Public Comment
New: Disgusted!
Editor's Note: We usually avoid publishing articles that purport to give medical advice since we can't vouch for the credentials of the author. We're making an exception in the case of opinions on Berkeley Measure D, since it's a political question that embeds medical judgments within it, but we advise readers not to rely on opinion writers for health advice, but to consult a doctor.
I am thoroughly disgusted with your editorial about Prop D in Berkeley.
The issue that cinches the deal in favor of D is obesity, not sugar per se. Comparing drinking soda to eating a white flour bagel or drinking a latte at Peet's really shows your ignorance about the issue.
When a person eats food, even junky food, the body knows that calories have been consumed and the person feels full and satisfied because there is solid food in the stomach. When a person drinks soda, because it is liquid, the body does not have any feeling of fullness that comes with all food. So they eat food in the same quantity as if they had never taken in the calories of the soda.
If soda were drunk as an occasional treat, the body's inability to register the calories absorbed by drinking it would not be a big deal. But there are people who drink multiple sodas a day and a tax is totally appropriate to curb that behavior. Soda really is an evil when it comes to obesity. In Richmond, where I live, the percentage of children that are overweight is close to half.
In addition, the research is solid about sugar consumption increasing the rate of heart attacks, strokes, and cancer. Your complaints and attacks on that research make you sound like somebody from a tobacco company defending cigarettes.
If Prop D was about taxing sugar in all substances and not sodas, your contrarianism would make sense because very few of us are perfect when it comes to a healthy diet. But it is a tax on sodas and not sugar. If you are going to set yourself up as an expert with an editorial, get your facts straight. Instead, you went off half-cocked with some incorrect assumptions. What a waste of pixels.
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Regarding humanity's impact on the Earth: “My grief is beyond healing, my heart is sick within me.” (Jeremiah 8:18)
