Bittersweet Sugar

Ah Sugar, the sugar to my tea, the sugar to my honey (if that’s how the song goes).  Everybody loves sugar, the sweetness added to your tea in the morning, the feeling that it gives you when you consume it, like when you have some candy, even, it makes you feel happy.  But like they say, too much of anything can make you sick, even the good stuff can be a curse, and that’s why sugar is one of the most worst offenders for your health, and one of the biggest demons in society.

There are so many reasons why sugar is bad for you.  You must know by now that sugar causes type 1 and type 2 diabetes when consumed regularly… or the fact that it causes tooth decay, or even some known cancers.  Even though sugar is one of the main sources needed in our diet, it can be extremely addictive, like nicotine for example, but it can be relatively safe, if consumed in the correct manner.

According to doctors, it has been found that sugar does not really contain any health benefits.   Despite sugar being natural and extracted from sugar cane, which is grown, it does not have health benefits due to it being an additive and the fact that sugar causes you to consume empty calories.   Empty calories is when you eat food of which does not contain any good forms of nutrients.   On top of this, since sugar contains empty calories, this also gives you a chance to gain a lot of weight when consuming sugar.  This is because sugar has an addictive side.  It can have an impact on your brain and your hormones begin to change as a result.  Fructose, according to officials, has been said to not give the brain satiety or lower the hunger hormone.   If the sugar is not burnt of when doing any exercise, it then stores in the stomach and becomes fat, leading you onto gain weight as a result.

There have been many tactics by the government to  decrease the amount of sugar consumed by British people.  One of the main sources of sugar intake comes from what we love, and they are our beloved sugary drinks.  On average, the everyday British person who consumes sugary drinks on a regular basis has been said that they are able to drink up to more than a bathtub’s worth of the liquid.  In 2016, Finance minister Pravin Gordhan proposed a sugar tax in the 2016 February Budget speech, which means that sugary drinks were going to have added tax due to their sugar content.  In response to this, many companies, such as IRN Bru, Ribena, and Lucozade significantly cut out half of the sugar from their recipes, while other companies, such as Coca Cola and Pepsi in the United Kingdom, were going to have their drinks taxed.  

Other countries, such as America, California to be exact, have debated on whether adding health warnings to sugary drinks.  This would be a good effort to help the obesity epidemic in America, according to WHO.  However, due to sugary drinks having warnings, this warning would only apply to some drinks, some of them being Coca Cola and Pepsi, since they are the worst offenders when it comes to sugar, chemicals and caffeine.  There have been debates whether these warnings will or won’t work, who knows, its a matter of a try.

 

Plain Packaging – is it really working?

Tobacco smoking has been around for a very long time, the so called ” habit ” which was once a form of fashion back in the 1950s/60s, has now become one of the most cancerous risks of society, putting thousands of pounds worth of pressure onto the British NHS.  Ever since 20th May 2017, all cigarettes, regardless of the flavour or taste, have been sold in drab olive green pantone 448c coloured plain packaging to curb people of the habit, including children who are at risk of starting smoking.   Government officials introduced plain packaging as they want to cut down the smoking rates, help smokers quit, and not give people, even children, the excuse to start.

Plain packaging is one of the biggest changes in cigarette packaging in the UK since 2003, when larger health warnings, one of them being ” Smoking Kills “, was placed in front and on the back of a packet, previously having smaller warnings on the bottom of the packaging.  Despite smoking being extremely hazardous to ones health, even I, the writer of this article, is one of your average everyday smoker’s and enjoys a cigarette, but this article isn’t about me, so let’s cut to the chase – has plain packaging actually worked ever since it has come into force?  Lets find out.

According to most health officials, plain packaging has been working ever since it’s introduction.  The legal requirements for cigarette sales are that tailored cigarettes are to be sold in no less than 20 sticks and for rolling tobacco, no less than 30 grams.  This means that young people are no longer able to buy 10 cigarettes nor are they able to buy no less than 30 grams of tobacco, an Amber Leaf 12.5g pack, for example.  Doing this has managed to curb the amounts of people smoking and has known to hit the most poorest smokers hard, due to the fact they now have to cash out more for a packet of 20 cigarettes, instead of their usual packet of 10.  On top of this, the word ” Menthol ” has been banned from being placed on cigarette packets due to the attractiveness of the word, so instead, Menthol cigarettes are now known by their colour, Green(JPS Menthol to JPS Green, for example). Some people, however, have said that plain packaging should have never been introduced as it may have some unintentional risks.  One of these risks are the rise in the sale of counterfeit or contraband tobacco products, which are even more harmful than the regulated ones, putting even more people at risk, and since their prices are cheap, children are more likely to get their hands on them much more easily.

 

Above all of that, I then went ahead to ask some people on their opinion’s on whether plain packaging has worked, or their thoughts on the subject.

Melanie, aged 50, a non smoker, ” Even though I am a non-smoker, if I saw for example a packet of cigarettes lying on the floor or somebody may have left them on the table, I look at it and it actually makes me feel physically sick, because I cannot bear looking at the photographs of the effects that smoking does to you.  It is extremely off-putting and it makes me feel quite sick inside, so I agree that plain packaging has been a success “.

Ashley, aged 16, a smoker, ” I don’t think plain packaging is helping the amount of people cut down smoking.  All the packaging does it scare people, but I don’t think it will stop people starting or stopping, because people are still going to smoke regardless of the packaging.  In my opinion, it doesn’t matter what’s on the outside, the cigarettes will still be the same on the inside “.

Simone, aged 36, an ex-smoker, ” As an ex-smoker, plain packaging may work for people who have never smoked in their lives, so they may be put off by the pictures on the packaging, but for someone who has smoked, they wouldn’t necessarily care as they already know of the damage being done to their bodies “.

 

Along with all smokers, ex smokers, and non smokers opinions, plain packaging has already been implemented in countries such as France, Norway, Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand.  Originally, the United Kingdom got the idea from Australia as the Australian government had introduced plain packaging back in 2012, and had cut smoking rates down to almost 12%.

So, has smoking been cut down, or are people still going to do it?  I guess we’ll have to leave this one to the future.

 

 

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!  Hello and welcome to my day to day blog.  My name is Tobias Benjamin and I will be talking about my everyday thoughts, maybe once or even two times a week, maybe even more.  I will be writing my opinions, but also explaining others, on all kinds of subjects, whether they are sensitive, or even generally talked about in everyday life.  I hope you enjoy exploring my blog!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton