• @JollyG
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      841 year ago

      That is really just a map of poverty.

        • @JollyG
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          21 year ago

          Meh, its not a perfect correlation (and the time series for the poverty map and the diabetes map are different), but most chronic diseases tend correlate with poverty pretty well. You should look at a map of obesity. It follows the same form.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            Nah, that’s actually a my bad for not getting my point across. Looking back on my comment: I know I was trying to commend you, but I must’ve gave up on trying, because it fell completely flat (Not to just you, but to me too when I reread my reply). Dunno where my head was when I posted it, but I can see that I stopped trying at some point and just hit “send”

            The reason I commented to your post at all was because my first reaction was, “holy shit, that’s so specifically accurate and funny at the same time… how was this person seeing a fucking heat map, and able to respond with their own map, that is both wildly accurate and hilarious, given the context”.

            So I scoured the maps, because I wanted to commend you and also try and be as witty. Hawaii was one of the only (obvious) differences I could find (which makes sense when talking about diabetes and poverty)… but then idk what I did. Just literally gave up on being clever and posted a “spot the difference” comment

            So yeah, doesn’t much matter in the grand scheme of things, but I still wanted to let ya know just in case… I thought your comment of the map was surprisingly astute, and I was kinda flabbergasted that it seemed like you just had that on standby. Like you were just waiting for this moment your whole freaking life, and then pulled that very specifically accurate map out of your ass, as soon as it was relevant.

            My comment fell flat on it’s face, because it truly couldn’t be topped. And I think I must’ve gotten distracted and gave up on my response, because the only thing I really wanted to convey was… fucking brava my friend. That was some S-tier shit you dropped; and so casually too. It wasn’t necessarily news to me, but hot damn if it wasn’t quick.

            My original comment should’ve just been “you win” or some shit like that, but I failed on both ends to get that across

            So very much so… holy hell friend bwahahahaha!!! Well fucking done (and pardon my language). But that was the very definition of “under-rated comment” to me. My applause to you

      • @[email protected]
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        101 year ago

        I’m going to look at how poverty is defined. You just gave me an idea for my grad school program.

    • @psud
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      161 year ago

      Sugar should be heavily taxed, it’s so dangerous at rates of more than 10 grams a day

      • @MercuryUprising
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        471 year ago

        It should be taxed on the corporate side. Taxing sugar on the consumer side becomes a poor tax, because poor people will still want sweets from time to time, making those treats now more and more expensive. Well off people will just accept the tax because it’s marginal to them, but when your chocolate bar that you treat yourself to once a week goes from 1.29 to 3.29, then it really fucks your day up.

        What should be done is incentives to provide less sugar/glucose-fructose on the product side and encourage companies to make snacks and beverages that have less sugar content.

        • @[email protected]
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          161 year ago

          It doesn’t make a difference which side you tax. If consumers are taxed then corporations will still feel it through reduced demand for their product. If corporations are taxed, consumers will still feel it through increased prices. The tax burden does not depend on who is taxed, but rather how elastic supply and demand are.

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              It literally doesn’t. The price is the same either way. Reduced demand from the higher tax makes it so producers will lower prices. This is really basic microeconomics.

              From Wikipedia: “tax burden does not depend on where the revenue is collected, but on the price elasticity of demand and price elasticity of supply”

              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_incidence

              • @[email protected]
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                11 year ago

                Reduced demand from the higher tax makes it so producers will lower prices.

                I have never once seen this happen… i just see prices rise

        • @DrRatso
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          91 year ago

          Wouldn’t the price go up irrespective of which side you tax it on? Obviously if this is a megacorp, they could spread it out over unrelated products, but in the end its not like theyll roll over, take the corporate tax and leave the product at the old price. Is it being a poor tax even that bad of a thing? This is not a necessity and poor people are generally going to be the ones that suffer from poor diet / lifestyle choices in very big part due to the price/calorie aspect of junkfood et al. Lets be real, if you buy a bar once a week, 1.29->3.29 is not a big deal.

          Also, we do have tax on sugarry soft drinks in the EU (atleast my country), it is just laughably small compared to EtOH and tobacco). I personally always have thought that anything with added sugar beyond a certain amount should get a heavy tax, conditional on this tax being funneled into healthcare / public health programs.

          • @[email protected]
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            1 year ago

            Wouldn’t the price go up irrespective of which side you tax it on?

            Not necessarily, companies might just stop putting sugar where it doesn’t belong. They do it right now because corn syrup is free and why don’t just put it everywhere.

              • @Buddahriffic
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                11 year ago

                I wanted to like stevia when I first tried it, but I find it has a chemical taste, maybe leftover solvents from the extraction process. But it tastes like aspartame to me, which also tastes awful.

                I’d be happy with just less sugar used. Shit doesn’t need to be so sweet.

        • @psud
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          41 year ago

          Agreed. Though either way the price of heavily sugared stuff would go up

      • @xohshoo
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        71 year ago

        Whoa settle down there

        Sucrose is 1:1 glucose/ fructose which is near the optimal 0.8 ratio for fueling endurance activities

        I rode 100 miles solo in less than 5 hours Sunday on 360g sucrose in 4 750ml bottles

        It’sa lot cheaper than all that fancy SIS/skratch etc

        Carbs aren’t poison if you move your body

        • @[email protected]
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          21 year ago

          Yeah I consume near 400g carbs every day and am fine as a competitive powerlifter who also runs (which is rare lol). You just can’t be sitting on your ass all day.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            The issue is how much hidden sugar there is, especially in the US. Just look at how many things include stuff like corn syrup when it isn’t all that necessary.

        • @iopq
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          11 year ago

          If you paid twice as much for the sugar, would it materially impact you?

          • @xohshoo
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            11 year ago

            At this point in my life no. When I was young, for sure

        • @psud
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          11 year ago

          Sure, but so few people are high energy athletes who can legitimately burn the sugar right away.

          My comment was really about the great majority of people for whom sugar consumption is a path to metabolic disease, diabetes, and early death

          I still support a tax on sugar as it would reduce consumption overall, but for those wealthy enough to exercise hard a sugar tax would hardly hurt

          • @xohshoo
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            11 year ago

            Wealthy enough to exercise? Wtf?

            Ain’t even going there

            • @psud
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              11 year ago

              It’s probably a U shaped curve where you can devote (or have to devote) significant time to exercise at very low incomes, but it becomes harder at working poor sort of levels, then easy again at a certain level above poverty

      • @[email protected]
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        21 year ago

        I don’t doubt the number, that means 0.5l soda is 5 times the daily rate!

        And when you drink sugar free, your body still crave the sugar.

        • @eek2121
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          101 year ago

          I recently lost 100lbs partially thanks to Diet Mountain Dew, Mountain Dew Zero, and a world of sugar free energy drinks. I also gained 40 lbs of muscle mass.

          Note that I gained much of the weight due to major medical issues which left me bedridden for an extended period of time (years). I don’t have the fastest metabolism in the world, so it took a lot of work to melt the pounds off. I could not have done it without diet soda/energy drinks.

          The only reason researchers been able to determine for diet soda not contributing to weight loss/“fat” disease prevention is that (current studies are showing) we (consciously or subconsciously) attempt to replace those missing calories with more sugar, rather than cutting back. While there have been studies on the effects of artificial sweeteners on insulin production, etc. they are mostly inconclusive.

          If you are shooting for a low carb/low calorie diet, a good diet soda is a safe choice. Don’t let others make you miserable. Just make sure you aren’t pulling in extra calories elsewhere.

          Regardless of what type of diet you follow, remember that weight loss boils down to calories out > calories in. Most of your calories come from carbs, so taking on a more active lifestyle with a high protein/low carb diet will ultimately help you lose weight and build muscle mass. Just don’t skimp on the protein (you want most of your calories to come from protein) because you will also be burning some muscle mass unless you actively try to prevent it. Keep a food journal and write down everything you eat/drink. Some dietary choices you make without realizing may surprise you.

          • @[email protected]
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            41 year ago

            I lost 70 pounds over about four months last year primarily via calorie counting. I know it’s anecdotal, but I absolutely felt hungrier after the same meal if I had a diet soda with it compared to an unsweetened iced tea, or even an iced tea with a sugar packet or two. It’s great that you have the willpower to stick to the rest of your diet regardless, but there is definitely a reason people recommend cutting it out to make it easier to follow a plan.

          • @joel_feila
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            11 year ago

            Now if only i could sallow diet drinks

              • @joel_feila
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                11 year ago

                its the aspartame any thing with that will cause my throat to fill with thick mucus after just a few ounces. I used to drink big red zero since it use splenda and that was fine.