Scientists say sugar is as toxic as alcohol – and there should be a drinking age for soda

[RZM]

32. Of course not

Sugar has been enormously important in world history. And the main reason for it is that there's always been incredible demand for it. Sugar was known before the discovery of the New World, but was rare enough that only the wealthiest could afford it.

It's often forgotten that an important precursor to the European voyages of exploration and settlement in the 15th century were smaller-scale colonizations of Mediterranean and Atlantic islands. On a lot of these islands, sugar was planted and sold almost immediately.

Sugar is a major reason (one of the most important, if not THE most important) that blacks were imported as slaves to the New World. It's a labor-intensive crop and native slaves died too fast to be replaced (they also died in large numbers in the mines). It's not for nothing that the overwhelming majority of slaves imported to the New World ended up in Brazil, a major sugar area, and also on the sugar-producing islands in the Caribbean.

People love them some sugar. There's just no getting around it. Like anything, it's fine in moderation. But I can attest to that fact that as I kid, I absolutely loved soda and I drank it as much as I could. As soon as I got an allowance and could ride a bike, my friends and I were always going to the store to buy it. I've finally pretty much weaned myself off of it, but I still fall off the wagon every once in a while