Summary and Analysis of The Case Against Sugar

Taubes takes the stance that even a little bit of sugar in our diets may be too much. Because sugar consumption has increased over the centuries, each subsequent generation may find it more difficult to undo the damage done.

Sugar activates the same pleasure centers in our brains as cocaine and heroin, but because it doesn’t cause the type of destructive behavior seen in alcoholics and drug users, we haven’t sought to study it as a drug.

Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar—Your Brain’s Silent Killers
by David Perlmutter

Coca-Cola was found to have donated $1.5 million to the Global Energy Balance Network, an organization that advises Americans to get more exercise to lose weight and worry less about calorie counting

The idea that sugar may be addictive is also validated by the experience of alcoholics and drug addicts who have found quitting their addiction is easier when they eat sugary food in its place.

Studies in rats and monkeys have shown that even when they are addicted to cocaine, within two days they will choose sugar water over cocaine.

our consumption of sugar over the centuries may have changed the species.”

Sugar and slavery went hand in hand from the earliest times.”

Sugar actually lights up the same center in the brain as nicotine, cocaine, heroin, and alcohol, and like other drugs, our bodies can become habituated to sugar and will require larger amounts to find satisfaction.

He describes how beginning in childhood we see sugar as a reward for good behavior, a demonstration of parental love, and a feature in celebrations like birthday parties. But sugar may have more in common with illicit drugs than we realize