In a commentary in the February issue of the journal Nature, a
team of scientists from University of California, San Francisco
has suggested that sugar should be regulated like alcohol and
cigarettes. In an article entitled ‘The toxic truth about
sugar’, the UCSF group suggests that like alcohol and tobacco,
sugar is a toxic, addictive substance that should be highly
regulated with taxes, laws on where and to whom it can be
advertised, and even age-restricted sales. In response, the
American Beverage Association issued the following statement:
"The authors of this commentary attempt to address the critical
global health issue of non-communicable diseases such as heart
disease and diabetes. However, in doing so, their comparison of
sugar to alcohol and tobacco is simply without scientific merit.
Moreover, an isolated focus on a single ingredient such as sugar
or fructose to address health issues noted by the World Health
Organization to be caused by multiple factors, including tobacco
use, harmful alcohol use,