[andyk]

The individual liberty argument would have more weight if the health effects weren’t spilling over into society in the form of higher insurance premiums and a greater share of public dollars going to Medicare and Medicaid.

So you support more intrusive government because government has created a scenario where the public is now responsible for paying for a large portion of the public's health care. How nice. Let's punish everyone because some people don't care about themselves or take personal responsibility for their actions.

That logic is much like liberals who say that we have to make people have health care because otherwise they'll go to the emergency room. Well, who do you think wants to force hospitals to provide emergency care?

[erlayman]

Not everyone gains a lot of weight from over-indulging in sugar, but a large proportion of the U.S. population is eating enough of it that it’s having devastating health effects — not only in terms of obesity but in metabolic problems that can lead to diabetes and heart disease in normal weight people. And, yes, we all pay for Medicare and Medicaid and higher overall insurance premiums in much the same way that nonsmokers end up paying in part for health care for smoking related diseases.