To think that caffeine & sugar are drugs?

Alcohol......enough said

Caffeine and sugar are not the problem.

It’s people’s relationship to caffeine and sugar that can be the problem.

The problem is based on body chemistry / dopamine.

People can get addicted to almost anything, gambling, video games, food in general, sex, even exercise etc.

Many people who do get addicted to things often simply switch their addiction when they wean themselves off one thing.

I would say that both caffeine and sugar are addictive to a point, but only caffeine could be considered close-ish to being considered a drug (I personally dont think that it is, but tell that to the massive withdrawal headaches I get if I dont have any)

Personally, of all the things to talk to kids about, they would be low on my list.

I have tried and tried and tried to give up sugar. I can for weeks on end then of if I have a bite of something the kids have baked I then totally fall off the wagon and feel like an addict who then has to eat ALL the sugar. I then find it very hard to resist in fact I become obsessed by thoughts of sugar.

This reminds me of me so much of ceasing smoking 30 years ago.

I believe sugar is a very powerful drug.

It gives me migraines and all carbs including sugar make me bloated and I would love to never eat them again.

White Sugar sandwiches (on white break) were a thing in the 1970s. I used to quite like them. Frank McCourt talks about them as a common snack he was given in rural 1930s Ireland.

And then there was Kelloggs Frosties cereal... with sugar sprinked on top if you liked.

I used to eat those things plenty & yet it wasn't difficult to stop. Maybe I lack an addictive gene.

Can't say I've ever seen anyone binging on white sugar! Corn syrup combined with fat and flavouring - now you're talking!

Of course caffeine is a drug, probably the most popular drug ever used. It’s a psychoactive substance. That’s why we consume it.

Sugar isn’t a drug, it’s just a simple carbohydrate.

You just sound confused to be honest so I'm going to bow out!

Not half as odd as your own argument, OP.

You started a thread with a title that was always going to be controversial, claiming that sugar should be seen as a drug.

Obviously, this is going to be interpreted as demonising sugar and implying that sugar is evil.

I'm not sure how else you wanted people to interpret your thread title, unless you only titled it that way to get clicks.

You then backtracked and then said you actually only wanted to talk about caffeine, which everyone knows is a drug - a very mild stimulant which is legal. So any debate about whether or not caffeine is a drug is a non-starter. We all know that it is.

Your actual point, whatever it is, is getting very jumbled here.

No it isnt

You couldn't be more wrong on all of the above! Both are 💯 addictive.

I've given up both caffeine and refined sugar just recently and the difference to my general health, mood and weight has truly been an eye opener - as have caffeine withdrawals, which I didn't know were a thing... until I experienced them.

Every single thing we eat or drink will contain chemicals which have an effect on our bodies. Some people eat or drink too much of some things, and their bodies bear the brunt of it. That's their lookout.

It's not as if the information isn't out there. People need to take responsibility for their own actions, and what they feed their kids.

Sugar isn't 'bad'. What's bad for you is stuffing your face with foods that contain a lot of it. And kids shouldn't really be drinking stuff loaded with caffeine anyway.

I've once read that casein in cheese is 100x more addictive, than heroin. That might well be true, but printing warning labels on cheese would be step too far...

Clearly not as woeful as nutrition education, judging by some comments on here. Probably due to nutrition being mainly 'taught' by non-specialists, if it's taught at all.

Yes, sometimes it can take longer, particularly if you’re sensitive (maybe I should keep adding a disclaimer). I never stated it was the same as hard drugs and alcohol, maybe you were thinking of another poster?

caffeine withdrawal tends to wear off in a couple of days, it is quite manageable, not like withdrawal to hard drugs or alcohol, etc.

Good for you. Obviously you weren’t sensitive to it, I guess you missed that part.

So where is all the historical data of sugar addiction?

I switched to decaff and didn't have any withdrawal symptoms.

White sugar is massively addictive.

If you are going to go down that bat shit road then you'll need to teach them that bread and potato are drugs too because they're all starches and molecularly dealt with the same way in the body.

Yes, sugar causes the release of opioids and dopamine in the brain and people get addicted to the feel good factor that brings not the sugar itself however, that is not the same way the brain reacts to drugs like cocaine.

Nonsense

There is no evidence that Sugar is addictive other than in scaremongering books that misquote research

Christ on a bike, science education in this country is woeful.