The problem here is broken nutritional epistemology and lack of education. Remember that as recently as the early 1970s, it was broadly promoted, almost as a nootropic. In my home town in Australia it was common to add spoonfuls of sugar over breakfast cereal, Nutella and Milo (chocolate milk drink) were promoted as healthy sports foods for children, and a tablespoon of sugar (I know!!) was promoted as a good way to fix hiccups. My mother was ostracised by the other mothers at my school (in the early 00's, not the 70s) for not giving me Nutella, Chocolates, Lollies etc in my lunch.

I'm not making excuses here - it's more that unless you come from a privileged or niche background, especially before the internet, you would think this is normal. Imagine as a woman going to your GP doctor for a checkup in the 1980s and having them suggest you start eating spoonfuls of pure refined white sugar to help you control your appetite. Similar modern examples include the popularity of "Bubble tea" which should almost be regarded as a poison

It's not that its hard to find non-sugar food - it's hard to KNOW that's what you're meant to do, even in the most educated first world countries.

https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/19710510.jpe...

What’s so bad about bubble tea? Never had it, but I thought it was just iced tea with some starch in.

It's not the bubbles themselves, just that oftentimes they're loaded with added sugar and other sweeteners.

It's pretty sweet and the bubbles are starchy I think (tapioca?), but not an expert.

It's irrelevant that a bottle of coke has more here. My argument is even if you're being good and skipping candy/soda...etc that just the normal food you eat is loaded with the stuff. White bread, most cereal, sauces...goes on and on. There are items without it, but it's more expensive and certainly hard to say no to the sugary stuff even when we knows it's bad.

I'll cede that I misspoke when I said it couldn't be found at all, but it certainly takes more effort.

I think the problem is the amount of processed carbs rather than sugar on its own. Sugar is addictive but not in the concentration you'd get in a pasta sauce (in a can I assume).

IIRC most western countries are vastly over-caloried, and have a roughly inverse relationship between BMI and income too.

Processed carbohydrates are harmful, however sugar is particularly harmful in its effects on the hormonal system, insulin resistance, concentration, dental decay (and tooth growth in children), psychology of child, irratibility etc. Humans are simply not designed to consume such vast amounts of industrial grade sugar in such quantities.

You can literally throw sugar canes into a juicing machine and it has less sugar content than a can of coca cola

Have any good reads (articles/books) on the harmfulness of sugar? It sounds interesting to read about, but Google gives a billion results.

Here are some more mainstream sources. All "official" output on these subjects are heavily regulated and lobbied by corporate interests however. Further problem is that western culture is far too heavily empirical, whereas axiomatic/rationalist viewpoints on nutrition are often true and logical - it's just that nobody has paid the $$$ to "prove" them in a non-replicable study. However, my axiomatic broscience is frowned upon in the empiricist cult of the silicon valley so I have only linked to fairly establishment sources here. Still good for the basics

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tooth-decay/

"Tooth decay is damage to a tooth caused by dental plaque turning sugars into acid."

https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/food-facts/sugar

https://www.health.com/condition/type-2-diabetes/high-blood-...