04 Jan 2018 --- The idea that sugar could be a fundamental cause of the global obesity and diabetes epidemics, with health effects that go beyond just empty calories, deserves more serious consideration, argues journalist and author Gary Taubes in an essay published in The BMJ today. Sugar and the potential harmful effects of its consumption have come under intensifying scrutiny in recent times, with sugar taxes being implemented, or at least debated, in a number of countries this year and consumers increasingly opting for low sugar products. According to Taubes, efforts to improve our knowledge of the harmful effects of sugar should receive priority and consumers should be dissuaded from consuming it until uncertainties have been resolved.
