To think that caffeine & sugar are drugs?

I talk to my kids about why we don’t eat too much sugar. I don’t use words like drug because they don’t really understand that concept but we talk about it in relation to teeth decay, weight, skin and then how to stay healthy with our diet.

They also know they aren’t allowed coffee and that I drink decaf at home. They are too young to understand but I agree caffeine is addictive. I had a friend who was drinking it excessively. She was buzzing around the office, didn’t sleep, was quite snappy. She couldn’t get through the morning without it.

Coffee certainly is a drug. Sugar isn’t: it’s a carbohydrate which an essential nutrient.

People have far too much refined sugar in their diet but it doesn’t follow from this that sugar is a drug.

I find it irritating when people push the idea that sugar is a drug: it’s a bit hysterical and it betrays a lack of basic science.

Refined white sugar certainly is something we need less of in our diets. But not everything has to be a drug to be bad for you. And not all drugs are automatically bad.

I also think you need to pick your battles: I am certainly a caffeine addict but it’s not having any tangible negative influence in my life: not damaging my health. I used to be a smoker so from my perspective life is too short to worry about weaning myself off an entirely benign addiction. As for sugar, yes I need to cut down (as do most people). But I don’t think making people feel like meth/heads for having an afternoon cookie is a constructive approach. People need to calm down a little bit about this.

?? It’s pretty well known that they are just that.

Classing these as drugs is unhelpful, but there’s evidence from Henry Dimbleby’s review that sugar tax is a beneficial concept.

What do you actually mean by sugar? Are you talking about only the refined sort that we make cakes, bread etc with? As sugars occur naturally in fruit and vegetables too. We don't need the refined stuff at all as it is a carbohydrate and there are lots of alternative carbs that aren't refined sugar. Sugar is habit forming but most sugar addiction trials have been done on rats and have then been generalised to humans with catchy headlines such as 'sugar more addictive than cocaine' etc which isn't realistic. I mean fruit contains sugar, would you ever describe yourself as addicted to fruit?

Caffeine doesn't have the same effect on the brain as drugs so people become caffeine dependent rather than addicted.

A drug is any chemical substancethat when consumed causes a change in an organism's physiology, including its psychology, if applicable. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and other substances that provide nutritional support.

Sugar is not a drug and is not addictive. Addictive has a particular meaning which is different to people like the taste so eat a lot of it. Sugar is also essential for your body.

Caffeine is a drug.

Sugar isn't a drug, but nor are gambling or pornography. All three can be addictive, though. Addictive means people become dependent on a substance/activity to avoid negative effects of withdrawal; commonly, this results in substance/activity-seeking behaviour displacing physiologically useful behaviour.

People become tolerant of certain levels of sweetness in food/drinks and begin to find less sweet tastes unpleasant, so they seek out things that will satisfy their desire for sweetness to the detriment of their intake of beneficial foods.

I presume fat and lack of exercise may contribute to weight?

Sugar no, caffeine not totally sure it is not heroin

UPFs are definitely addictive, that is the point of them. Listen to Ultra Processed People, it's brilliant.

I completely agree with you, op, and this is now where we are scientifically and it is the future.

The fact that excess sugar and poor eating habits cause anxiety can be really powerful knowledge for us.

Of all the problems with our society, this is the one that's really worrying you?

Sugar is not a drug and is not addictive. Addictive has a particular meaning which is different to people like the taste so eat a lot of it. Sugar is also essential for your body.

No, it isn't.

Which is what the Curriculum does. Whatever people think - caffeine is a drug. To say it’s not and deny it has a physiological impact (as many are doing) is wrong.

It really doesn’t matter what people think. Caffeine is scientifically a drug.

Caffeine certainly IS addictive.

No sugar isn't a drug it's what food is made from

Energy drinks are restricted in this country under 16. You need ID in Lidl.

However, lumping together energy drinks and the occasional coke or instant coffee (because they contain caffeine) is silly and counter productive to children who aren't stupid. Hence understanding what moderation is. Eating a whole bag of raisins everyday is also very bad for you.

Well technically yes they're drugs sugar is highly addictive and destructive

Not a proper research paper

being aware that coffee & cake aren’t completely neutral to your mood and that there are both positive and negative effects (which are dose-dependent).

That statement is entirely true of all foodstuffs and water, too.

Yes more so with my teenager who is now old enough to buy red bull and has a big sweet tooth. I found that sugar played a role in my mood and anxiety going up and down with the up and sugar crash due to the way I was eating chocolate and I’ve tried to talk about that