollan places the blame on the Western diet, arguing that people need only to change their eating habits in order to prevent many chronic diseases. While the author makes a compelling argument, his usage of logical fallacies, his questionable credibility, and his apparent bias weaken his point; nonetheless, I agree with his overall surmise that the western diet should be improved.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of No ! Let Us Enjoy Our Sweet Drinks In Peace By Evan Cook

    281 Words  | 1 Pages

    Evan Cook's article "No! Let us enjoy our sweet drinks in peace" was written to persuade us that soda and sugary drinks are not the cause of the health problems and warning labels don't help people consume less soda.Cook states that soda is not the only cause of obesity. In the 4th paragraph he states, "Inactivity and overeating both contribute..." His intention was to tell us soda does not cause us to be unhealthy, it is us choosing to not exercise and having food carvings. These choices impact our bodies by turning the extra energy from the extra food into fat. If we don't exercise the fat will stay there making us get obese overtime. In the 8th paragraph Cook states, "Psychological studies have shown...that for cigarette smokers, warning

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Fed Up By Stephanie Soechtig

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sugar is used as a villain in this film and is really used to account for all of our obesity problems. This goes too far in my opinion, because after researching sugar intake and obesity rates, I discovered that there is actually no convincing correlation between sugar and obesity. Sugar consumption has actually decreased in the last few years while the obesity rates continue to climb. This is not stated in the film but is instead ignored and covered up with other meaningless facts about sugary products. The real reason for obesity that should’ve been brought up more is consumption of calories and the quality of the calorie.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Obesity In The Film 'Fed Up'

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    However, the outcome was different from his desired result due to strong protest from the dairy and livestock industry, so the Congress instead urged people to buy lean meat and less fat food so the dairy and livestock industry do not go out of business. This created the fat-free boom in the market in the 1980s. However, food companies began to put more sugar in their products because the taste was bad when they reduced fat in the food. Now, the sugar intake of Americans has doubled compared with before. In the American market, there are approximately 600,000 different food products, and 80% of those include sugar. Although sugar is written in various forms and names, one suggests that it’s bad in any form, especially if taken too much. Sugar consumed naturally through fiber-rich fruit or vegetable should be fine, but the added sweeteners stimulate the hormones that increase insulin. High insulin prevents people from thinking they are full, and thus crave more food. This causes many diseases. Of course one meal high in sugar will not kill them, but the problem is that people generally exceed daily sugar intake in one meal alone when consuming process food. We eat more processed and convenient food instead of fruits, vegetables, and

    Read More

  • Sociological Imagination

    668 Words  | 2 Pages

    With this concept in mind, I am going to analyze the Guardian online 2012 article “Why our food is making us fat,” by Jacques Peretti. The article mainly speaks about the rapid rise in obesity and the main contributor to it, High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). The article also points out some of the economic and political influences behind HFCS. HFCS is used for almost every food product in the food industry. However, if we look at HFCS from a limited point of view, we just see it as something present in our food and not the health factors behind it.

    Read More

  • Sugar Consumption: A Silent Threat to Health

    502 Words  | 2 Pages

    Richards is more effective in persuading the audience to consider the health risks of sugar. Richards provides facts and analytical statistics from multiple sources about the dangers of an excess amount of sugar. These risks range from a simple fix to something as serious as increased risk for cancer, obesity, diabetes, as well as an increased risk of an early death. According to the “Journal of the American Heart Association Internal Medicine, concluded that people who consumed more than a quarter of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die than those who restricted their intake to less than 10 percent of total calories.” This quote is effective because it first tells of the Ethos of the speaker and instills a foreboding fear in the reader. However, for others this quote is not as effective as a story because it does not provide any personal experiences and instead relies on third party sources that does not give any indication of individuality.

    Read More

  • Sugar

    1538 Words  | 4 Pages

    Probably some of the most pleasurable and enjoyable memories of a person has to do with sweets. When thinking back to birthdays, there is always the memory of the wonderful cake that mother beautifully made and decorated with frosting and glazes. A typical night out with dad can be transformed into a magical evening with a trip to the ice cream parlor. The end of a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner turns heavenly when a hot apple pie is brought to the table and topped with delicious, melting vanilla ice cream. A good wedding is never complete without the cutting of the splendid multi-level wedding cake, when the happy new couple gets to playfully shove and smear cake and white frosting into each other’s smiling faces. Everyone knows that as a child, the only good part about going to the dentist is getting the candy bar at the end of the visit. Why do some people get sick after eating too much suger? Some people do not even know that the abuse of sugar can lead to negative effects on your body. There is something strangely enjoyable and resplendent about the consumption of sugar. Why is it that sugar is so deliciously enjoyable and at the same time a food product that has many negative affects on people’s health?

    Read More

  • Evaluating Mintz's Sweetness and Power

    3808 Words  | 8 Pages

    With such an obsession with sweet foods, there is an obvious desire for an explanation of how such a once unknown substance took center stage on everybody's snack, dessert, and candy list. That's where Sidney W. Mintz comes into play. He decided to write this book Sweetness and Power, and from the looks of all the sources he used to substantiate his ideas and data, it seems that he is not the first person to find the role that sugar plays in modern society important. By analyzing who Mintz's audience is meant to be, what goals he has in writing this book, what structure his book incorporates, what type, or types, of history he represents within the book, what kind of sources he uses, and what important information and conclusions he presents, we can come to better understand Mintz's views and research of the role of sugar in history, and how much it really affects our lives as we know them.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Junking Junk Food By Judith Warner

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    The essay Junking Junk Food written by Judith Warner, brings to the audiences attention the wicked problem of how there has been a decline in Americans health. Warner’s information speaks loudly about being forced into a healthy lifestyle by the Obama administration. The Obama administration tried to enforce a healthy lifestyle among the citizens by focusing on the youth and taking away sugar options for them. Warner, puts her voice into this by mentioning the system during the world war when the soldiers had to eat overseas so there was less food consumption in America, which helped stop over consumption of food. Back then food was also much healthier thought, with less hormones, chemicals and less options of fast food. Again making it easier

    Read More

  • Commentary on Don’t Blame the Eater by David Zinczenko

    977 Words  | 2 Pages

    David Zinczenko states numbers and facts that open the eyes of his reader along with state his position of how fast food states no warnings that it could make someone obese or develop type 2 diabetes. His first statement is telling his readers a little background about how fast food affected his life and how he was once obese because he consumed such meals. Zinczenko explains how the increase in diabetes (specially type 2) were linked to the high consumption of fast food meals. He then goes on to address how much money is being spent to help take care of the mass amount of children with type 2 diabetes, showing how the price has gone up substantially over the past couple decades. The author then claims how the restaurants don’t give any healthy alternative and how its easier to find a McDonalds in American than an healthy alternative such as fruit. To wrap up the article he shares how he feels that obese kids who sue these fast food restaurants have good ground to do so since these places don’t put warnings on their foods; From Zinczenko himself “I say, let the deep fried chips fa...

    Read More

More about The Toxic Turth About Sugar by Lustig et al.

Open Document