【分析解答题】

Should SugarBe Regulated likeAlcohol and Tobacco Sugar poses enough health risks that it should be considered a controlled substance just like alcohol and tobacco, argue a team of researchers from the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco(UCSF).In an opinion piece called "The Toxic(毒性的)TruthAbout Sugar" published FeB、1 in Nature, Robert Lustig, Laura Schmidt andClaireBrindis argue that it’s wrong to consider sugar just "empty calories."They write: "There is nothing empty about these calories.

A、growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose(果糖)can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases.
A、little is not a problem, but a lot kills-slowly."Almost everyone’s heard of-or personally experienced-the well-known sugar high, so perhaps the comparison between sugar and alcohol or tobacco shouldn’t come as a surprise.But it’s doubtful thatAmericans will look favorably upon regulating their favorite vice. We’re a nation that’s sweet on sugar: the average US adult downs 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to theAmerican HeartAssociation, and surveys have found that teens swallow 34 teaspoons.To counter our consumption, the authors advocate taxing sugary foods and controlling sales to kids under 17.Already, 17% of US children and teens are obese(肥胖的).and across the world the sugar intake(摄人)has increased three times in the past 50 years. The increase has helped create a global obesity plague that contributes to 35 million annual deaths worldwide from noninfectious diseases including cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Linda Matzigkeit, a senior vice president atChildren’s Healthcare, said "We have to do something about this or our country is in danger. It’s not good if your state has the second-highest obesity rate. Obese children turn into obese adults.""There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats. good amino acids(氨基酸) and bad amino acids," Lustig, director of the WeightAssessment for Teen andChild Health program at UCSF, said in a statement. "But sugar is toxic beyond its calories."The food industry tries to imply that "a calorie is a calorie." says KellyBrownell, director of the RuddCenter for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. "But this and other research suggests there is something different about sugar," saysBrownell.The UCSF report emphasizes the metabolic(新陈代谢的)effects of sugar.Excess sugar can alter metabolism, raise blood pressure, affect the signaling of hormones and damage the liver ---outcomes that sound suspiciously similar to what can happen after a person drinks too much alcohol. Schmidt. co-chair of UCSF’sCommunityEngagement and Health Policy program. noted onCNN: "When you think about it. this actually makes a lot of sense.Alcohol, after all. is simply made from sugar. Where does vodka come from Sugar."But there are also other areas of impact that researchers have investigated: the effect of sugar on the brain and how liquid calories are interpreted differently by the body than solids. Research has suggested that sugar activates the same reward pathways in the brain as traditional drugs of abuse like morphine or heroin. No one is claiming the effect of sugar is quite that strong, but, saysBrownell, "it helps confirm what people tell you sometimes, that they hunger for sugar and have withdrawal symptoms when they stop eating it."There’s also something particularly tricky about sugary drinks. ’When calories come in liquids, the body doesn’t feel as full,"saysBrownell. "People are getting more of their calories than ever before from sugared drinks."Other countries, including France, Greece andDenmark, impose soda taxes, and the concept is being considered in at least 20 US cities and states. Last summer, Philadelphia came close to passing a 2-cents-per-ounce soda tax. The RuddCenter has been a strong advocate of a more modest 1-cent-per-ounce tax.But at least one study from 2010,