In a boldly written Time Magazine essay, Ron Gutman, Co-Founder and CEO of healthcare technology company Intrivo Diagnostics alongside high-profile physician and NYTimes best-selling author Dr. Mark Hyman applauded the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for pushing toward front-of-package labeling of access sugar.
The hard-hitting essay in Time Magazine, titled It’s Time to Treat Sugar Like Cigarettes, expresses strong support for the FDA strides to tackle the obesity and diabetes epidemic in the US by looking to enforce labeling of packaged foods that indicate excess amounts of sugar, claiming that “most of us are addicted to sugar and we don’t even know it”.
Drawing comparisons to crucial changes to cigarette sales in the late 20th century, which enforced mandatory warning labels of the health risks linked to smoking (resulting in a significant drop in smoking in the US, from 50% to 11%), Gutman and Hyman claim that the FDA should hurry up in ensuring more explicit health-risk warnings are placed on the labeling of packaged foods that contain high levels of sugar. They reference countries such as Israel, where a front-of-package labeling system to indicate an item high-in-sugar has led to dramatic positive changes of 76% of the population’s food buying habits.
In the US, this isn’t the case, and Gutman and Hyman criticise the lobbying against front-of-package changes, particularly major American cereal companies. In a similar case, Kellogg’s have taken the Mexican government to court, suing them over their new nutrition labeling rules.
Stating many of the US public are in a daily cycle of sugar addiction – eating food with sugar in it, triggering blood sugar spikes and crashes and thus enticing further sugar cravings – the authors focus in on sugar as the leading cause behind conditions such as fatigue, anxiety, memory loss, ADHD, and shorter spans, citing “extensive academic research published in medical peer-reviewed journals backs common knowledge that excess sugar consumption can lead to serious chronic conditions.”
The authors stress the point that most sugar consumption is done unknowingly, and the combination with the intensely addictive nature of sugar, leads to a devastating cycle. “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. The fact that sugar is so biologically addictive — studies indicate it is eight times more addictive than 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.”
The underlying message the article carries is a profound one. As consumers, we are entitled to make our own choices about the foods we eat, and this choice can only be accommodated by being clearly informed about the ingredients — and their harmful effects — in the packaged foods we purchase. The authors conclude: “FDA leadership ensuring labelling of high contents of sugar in packaged foods could increase awareness and 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 our right, and 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.”
Within the last year The World Health Organization and The Center for Science In The Public Interest echoed the exact same sentiment.
As per Time – Ron Gutman is an inventor, a serial healthcare and technology pioneer and entrepreneur, a bestselling author, a philanthropist, and a Stanford University adjunct professor. Dr Hyman, MD, is a practicing family physician, an internationally recognised speaker, a bestselling author, an educator, and an advocate in the fields of Functional Medicine, real food, nutrition, and wellness.