By Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D.
Posted: Tuesday, September 19, 2000

LETTER
Publication Date: September 19, 2000

The Personal Health column "Added Sugars Are Taking a Toll on Health"( Sept. 12) highlights a significant problem with addressing nutritional issues in the United States.

It would be more productive to focus on positive messages to teach consumers about appropriate food choices, rather than emphasizing negative ones—although the latter make better headlines.

This, however, is what got us into the low-fat dead end. By telling people that fat is "bad," and that the way to lose weight is to eat low-fat foods, we diverted attention from the real issues: too many calories in and too few out in physical activity. Should we repeat this error by telling consumers that it's really the added sugar that's "bad"?

Labeling foods or ingredients as 'good' or 'bad' is simply an unhealthy red herring—it is quite possible to avoid added sugars and still have a poor diet!

Source Notes:  
Published in The New York Times—September 19, 2000