100 Year Drug War - Sugar Rush

 

The worst of all drugs is almost never addressed.  The war on drugs has gone on for over one hundred years in the United States but the worst drug is not addressed.  What horrible substance am I referring to:  Heroin?  Cocaine? Methamphetamines? Ecstasy? Mushrooms?  LSD?  Marijuana? Bath salts?  No SUGAR!

Your thinking SUGAR isn't a drug.  Well no not in natural foods.  Purified sugar is a drug.  I believe that some individuals are more susceptible to addiction and abuse like any drug.

The American taxpayer subsidizes the sugar industry with billions of dollars.  2 to 4 BILLION each year.  Welfare for the Rich.  Even so Americans pay more for sugar than the rest of the world - approximately 3X more.

Each Americans now consume 55 pounds of high fructose corn syrup a year - more than any other nation on earth.  Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the average American is now 15 or more additional pounds heavier without getting any taller.  In the United States, the percentage of children and adolescents affected by obesity has more than tripled since the 1970s.

This doesn't factor in the lives lost or the increased medical costs associated with the huge amount of sugar being consumed.

In 2018, 34.2 million Americans, or 10.5% of the population, had diabetes.

Nearly 1.6 million Americans have type 1 diabetes, including about 187,000 children and adolescents

Of the 34.2 million adults with diabetes, 26.8 million were diagnosed, and 7.3 million were undiagnosed.

The percentage of Americans age 65 and older remains high, at 26.8%, or 14.3 million seniors (diagnosed and undiagnosed).

1.5 million Americans are diagnosed with diabetes every year.


Cost of Diabetes:

$327 billion: Total cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2017

$237 billion was for direct medical costs

$90 billion was in reduced productivity

After adjusting for population age and sex differences, average medical expenditures among people with diagnosed diabetes were 2.3 times higher than what expenditures would be in the absence of diabetes.


 We have met the enemy and he is us. Pogo



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