5 Myths We Need to Can About Soda Taxes - Why do politicians keep trying to tax your Coke?

Reason ^ | September 29, 2009 | Katherine Mangu-Ward

[neverdem]

Four out of five aint bad. "A calorie is a calorie." I used to think that too. I hate to be the skunk at the garden party, but that's not so. Biochemistry and physiology matter with fructose which increases the production of triglycerides.

Fructose facilitates the production of glycerol. One glycerol molecule and three fatty acid molecules will make one triglyceride molecule. It's spelled out nicely in this article:

Fructose, insulin resistance, and metabolic dyslipidemia

Figure 2
Hepatic fructose metabolism: A highly lipogenic pathway. Fructose is readily absorbed from the diet and rapidly metabolized principally in the liver. Fructose can provide carbon atoms for both the glycerol and the acyl portions of triglyceride. Fructose is thus a highly efficient inducer of de novo lipogenesis. High concentrations of fructose can serve as a relatively unregulated source of acetyl CoA. In contrast to glucose, dietary fructose does NOT stimulate insulin or leptin (which are both important regulators of energy intake and body adiposity). Stimulated triglyceride synthesis is likely to lead to hepatic accumulation of triglyceride, which has been shown to reduce hepatic insulin sensitivity, as well as increased formation of VLDL particles due to higher substrate availability, increased apoB stability, and higher MTP, the critical factor in VLDL assembly.

The high fructose corn syrup, HFCS, used in soft drinks is fifty five percent fructose and forty two percent glucose, so the liver is getting almost four parts fructose for ever three parts glucose. Besides the increasing prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes, there's a relatively new diagnosis called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that's been associated with the introduction of HFCS in the diet. PubMed will give you 555 citations when you enter fructose and fatty liver in its query box, IIRC. When you limit to human studies, you get 128 citations including 23 free, full access articles and 32 citations of review articles.

HFCS is not limited to soft drinks. Read the labels. It's in all three salad dressings that I just checked and catsup/ketchup. Surprisingly, Hellmann's mayonaise used sugar.

There's another HFCS used in food products, HFCS-44, meaning forty four percent fructose. It's used mainly in baked/cooked/processed solid foods.

Don't tax table sugar, aka sucrose, which is made of equal parts glucose and fructose. I'm OK with taxing the HFCS-55 to fund definitive studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as well as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Otherwise, just get fructose as it comes from nature, mostly fruit.

[hecht]

does Diet Coke get taxed?

[Huntress]

Two words: money grab.

[LearsFool]

Let ‘em!

Let ‘em tax the carbonation outta the stuff! Then all of America will see what life under a tyrant is like.

It took tax after oppressive tax to rile the colonists up enough to fight for freedom. Looks to me like it’ll take the same today. And the more widespread the tax, the quicker the resistance movement will reach critical mass.

The tyrants are making a colossal blunder by straying from their usual class-warfare divide-and-conquer strategy. But far be it from me to interrupt my enemy when he’s making a mistake.

[rigelkentaurus]

You know, it’s nobody’s business what I choose to eat and drink. Stay out of my life. If you want to avoid certain foods, that’s your business. If there are foods that I avoid, that’s my business. There is no role for a busy-body government or anyone else.

[Paradox]

Sillyness. HFCS is not much more F than table sugar, that is simply a fact. Its just another bogey man that (mostly lefties) latch on to, instead of blaming PEOPLE.

And yes, when it comes to getting fat, a calorie IS just a calorie. I know how Fructose works, and I've avoided it for 20 years now, since I read articles by Dan Duchaine about it. But HFCS is not THAT much worse than sucrose. Fact is, we should consume alot less of BOTH substances.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Today’s morality cops are less interested in your bedroom than your refrigerator.

[scooby321]

How do you Obama now Warren Buffett abd your 10 Billion investment in Coca Cola?

[1010RD]

Why would a free people ever want politicians, virtual strangers, to manage their lives?

Let me decide for myself and my family.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

What ?

[OpeEdMunkey]

Makes me wish I could deep-fry Coke in trans-fats.

Why doesn't O start with eliminating the ability of food stamps to pay for all of these bad foods.

[CriticalJ]

“Why do politicians keep trying to tax your Coke?”

More money to spend on entitlements?

[neverdem]

Sillyness. HFCS is not much more F than table sugar, that is simply a fact. Its just another bogey man that (mostly lefties) latch on to, instead of blaming PEOPLE.

It's 55 parts fructose to 42 parts glucose in HFCS-55. 56/42 = 4/3.(Hint: it's multiples of 14.) That's means fructose is almost one third more than glucose in HFCS-55.

But HFCS is not THAT much worse than sucrose.

What's your explanation for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease? You can't find it in medical books from over two decades ago. Now, they are predicting an epidemic of cirrhosis and a need for liver transplants.

[Tublecane]

Ah, so Science declares we should tax certain varieties of sweetener. And why stop there? Why not have federally-mandated meal plans, and just as a sop to pesky individualists, give people three options to choose from for each course. At least let’s not allow parents to dictate what their kids eat, thereby carrying bad habits into future generations. It’s For the Children!(/s)

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

That’s where they’re headed. Chips gone. Candy gone. Bacon (damn) gone. Get your soylent green here.

[neverdem]

Ah, so Science declares we should tax certain varieties of sweetener.

I'm suggesting just HFCS-55.

And why stop there?

Nothing else is as suspect for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

I’ m beginning to agree with you on the HFCS being bad but I adamantly disagree on justifying every two bit politician picking and choosing wich foods he wants to rail against to supply his addictive spending habits.

[elkfersupper]

Where were you on the smoking bans?

[HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity]

"does Diet Coke get taxed?"
2 posted on Thursday, October 01, 2009 8:19:28 PM by hecht

When they figure out what Aspartame really does they will.

[neverdem]

I’ m beginning to agree with you on the HFCS being bad but I adamantly disagree on justifying every two bit politician picking and choosing wich foods he wants to rail against to supply his addictive spending habits.

A HFCS-55 tax would only be temporary to fund a study or two. The cost of human studies wouldn't be cheap. If it's no worse than table sugar, so be it. If it harms the liver, ban it.

Two soft drinks a day may lead to long term liver damage