This page explores the impact of sugar and sugar corporations on human health.

Out of Eden: A Christian Study and Action Guide to Food and the Environment

A practical Study and Action Guide for use by small groups discussion or personal reflection. The guide covers topics that are actionable on the personal and policy levels: sugar’s impact on our bodies and sugar corporations’ truth-telling and accountability, corn and corn subsidies creating over-supply, plastic and its biological impact on animals and humans, the true cost of meat in terms of soil depletion and air pollution, and food waste and the practices which can diminish it.

National Geographic Society, The Plantation System.  National Geographic, date unknown.  Educational material for grades 5 - 8.  “This article describes the plantation system in America as an instrument of British colonialism characterized by social and political inequality. It links the agricultural prosperity of the South with the domination by wealthy aristocrats and the exploitation of slave labor.”

Moon-Ho Jung, Coolies and Cane: Race, Labor, and Sugar in the Age of Emancipation. Johns Hopkins University Press | Amazon page, Sep 2008.

Heather Whipps, How Sugar Changed the World.  Live Science, Jun 2, 2008.  A very good detailed political and economic history of sugar in North America.

Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom: Hawaii's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings and America's First Imperial Adventure. Atlantic Monthly Press | Amazon page, Jan 2012.  On sugar companies and U.S. imperialism

The Outpost, Dominican Republic: Modern Day Sugarcane Slavery.  Wilder Utopia, Jan 26, 2014.

Brent Staples, A Fate Worse Than Slavery, Unearthed in Sugar Land. New York Times, Oct 27, 2018.  "Bodies of sugar cane workers recently discovered in Texas reveal gruesome details about the convict leasing system"; see also Michael Hardy, Blood and Sugar. Texas Monthly, Jan 2017.

Khalil Gibran Mohammed, The Barbaric History of Sugar. New York Times Magazine, Aug 14, 2019.  “The sugar that saturates the American diet has a barbaric history as the ‘white gold’ that fueled slavery”. See also interview by Judy Woodruff, Before Cotton, Sugar Established American Reliance on Slave Labor. PBS, Aug 22, 2019.

Ana Swanson, U.S. Blocks Dominican Republic Sugar Imports, Citing Forced Labor.  New York Times, Nov 23, 2022.  “An import ban targets sugar from Central Romana Corporation, a behemoth whose sugar is sold under the Domino brand.”

Amy Goodman, Juan Gonzalez, and Juan Carlos Dávila, "Modern Form of Slavery": Haitians at Dominican Sugar Plantations Work Under Inhumane Conditions. Democracy Now, Aug 30, 2023.

The Sugar Science (website)

Institute for Responsible Nutrition (website)

Wholesome Goodness Productions, Fed Up. Wholesome Goodness Productions, 2002.  documentary and trailer

Joan Ifland, Sugars and Flours: How They Make Us Crazy, Sick, and Fat and What to Do About It. AuthorHouse | Amazon page, Jul 2003.

Natasha Campbell-McBride, Gut and Psychology Syndrome: Natural Treatment for Autism, ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Depression, Schizophrenia. Medinform Publishing | Amazon page, Sep 2004.

Robert Lustig, Sugar: The Bitter Truth. University of California TV, 2009.  An excellent 90 min video, about sugar and why we should avoid fructose and summary by Underground Wellness, Sugar: The Bitter Truth. Underground Wellness, Jan 28, 2011.  A 10 min video.

Underground Wellness, On Why We Ought to Avoid Fruit Juice.  Underground Wellness, May 8, 2008.  A 5 min video summary

Gary Taubes, Is Sugar Toxic? New York Times, Apr 13, 2011.

Robert Lustig, Laura A. Schmidt, and Claire D. Brindis, The Toxic Truth About Sugar. Nature, Feb 2, 2012.

Gary Taubes, Big Sugar's Sweet Little Lies. Mother Jones, Nov/Dec 2012.

Eric Schlosser, The Dark Side of Fast Food: Why Does It Make You Sick, Fat, Tired, and Taste So Good? Film Archives video, 2013.  lecture about his book Fast Food Nation. Mariner Books | Amazon page, Mar 2012.

Dr. Dwight Lundell, World Renowned Heart Surgeon Speaks Out on What Really Causes Heart Disease. My Science Academy, Aug 19, 2012.

Whole Body Research, Infection Warning. Whole Body Research, 2013.  On the politics of sugar, artificial sweeteners, candida

Michael Moss, The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. New York Times, Feb 20, 2013.

Credit Suisse, Sugar: Consumption at a Crossroads. Credit Suisse, Sep 2013.  An investment bank that is calling for taxation on sugar to discourage consumption

Robert Lustig, Fat Chance: Fructose 2.0. University of California TV, Oct 18, 2013.  A 90 minute video, part 2 of Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Mark Hyman, Fat Does Not Make You Fat; Sugar Does. Huffington Post, Nov 26, 2013.

Robert Lustig, Sugar - The Elephant in the Kitchen. TEDtalk, Dec 17, 2013.  22 minute video summarizing Fat Chance: Fructose 2.0

World Truth Society, Simply Raw Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days. World Truth Society, 2013.  documentary

Brooke McLay, You'll Stop Eating Sugar After Reading This Post. Babble blog, Feb 18, 2014.

Reese Halter, Fed Up Spotlights the American Sugar Epidemic. Huffington Post, May 24, 2014.  about the documentary Fed Up

Gretchen Goldman, Dear Surgeon General: We're Fed Up, Let's Act on Sugar. Huffington Post, Jul 1, 2014.

John Oliver, Sugar. Last Week Tonight, Oct 26, 2014.

Science Channel, National Geographic, The Secrets of Sugar. Science Channel, 2015.  documentary

Barbara Sadick, Scientific Team Sounds the Alarm on Sugar as a Source of Disease. Medical Press, Jan 2, 2015.

Ben Farmer, Jamie Oliver: Sugar Can Destroy Lives and Should Be Taxed Like Tobacco. The Telegraph, Jan 3, 2015.

Katie Bratskeir, What’s The Difference Between Sugar And High Fructose Corn Syrup? Huffington Post, Apr 1, 2015.

Carolyn Gregoire, This is What Sugar Does To Your Brain. Huffington Post, Apr 6, 2015.

John Tozzi and Jeremy Scott Diamond, The World is Getting Fatter and No One Knows How to Stop It. Bloomberg, Apr 6, 2015.

Robert H. Lustig, Sugar in Food Is Poorly Labeled, and the Industry Likes It That Way. Los Angeles Times, Mar 20, 2015.

Tina Rosenberg, How One of the Most Obese Countries on Earth Took on the Soda Giants. The Guardian UK, Nov 3, 2015.  On Mexico's tax on sugar

Tom Lochner, Berkeley: First-in-Nation Soda Tax Begins to Show Results. San Jose Mercury News, Nov 19, 2015.  Taxing 1 cent produces 20% drop in consumption during first summer, 2015

Jed Smith, Scientists Think They Know Why Romans Had Perfect Teeth–One Thing Was Missing from Their Diet. Independent Journal Review, Mar 20, 2016.  Sugar was missing.

Ian Leslie, The Sugar Conspiracy. The Guardian UK, Apr 7, 2016.  On the British scientist who sounded the alarm in 1972.

Aubrey Allison, As More Cities Eye Soda Tax, Industry Vows To Fight New Tax in Philadelphia. NPR, Jun 17, 2016.

Amy Reichelt, This Is Your Brain On Sugar. TEDxYouth@Sydney, Jun 29, 2016.

Julia Belluz and Javier Zarracina, We Need to Call American Breakfast What it Often Is: Dessert. Vox, Jul 11, 2016.

Gina Kolata, Skinny and 119 Pounds, but With the Health Hallmarks of Obesity. New York Times, Jul 22, 2016.

Eliza Barclay, Julia Belluz, and Javier Zarracina, It’s Easy to Become Obese in America.  These 7 Charts Explain Why. Vox, Aug 31, 2016.

Georgia Ede, Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease Is Easier Than You Think. Psychology Today, Sep 7, 2016.  Alzheimers linked to insulin resistance and sugar

Anahad O'Connor, How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat. New York Times, Sep 12, 2016.  And Melissa Bailey, Sugar Industry Secretly Paid for Favorable Harvard Research. Stat News, Sep 12, 2016.

David Singerman, The Shady History of Big Sugar. New York Times, Sep 16, 2016.

Elizabeth Robertson, Big Sugar Spent $67 Million to Block Beverage Taxes Nationwide. Philadelphia Inquirer, Sep 23, 2016.

Yahoo News, I Gave Up Sugar For 6 Weeks In An Attempt To Improve My Mental Health. Yahoo, Sep 24, 2016.

Alessandro R. Demaio, Sugar Tax is Not Nanny State, It's Sound Public Policy. The Conversation, Oct 12, 2016.

Thomson Reuters, Soda Tax 'More Powerful Than Anything I've Ever Seen'. CBC News, Oct 28, 2016.

Deena Shanker, How Sugar Helped Hook America on Cigarettes. Bloomberg, Dec 9, 2016.

The Economist, Why Sugar is Bad for You. The Economist, Dec 15, 2016.

Gary Taubes and Pam Weintraub, The Case Against Sugar. Aeon, Dec 22, 2016.  Sugar is a toxic agent that creates conditions for disease.

Robert Lustig, Sugar is the Alcohol of the Child, Yet We Let It Dominate the Breakfast Table. Guardian, Jan 4, 2017.

Julia Belluz, The Case for Eliminating Sugar.  All of It. Vox, Jan 6, 2017.

Lisa Drayer, One-Month Sugar Detox: A Nutritionist Explains How and Why. CNN, Jun 9, 2017.

Theresa Bebbington, Higher Sugar Intake Linked to Depression in Men. Medscape, Jul 31, 2017.

Anahad O'Connor, Sugar Industry Long Downplayed Potential Harms. New York Times, Nov 21, 2017.

Jody Stanislaw, Sugar is Not a Treat. TEDxSunValley, Dec 12, 2017.  Stanislaw is a naturopathic doctor who has diabetes type 1, and explains diabetes type 2 very clearly and simply. She gives very helpful steps to reduce sugar intake.

Julia Belluz, The Case for a Junk Food Tax. Vox, Jan 17, 2018.

James Gallagher, Ultra-Processed Foods 'Linked to Cancer'. BBC, Feb 15, 2018.

Rebecca Renner, Can Florida's Toxic Algae Be Stopped? CityLab, Jul 18, 2018.  See also Mark Perry, Time for Sugar to Clean Up Its Own Pollution. Bull Sugar, Mar 1, 2018.

S.V. Date, Red Tide and Blue-Green Algae Could Block Rick Scott’s Path To The Senate. Huffington Post, Sep 11, 2018.

Laura M. Holson, Infants and Toddlers Eat Too Much Sugar, Researchers Say. New York Times, Nov 14, 2019.  “Using C.D.C. data, researchers found that 98 percent of toddlers and 60 percent of infants consumed added sugar in sweetened drinks, baked goods and snacks.” 

Dan Charles, America Will Import More Sugar This Year Than It Has In 4 Decades. NPR, Dec 11, 2019.  discusses sugar tariff policies which are designed to protect domestic sugar companies

Julia Belluz, Processed Foods Are a Much Bigger Health Problem Than We Thought. Vox, Jan 2, 2020.  “They’ve been linked to disease and overeating. Could our microbiome explain why?”

Laura Reiley, A Common Artificial Sweetener Might Be Making You Fatter and Sicker, a New Study Says. Washington Post, Mar 10, 2020.  “Sucralose in conjunction with carbohydrates may blunt the body’s ability to metabolize sugar appropriately.” This study needs to be replicated, but indicates that a calorie is not a calorie; the chemical composition of food matters.

Marlene Cimons, Why Starchy Processed Food Causes Us to Overeat, Gain Weight and Become Ill. Washington Post, Apr 11, 2020.

Sally Wadyka, The Link Between Highly Processed Foods and Brain Health. New York Times, May 4, 2023.

“Roughly 60 percent of the calories in the average American dietcome from highly processed foods. We’ve known for decades that eating such packaged products — like some breakfast cereals, snack bars, frozen meals and virtually all packaged sweets, among many other things — is linked to unwelcome health outcomes, like an increased risk of diabetes, obesity and even cancer. But more recent studies point to another major downside to these often delicious, always convenient foods: They appear to have a significant impact on our minds, too.”