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Comment by StavrosK | Hacker News Reader

But who eats sugar to get full? I (and everyone I know) eat sweets after a meal, or because I see them, not because I expect to sate my hunger with it.

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Lustig's point is that you don't know you're eating sugar when you actually are. Up to 10% corn syrup in white breads, sauces, any precooked meal, sausages. If you eat BBQ sauce, you're eating sugar.

Salt and sugar save low aroma food (>80% processed food). Their combined power on the human body is vicious.

As the other commenter said, this is pretty much just the US, I just didn't realize the article wasn't talking globally.

Ask anyone who isn't American what the first thing they notice about the food when they visit the US.

How sweet everything is.

My friend is from England and the few times she's been to America the primary thing she's said is that the portions here are ridiculously large.

At places like Chili's or Applebees she ended up ordering appetizers and eating half of that as a meal. I got a regular meal but I knew in advance I would be taking it to go halfway through, as I usually do.

Yes, the problem with coke isn't that it's got a lot of sugar in it. The problem with coke is that people drink litres of it each day.

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or agreeing or not.

Usually your comments are good so I am going to believe you are sincere here.

Somewhat related I am one of those people who needs to make a change as I get >1000 calories from soda a day. I did quit years ago (just cold turkey) and after the initial headaches and tiredness the biggest change I saw was that I was constantly hungry. Much like quitting smoking made me for quite a while.

Coke has a lot of sugar in it. Some people drink a small amount of coke, and get pleasure from it, and are not fat.

Increasing portion sizes (see for example the increasing sizes of servings in McDonalds menus) mean that people now drink huge quantities of this sugary drink.

The volume of drink, the quantity of the sugar, is the problem.

Two cookies are not a problem. Two packets of cookies are a problem.

I'm not sure why you would think the response was sarcastic. Coke having sugar is NOT the issue. Drinking literally liters of it each day is certainly the issue. On top of a normal diet all those extra calories are bound to be a problem.

Now it seems silly but while I was going through the thread many responses had something worded similarly. After reading so many of those comments I was probably primed to see negativity everywhere.

eg. It's not THIS it's THAT. (It's not sugar, it's sugar in excess.)

More generally, it is calories in excess.

That's me, and you're right, everything's very sweet and buttery. I guess I was thinking the article applied to me, when the answer to my question was "Americans".

As mentioned, there is a lot of sugar hidden in processed foods. Also, a plate of pasta is about the same as far as the body is concerned, just a bit slower on the uptake.

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