Supposedly, there are good healthy alternatives to sugar that are just as sweet or even sweeter. And yeah.. industrial refined sugar is as unhealthy as you can get, and it is many foods that you'd never figure to have sugar in it. Going sugarless for a day would be quite the challenge (discounting sugar converted from starch).

Sweet cconspiracy theory.. the sugar industry addicted the gros population to sugar/sweeteners to make a mean profit. Fact is that the sugar industry is making a LOT of money so it stands to reason that they're not really willing to give up their market for a few measly health risks.

Try going cold turkey to find out how badly you are addicted The peanut M&M's or the chocolate ones?

Utemia, why are you wasting your breath on 'American' chocolate? You can get your countries own, german, or in my opinion the best chocolate over there, belgium.

I agree with what KFC is saying.  But I know people though who have smoked since they were 14 and now are 87 still smoke and are fine.  Certain things affect people differently.  That's why when you see an advertisiment on tv about a drug that the list of side affects is diverse at times.  That also goes with coffee debate as well: people are affected by things differently.   The one thing though is even though this may be true you can still get a concenses.

I feel it comes down to in moderation, which is hard because we live in a country of excess.

Hi Draginol,

So, here's my question.... how much sugar do you let your -kids- have? While you are an adult and free to do whatsoever you wish to your body, do you let your kids drink 5 cans of coke per day?

I don't mean to sound invasive or accusatory and please don't interpret it as such, just an honest inquiry.

There's some fascinating studies that have been done regarding the effects of large amounts of sugar on children. In one test, several schools went to healthy-food programs in which during school hours (including lunch) students did not have access to any junk food, no soda pop, chocolate bars, chips or candy etc. Several other schools were wide open with coke machines in every hall and, of course, we all know when given the choice many kids will opt for a lunch of 2 chocolate bars a bag of chips and a soda over that soggy ham sandwich.

Anywho, the details of the various studies are another matter but in pretty much all of them there was a direct link between the amount of sugar students were ingesting and their performance in school. In fact, in the healthy-foods programs many kids who were "problem child" types exhibitting attention-deficit symptoms calmed down entirely and their grades went up, whereas in the normal schools rife with sugar the kids remained wired and strung out.

Also of interest is a recent study that was done that suggests that people who are regularly rewarded with large amounts of candy and sugar laden foods as children for good behaviour are more prone to develop personality and social problems in adulthood. I'm not talking about grandpa and grandma occasionally spoiling the kids rotten but rather the situation in which children are routinely (on a daily basis) given candy or soda as a reward mechanism.
The study went on to illustrate that this conditioned the children to expect a tangible, physical reward every time they did something "good", but this breaks down during adulthood as acts that once garnered rewards become routine things that are expected of you simply as a functioning person (kid washes the dishes and gets a chocolate bar, adult washes the dishes and then is told by wife/spouse to take out the garbage while they're at it)

This results in maladjusted adults who are overly pissed off but can't quite put their finger on why... all the while subconsciouly thinking  "where's my frickin chocolate bar!?!"

Anywho. Yes, we're free to do as we wish with our bodies. And a little bit of sugar in life is absolutely a good thing. I enjoy a cold beer at the end of the day, but if I were to go home and have a sixpack every single day after work I'd have several problems. High blood pressure, dysfunctional family and social life, alcoholism and so on and so forth.

So it goes with sugar! Thankfully, my genetics have already spoken on this subject. I have a mild heart arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) that in normal day to day life doesn't have any effect on me. In fact, when I exercise regularly, eat and sleep properly it's virtually non-existent. However, if I eat rich, sugary foods and sit around on the couch, my old friend pays me regular visits. Therefore, the choice has already been made for me! I have two packets of sugar in my single cup of coffee each morning and other than that little indulgence try to stay away from large amounts of sugar. Soda pop = bad!!!