Marion Nestle Discusses Sugar Policy with SFGate Readers

“Sugar is the most absurdly protected agricultural commodity in America,” according to health nutrition author and New York University Professor Marion Nestle, who answered reader questions about sugar policy during a September 20, 2009, online forum hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle’s website, SFGate.com. In explaining the so-called “sugar crisis,” Nestle stated that “Quotas allow U.S. producers
to grow only specified amounts of sugar cane and sugar beets each year, for which the USDA [U.S. Department of Agriculture] guarantees a higher-than-market price.” She noted that these quotas and import tariffs have “ensured that Americans pay two or three times as much for sugar,” resulting in the “unnecessary transfer of $3 billion a year from 350 million Americans to a few thousand sugar growers and
processors.”

With these industry interests allegedly invested in “sugar protectionism,” Nestle reported that these policies might finally change partly “because the gap between domestic and world market sugar – and for high fructose corn syrup – has narrowed recently.” Ultimately, however, she downplayed a potential sugar shortfall, suggesting that “if sugar is responsible for any true crisis, it is because of its role as
ingredient in processed foods.”

“[W]e would be healthier eating less sugar, anyway,” Nestle told readers. “So here’s my solution to the sugar non-crisis: Eat less sugar!”