Probably, yes, IMO sugar needs to be regulated and taxed like alcohol.
I think regulation is a must only in countries with free healthcare, where sick people are treated with taxpayers' money. If that's not the case, people are free to do what they please with their own health as they're the sole ones footing bill.
I don't know of any country that doesn't have a very high tax on tobacco.
Cigarettes, and the abusive tobacco industry, are a great example of why that technique fails.
Tobacco companies, and now sugar companies, are happy to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the scientific evidence.
I don't understand your posit. Are you saying sugar would be taxed based on BS studies? The topic of discussion is that older studies have downplayed the detrimental effect of sugar, while upplaying the role of fat.
If sugar was taxed it would be according to current studies. If fat was taxed it would not be.
Is your question a thought experiment or what are you saying?
I actually do personally think that sugar is a main driver of these problems, but I get her point.
The nuances and complexities come in because of individual genetics, state of health and a myriad of interactions between the complexity of foods and their numerous and unpredictable interactions with a constantly changing system.
In order to get a better picture of health and lifestyle consequences will require close to 24x7 monitoring of many parameters (quantified self).
So, for example, it may be possible to find out allergies and almost allergies, interactions before they fully occur and inflammation promotion/reduction properties of lifestyle choices. Add software and deep learning, and there are almost endless possibilities for health and lifestyle micro- and macro-optimizations.
Yes, and imagine if regulation was done based on these wrong studies, the harm it would have caused
You would have regulated people out of good health (which is basically what corn subsidies do)
People sometimes are too quick to favour regulation
What, really, is the point?
(Looking at Food Standards Australia, the requirements on MSG are that it's declared as an ingredient with an exception if it's naturally present in the food. How is that different to what's required for sugar? http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/additives/msg/Pages...)