'Sugar-free' scam: How scapegoating a pantry staple is ruining our health
Sugar has had a terrible few decades in public relations. Which is rich, considering sugar never hired a publicist or lobbied for its inclusion in 37 varieties of salad dressing.
Sugar was simply sitting there, being a carbohydrate, when an entire industry decided it made a more convenient villain than portion size, impulse control, or the more uncomfortable question of why a gas station sells a beverage the size of a toddler.
Fat was the villain in 1990. Americans loaded up on SnackWell's cookies and ate them by the sleeve.
Somewhere between the obesity panic of the 2000s and the clean-eating obsession of the 2010s, sucrose transformed from a pantry staple into a health and wellness villain on par with cigarettes and sloth.
Sugar, sugar
The human body runs on glucose. Your brain needs it. Your muscles prefer it. Sugarcane has been sweetening drinks in South Asia since roughly 350 A.D., and somehow humanity survived long enough to argue about it on social media.
The problem was never the molecule but the amount — 22 teaspoons a day, the American average, poured mostly into beverages people didn’t even register as meals. A single large fountain soda contains 17. A flavored coffee drink from any chain you can name contains more than that and comes with a cheerful barista who will spell your name wrong on the cup while handing you what is essentially a dessert with a lid.
That is a dosage problem. It got rebranded as a chemistry problem, and that rebranding sold a lot of diet soda.
Gut check
I learned this the hard way, via my own stomach. For about two years I swapped sugar for artificial sweeteners with the confidence of someone who had done exactly one Google search. Sucralose (commonly sold as Splenda) in my coffee. Stevia in everything else. The occasional sugar-free chocolate that tasted like sweetened cardboard, which I ate anyway, because suffering voluntarily is how adults signal virtue.
I was, by all the metrics I had invented for myself, being responsible. Then I started feeling bloated roughly 40 minutes after every meal — a persistent, uncomfortable fullness that no amount of walking around the block seemed to fix. And then came a specific, percussive kind of digestive discomfort that I will describe only as "audible." My fiancée noticed. I blamed the dog.
I cut the sweeteners on a Friday. By Sunday, the situation had resolved itself completely. The bowel-induced thunder had passed, the barometric pressure had normalized, and my fiancée stopped sleeping with the window open.
Metabolic mayhem
It turns out that I was ahead of the research for once in my life. A recent study examining the biological effects of common artificial sweeteners — sucralose and stevia, specifically — found that even quantities comparable to everyday human consumption altered gut microbiome composition in measurable ways.
The gut houses roughly 39 trillion microorganisms, meaning it contains more bacterial cells than human cells, a fact that raises serious questions about who, exactly, is running things. It regulates metabolism, modulates immune response, produces neurotransmitters, and sends chemical signals to the brain, influencing mood and appetite. The body is less a person than a committee, and the committee has opinions about your sweetener choices.
Disrupt the ecosystem, and you get disrupted systems downstream. The researchers found that beneficial compounds helping maintain metabolic health declined in subjects exposed to these sweeteners. In plain terms, the body became measurably worse at handling sugar, and it had not consumed any sugar to arrive there. The sweetener had taught the body a new dysfunction without any of the calories required to earn it.
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Sweet surrender
The findings on sucralose were particularly persistent. Researchers observed that its effects on gut bacteria and gene activity carried across multiple generations in animal studies. Offspring who had never consumed sucralose showed early signs of impaired glucose regulation — their bodies struggling with sugar metabolism as an inherited consequence of a parent's diet.
This is epigeneticism: the transmission of acquired biological traits through changes in gene expression rather than DNA sequence. Stevia's impacts were detectable but short-lived, fading rather than compounding. Neither result fits the marketing promise of a neutral, calorie-free pleasure. Both suggest that the quest to outsmart biology with chemistry has, predictably, run into biology itself.
Americans consume artificial sweeteners at scale. They are in diet drinks, protein bars, flavored yogurts, chewing gum, children's vitamins, and roughly half the products shelved in the "healthy" aisle of any grocery store. Meanwhile, rates of obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic disorders remain stubbornly high — exactly the conditions these products were engineered to help prevent. The sweeteners are not the sole explanation. But the idea that they carry zero metabolic consequences is no longer a position the evidence supports, and it was probably never as solid as the packaging implied.
The M-word
None of this requires burning your Splenda packets in the back yard, but the broader pattern is familiar enough to be dispiriting. Fat was the villain in 1990. Americans loaded up on SnackWell's cookies — fat-free, proudly labeled, stuffed with sugar — and ate them by the sleeve because the math seemed to check out. Sugar became the villain in 2010. Americans loaded up on artificially sweetened alternatives and called it progress.
The villain rotates on a roughly 20-year cycle. The processed food industry introduces the replacement, funds the science that endorses it, and collects the revenue while researchers spend the next decade figuring out what went wrong. Then a new villain is identified, a new replacement is launched, and somewhere a marketing team opens a bottle of champagne that probably contains aspartame.
The answer to every panic in that cycle was always moderation, a word so aggressively boring that it apparently requires a global dietary crisis every 10 years to get anyone's attention. It also means reframing what sugar actually is: not a poison to be eliminated but a pleasure to be savored, like good whiskey or compliments from your father. Save it for a nice piece of cake, a well-made dessert, the occasional spoon of honey stirred into morning tea with the uncomplicated satisfaction of someone who has stopped reading the label.
Acorn Bluff Farms: Pampered pigs yield 'Kobe beef' of pork
You are what what you eat eats. Try saying that in a hurry.
It’s a simple maxim, but one that guides me in my nutritional choices and in the advice I give to other people about improving their diet. If the meat and animal products you eat come from animals that live unhealthy, unhappy lives — if they’re stuffed full of poor-quality food they shouldn’t even be eating and housed in an unnatural environment — then you’re not going to derive as much benefit from those products as you should.
If you feed animals badly, you get a bad product. It’s that simple.
And why would you want that?
Animal welfare matters
Animal welfare matters not only because it determines the quality of the food you eat, but also because animals are sentient, feeling creatures who deserve moral consideration.
This doesn’t get said enough, actually, and there’s been a rather depressing tendency for so-called conservatives to pay little heed to the suffering of livestock or animals. This is part of a broader Philistine tendency on the right, I think, that reduces everything to economics and lines on a graph.
But of course it’s more economical to immobilize 10,000 chickens in a strip-lit warehouse instead of pasturing them on grass, in rather the same way it might seem economical to import your nation’s birth rates and undercut native labour with cheap foreigners at half the price — and of course they don’t unionize either!
A two-way pact
Domestication, which created cows and chickens and sheep and pigs as we know them, was a two-way pact, and we shouldn’t forget it. We got reliable, high-quality nutrition that didn’t have to be hunted on the plains and in the forests, at great risk to ourselves, and the animals got care and protection — including from other animals like wolves and bears and big cats.
The terms of this pact, and of man’s proper relation to nature more broadly, were given their most solemn expression in the book of Genesis, when God granted man “dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
By “dominion,” God didn’t mean, “You can do anything you want to these animals.” He meant, “You are the lord of these animals, and like every lord and his subjects, you have obligations to them. They are in your care. They are not to be abused or misused.”
I didn’t really intend this piece to be a bit of Biblical exegesis, but oh well — here we are.
But as I was saying, if you feed animals badly, you get a bad product. It’s that simple.
Farmed salmon 'toxic'
Take farmed salmon, for example. I think we all know we’re supposed to eat more oily fish to get those important omega-3s in our diet, but the truth is, farmed salmon may be one of the most toxic foods on the planet, and it’s all to do with how the fish are raised and in particular what they’re fed.
RELATED: Cattle rancher’s STARK warning: You'll only have meat 'as a treat'
Research has linked regular consumption of farmed salmon to diabetes and obesity. Mice fed farmed salmon gain twice as much weight as mice fed other foods. Farmed salmon has been shown to carry an enormous payload of harmful chemicals, which probably explains its obesogenic effects.
A 2004 study showed at least 13 different persistent organic pollutants in the flesh of farmed salmon and that levels of polychlorinated biphenyls — chemicals known to be carcinogenic and to cause hormonal disruption — were eight times higher in farmed salmon than wild. Two other kinds of carcinogenic chemicals — dioxins and polybrominated diphenyl ethers — have also been found in high concentrations in farmed salmon.
One of the main foods given to farmed salmon is eel and other fatty fish, which are chosen because of their high protein and fat content. The problem is that fatty fish readily accumulate harmful substances, many of which are lipophilic (attracted to fat) and get stuck in their fat stores. A lot of the fatty fish that go into fish feed are taken from the Baltic, one of the most heavily polluted seas on the planet, concentrating the waste of nine industrial nations. (In Sweden, fishmongers are legally required to warn customers of the health risks of consuming fish caught in the Baltic. I bet you didn’t know that.)
Pigs under pressure
The same is true of pigs and pork. Apart from chickens, pigs bear the greatest burden of suffering in the modern industrial farming system. If you want any further reason to pray for the Three Gorges Dam to fail, look up China’s multi-story pig farms, which have the capacity to house and slaughter millions of pigs a year.
We in the West aren’t much better, though. For the most part, pigs here are just as unhappy: cramped, stressed, stuffed full of cheap corn and soy to fatten them up for slaughter as quickly and economically — there it is, that word again — as possible.
That means atrocious misery and poor-quality pork and lard to boot. There’s been a lot of talk of putting away seed and vegetable oils and returning to healthy traditional animal fats like butter and tallow and lard, but lard from industrially raised pigs is anything but healthy or traditional. Because pigs don’t have a rumen — those magical multiple stomachs possessed by cows and sheep — if they’re fed trash like soybean oil, they can’t convert the fats in it to saturated fat. As a result, the fat content of the pork comes to resemble soybean oil, and you’ve got seed oil but it’s called lard. So it goes.
Meet Acorn Bluff
Thank God, then, for Acorn Bluff Farms, a family farm in the rolling bluff country of Louisa County, Iowa. The farm has been in continuous use for nearly 200 years, but in the last five years its owners have converted the farm to focus on producing the highest quality pasture-raised pork, using one of the world’s most prestigious heritage breeds: the Hungarian Mangalitsa.
Mangalitsa pigs were originally bred for the Habsburgs, the royal family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. You can recognize them by their absurdly cute curly hair. Since they were bred for European royalty, you can bet Mangalitsa pigs taste good. Some call Mangalitsa the “Kobe beef” of pork, Kobe beef being one of the priciest and most prized kinds of beef in the world. The cows are fed beer and given massages. (Really: Look it up.)
The other red meat
At Acorn Bluff Farms, the pigs and piglets are allowed to roam and forage and wallow in the mud and chase one another through the fields and forest like pigs and piglets should. Follow the farm’s Twitter account (@acornblufffarms) for regular heartwarming videos.
In the middle of the 20th century, pork began to be marketed as “the other white meat,” but this was only really possible because modern farming methods were turning pork into an insipid, watered-down, pale shadow of the meat it really is.
If you buy some pork chops or a side of spare ribs from Acorn Bluff Farms, you’ll see pork in its true form: the other red meat. And what’s more, you can enjoy every single mouthful, without guilt — which is how it should be, because God said so.
Why do we still fall for the 'Blue Zones' longevity scam?
The quest for longevity is as old as human history itself. Who doesn’t want to live a long, vibrant life, free of illness and full of vitality?
For the past two decades, people around the world have bought books, watched documentaries, and enrolled in wellness programs sold by the man they're convinced holds the key to postponing mortality.
'The shared characterization of blue zones seems to be poverty, a poor lifestyle, and pressure to commit pension fraud.'
He's Dan Buettner, the National Geographic explorer who's claimed to have found the fountain of youth in far-flung "Blue Zones" — places like Okinawa, Japan, and Loma Linda, California — boasting greater-than-average populations of people who live to be 100 and beyond.
By popularizing and packaging this concept under his own brand, Buettner has turned these Blue Zones into a veritable fountain of money.
However, there’s just one problem with Blue Zones, and it’s a rather big one. The entire concept is built on questionable claims and even more questionable research.
Blue Zones or BS?
Dr. Saul Newman, a no-nonsense data scientist, enjoys nothing more than tearing down the myth of Blue Zones, exposing them as little more than a glorified wellness scam. The acerbic academic's takedown is far more compelling than Buettner's feel-good narrative.
Newman’s work, which recently earned him an Ig Nobel — an award given for research that first makes people laugh and then think — delivers a clear-eyed critique, highlighting the many problems with Buettner's baby.
Newman tells Align that these zones are directly “linked to lifestyle ideas that do not resemble the lived experience or dietary intake of people who actually live there. The shared characterization of Blue Zones seems to be poverty, a poor lifestyle, and pressure to commit pension fraud.”
Fake ages
Newman points out the glaring statistical inconsistencies that Buettner conveniently glosses over.
For starters, in Okinawa, one of Buettner's poster-child regions, authorities have uncovered rampant abuse of the pension system. Many of the supposed centenarians were either dead or had faked their ages to cash in on benefits.
When these fraudulent records were corrected, the number of centenarians plummeted.
Similarly, in Ikaria, Greece, another so-called Blue Zone, investigations into pension fraud revealed that, surprise, many “centenarians” were nowhere to be found. In Costa Rica, meanwhile, Newman notes that "42% of centenarians were found to be lying about their age. Once corrections were made, Costa Rica’s old-age life expectancy plummeted from world-leading to near the bottom of the pack.”
You really can’t make this up. Unless you’re Buettner, of course.
But it gets worse.
Okinawa, far from being a land of longevity miracles, now has the highest obesity rate for young people in Japan, along with elevated mortality rates among middle-aged residents. So much for that magical diet of tofu and fish keeping everyone spry well into their golden years.
Buettner’s Blue Zones don’t even boast the longest lifespans in their respective countries. There are regions in Japan and Italy that far surpass Okinawa and Sardinia in terms of average life expectancy.
Plant-based put-on
Newman's critique doesn’t stop at just exposing fraudulent records and statistical misdirection. He also targets Buettner’s entire methodology, which is, at best, sloppy and, at worst, deliberately misleading.
Take Buettner's "revolutionary" Power 9, little more than a recycled wellness checklist, cloaked in the mystique of exotic locales and clever branding. His approach, while dressed up as innovative, merely parrots well-known health tips.
None of these ideas are new. Some are downright silly. He advocates for a plant-based diet. Recent research suggests that plant-based diets may in fact harm rather than help long-term health.
Veganism, the most extreme form of plant-based living (or dying), is linked to serious health risks, including nervous system damage, skeletal and immune dysfunction, blood disorders, and mental health issues — all stemming from critical micro and macronutrient deficiencies.
Many plant-based foods, including popular meat-free alternatives like sausages, burgers, and nuggets, are often marketed as healthy options, yet they fall into the category of ultra-processed foods.
Drinking and thriving?
Buettner regularly promotes daily alcohol consumption as part of his longevity blueprint. But according to Newman, “There’s no amount of drinking that’s actually good for you.” He’s right; there’s not. In other words, if your health strategy involves drinking a glass of wine every night because some centenarian in Sardinia supposedly does it, you might want to rethink things.
Buettner’s success isn’t due to the scientific validity of his ideas but rather their sheer marketability. People love the notion of ancient, hidden wisdom that unlocks the secret to a long, healthy life. Buettner has masterfully tapped into our fear of death, turning Blue Zones into a lucrative empire that now even sells citywide "community" health programs. Quite an achievement, considering the whole concept is based more on fiction than fact.
Back to basics
The reality is that good health doesn’t require a passport to a Blue Zone or adherence to some mystical set of lifestyle rules.
It’s pretty basic, actually: Eat well, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, spend time in nature, and stay connected with your community. These habits are backed by decades of solid research, not folklore repackaged by a car salesman with a very fine tan.
However, despite being thoroughly debunked by experts like Newman, the Blue Zone charade persists, moving forward like an unkillable zombie racewalker. Singapore — a nation currently grappling with an obesity crisis — has just been declared the latest addition to the zonal family.
If you're still tempted to buy into the Buettnerian fantasy, it’s important to remember that behind every self-help guru's success story lies at least one inconvenient truth. In this case, it’s that Blue Zones are a neatly packaged myth designed to sell you products, not prolong your life.
As Newman puts it, "If you want good health advice, don’t buy a self-help cookbook that puts other cultures through a blender. Go talk to your doctor."
Or, you know, a trusted friend. A pastor. A Haitian migrant. Literally anyone but Dan Buettner.
Can decriminalization fix America’s drug crisis?
It’s no secret America has a drug problem. Last year, there were more than 100,000 overdose deaths in America, largely attributed to fentanyl. Over the past few decades, American cities have struggled to grapple with this crisis. Instead of enforcing existing drug laws and cracking down on crime, some have chosen a different path: decriminalization.
Author and podcast host Christina Dent recently joined "Relatable" with Allie Beth Stuckey to advocate for the decriminalization of drugs as a solution to America’s growing addiction crisis. Dent pushes a “health-centered approach” as opposed to a “criminal justice approach.” The former, according to Dent, addresses the root cause of addiction, while the latter could do more harm than good.
Dent’s opinion was largely formed through her experience with her adopted son’s biological mom, who was an addict. Had her son’s biological mother been imprisoned for her drug use, Dent’s son never would have had a relationship with her, and incarceration would have done nothing to help her addiction.
It’s true that throwing drug users in jail does little to help their addictions and could even harm them due to the availability of drugs in prisons. However, the ambiguous definition of “decriminalization” paired with the troubling results seen in American cities that have attempted such policies raises questions about the efficacy and safety of going this route.
Take Oregon, for example. In 2020, voters overwhelmingly passed a resolution that decriminalized possession of hard drugs. Last month, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek (D) signed a bill that reversed this measure and re-criminalized possessing small amounts of hard drugs, making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. The original measure failed largely due to botched implementation of mental health and treatment services, sparks in overdoses due to fentanyl, increased homelessness, and worsening public drug use. A recent report shows Oregon is one of the top ten most dangerous states in the country — it’s hard to imagine public drug use did not play a part in Oregon’s worsening crime.
Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?
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