From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening exposé that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick.
Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans’ history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.
Purchase The Case Against Sugar
Amazon.com (Available for Kindle)
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Also available as an Audiobook
News
“Is Sugar Killing Us?” Read an excerpt from The Case Against Sugar in The Wall Street Journal
In-depth interview with On Point‘s Tom Ashbrook and Gary Taubes on The Case Against Sugar
Reviews
“Here is a book on sugar that sugarcoats nothing. The stuff kills…Taubes’s writing is both inflammatory and copiously researched. It is also well timed… Hard-charging (and I’ll add game-changing).”
—Dan Barber, The New York Times (front-cover review)
“This is required reading for not only every parent, but every American.”
—Katie Couric
“Taubes’s prose is perfectly judged, as compelling as a slow-motion car crash… A book to make you put your head in your hands and wonder how humanity has endured for so long… The sugar industry […] has survived a century-long persecution and survived it well… Can Taubes’s expertly written and disturbing book change [this] culture?… full marks–and a big red lollipop–for making a valiant and vital attempt.”—Michael Brooks, New Statesman
“Taubes’s argument is so persuasive that, after reading The Case Against Sugar, this functioning chocoholic cut out the Snacking Bark and stopped eating cakes and white bread…The Case Against Sugar should be a powerful weapon against future misinformation.”—Eugenia Bone, The Wall Street Journal
“No one in this country has worked harder on or better understood the role of sugar in our diet than Gary Taubes. As a journalist, an investigator, a scientist, and an advocate, he is without peer. (Plus, he knows how to write.) The Case Against Sugar is not only a terrific history but a forward-thinking document that can help us think more intelligently about how (and how not) to eat.” —Mark Bittman, author of How to Cook Everything Fast
“Compelling… Perhaps at long last, sugar is getting its just desserts.”
—The Economist
“I can’t think of another journalist who has had quite as profound an influence on the conversation about nutrition.”
—Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food
“Practically everything one wants to know about sugar—its history, its geography, the addiction it causes—is here. In the end, each of us is confronted with a choice. Continue consuming sugar at our current level and suffer the ill effects. Or reduce, if not eliminate, it from our diet, thereby improving our odds of living a long, healthy life.” —The Seattle Times
“Taubes builds his case through lawyerly layering of rich detail… Extraordinary and refreshing.” —The Atlantic
“Staggering…Brilliant and accessible science writing.” —Booklist, starred review
“A riveting history of ideas, a clear analysis of evidence, and an utterly persuasive argument that sugar is the new tobacco. Taubes methodically explains why sugar—not sloth, not fat—accounts for our unprecedented levels of obesity, cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Taubes answers every counter-argument as he exposes bad research, reveals conflicts of interest, and explodes myths.” —Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
“A courageous and meticulous documentation of the health dangers of sugar. No one has hit the political and economic forces behind this ‘acceptable’ addiction as clearly and unflinchingly. The information in this book will, quite literally, save your life if you apply it.” —Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom
“If you ever doubted that sugar is the root cause of our obesity, diabetes, and heart disease epidemic, then look no further than The Case Against Sugar. This deeply researched, well-reasoned exploration of the history and biology of sugar would convince any supreme court of nutrition that it is sugar, not fat, that should be indicted and limited. Doctors, scientists, policymakers, and concerned eaters would do well to heed Gary Taubes’s advice.” –Mark Hyman, M.D., author of The Blood Sugar Solution