A conspiracy theory? The Sugar Association appears to be behind a very
coordinated campaign. This guy has written a lot about it.
http://livinlavidalocarb.blogspot.com/
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Great Sugar Debate Of 2005 Rages On
Shooting a hole through the sugar industry's campaign against Splenda
With all the negative reaction about the low-carb lifestyle this past
week following the announcement by Atkins Nutritionals, Inc. that they
are declaring bankruptcy, I had to put my comments about a story I
found in the Sacramento Bee last Sunday on hold. But the subject matter
and information contained in this article is just too important to
ignore for long.
As you know, I have been very suspicious of the obvious connection
between the sugar industry and the attacks against the artificial
sweetener Splenda. Since Splenda is preferred by so many of us who are
livin' la vida low-carb, we have a vested interest in helping to expose
this sinister behind-the-scenes campaign sugar advocates are
undertaking. In fact, I posted this timeline last month that shows what
they have been doing since December 2004.
The Sacramento Bee story helps define even further the battle lines
that have been drawn in this public debate between sugar and Splenda.
Describing the actions of the U.S. Sugar Association this year as
having a "bitter edge," the story said the sugar industry has been a
heavy aggressor against any and all competition. It seems declining
sales and warnings from various consumer groups about the dangers of
high sugar consumption has put the sugar industry back on its heels
causing them to launch a new public relations campaign touting the
alleged health benefits of eating sugar.
The $3 million "warm and fuzzy ad campaign" which released to targeted
urban markets in May has sought to rebuild sugar's image among
consumers even as more and more evidence comes forward linking sugar to
the obesity epidemic.
A spokeswoman for the Sugar Association said: "We decided we really
needed to get our message out ... Sugar is not the enemy that everyone
has made it out to be."
Oh really. Research conducted by noted nutrition and health expert Dr.
Ron Rosedale found that sugar is much more likely to be the culprit in
causing heart disease than even cholesterol or fat! For people who are
watching their carbohydrate intake, sugar is public enemy #1 because it
is nothing but pure carbs.
While the Sugar Association claims on its web site that "all-natural"
sugar is healthy because it has "just 15 calories" per teaspoon, that
same amount of sugar has 5 carbs. That may not sound like much, but
think about how much sugar you put in your coffee. Did you realize that
most can sodas contain the equivalent of nearly 10 teaspoons of sugars
in them sweetened with the evil first cousin of sugar known as high
fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
As you can see, it doesn't take long for those carbohydrates to stack
up and become a problem for people attempting to control their weight.
The sugar industry is trying to market their product as a natural and
healthy food to consume, but they are just being dishonest about the
effect it can and will have on people who are addicted to sugar. This
is why I have become so actively involved in this debate and will
continue to voice my concerns about the lies the sugar industry are
saying about sugar and about their primary competition, Splenda.
The co-founder of a nonprofit public watchdog group called Commercial
Alert says the sugar lobby is very "powerful" and seems to "care only
about the health of their bottom line, not the health of Americans."
That's what this is really all about. They are really feeling the heat
of slowing sugar sales attributed to not only the low-carb diets, but
also people realizing just how unhealthy eating large amounts of sugar
is to their body. While low-carb may be considered dead by the media
and healthy experts after the news that came out this week, it's
certainly difficult to ignore the impact the low-carb lifestyle has had
on our culture and how it views sugar now.
That's a VERY good thing that is causing more and more food companies
to come up with new sugar-free and/or low-sugar versions of their
products to meet the consumer demand. Do you want to know what's funny
about this? If you are eating sugar-free products, then most of them
are going to be low-carb as well. That is the irony in this whole
debate about the demise of low-carb. It's not going anywhere. It's just
morphing into another name. But a rose is a rose is a rose...
Strong competition from delicious-tasting artificial sweeteners such as
Splenda has caused the sugar industry to panic in the past couple of
years. That's why they decided to sue the manufacturers of Splenda in
federal district court for alleged false advertising in December 2004
(they really didn't like Splenda's slogan "Made from sugar, so it
tastes like sugar"😉. Counsel for the Sugar Association said the
marketing campaign by Splenda was "misleading." In response to the
lawsuit against them, the makers of Splenda filed a countersuit against
the Sugar Association for setting up a web site designed to damage the
public image of their brand. This is a contentious fight to say the
very least.
I devote an entire chapter in my upcoming book to the subject of sugar
and its effect on your health. Anybody who tries to tell you that
eating sugar is healthy is trying to pull the wool over your eyes and
does not have the interest of your health in mind. There is no reason
for me to push this issue so hard other than my sincere and earnest
concern for the physical well-being of others who are like I was before
I started livin' la vida low-carb. Unlike sugar advocates who stand to
profit from the continued sale of sugary products, all I have is the
satisfaction of sharing with people how cutting sugar out of my diet
has restored my health and rescued me from disease and quite possibly
an early grave.
The end of the story cites an upcoming movie called Sugar Kings
featuring Hollywood actress Jodie Foster as director and possible
starring role. The Universal Pictures movie based on this article that
appeared in Vanity Fair is expected to be critical of the sugar
industry's treatment of migrant workers.
The poor little sugar industry is feeling so beat up these days. Awww.
How can we be so critical of something that tastes so sweet and is as
all-American and innocent as apple pie, baseball, and grandma? Why?
Because those of us who have struggled with our weight year after year
for the majority of our lives know the stronghold this substance has on
us physically and even emotionally. Eliminating sugar from my life has
been the best thing I could have ever done to get my weight under
control and to transform my body into the healthy existence it is in
today. This might just explain why there was such an all-out war
against low-carb this week. Do you think the Sugar Association has
enough influence in the media to make that happen? I think you know the
answer to that question. The great sugar debate of 2005 rages on...
posted by Jimmy Moore @ 8/06/2005 10:42:00 AM 0 comments
