Sugar: How Bad Is It Really?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 11.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sugar is getting tons of hate these days, from TikTok influencers telling us to cut added sugar out of our diets to RFK Jr. declaring that sugar is “poison.” But is sugar really that bad? And are certain kinds worse — or better — than others? We’ll find out by diving into the wild world of cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey and maple syrup. We talk to nutritionist Professor Jim Mann and research nutritional biologist Dr. Kimber Stanhope. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsSugar In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Sugar: The villain in our diets (02:22) The good side of sugar (04:51) How sugar is bad for us (12:19) Is high fructose corn syrup that bad? (23:44) Agave Syrup, Maple Syrup, and Honey (30:15) How much sugar is too much? This episode was produced by Meryl Horn, with help from Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang, and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Our executive producer is Wendy Zukerman. Fact checking by Sam Lemonick. Music written by Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, So Wylie, Emma Munger and Bumi Hidaka. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke to including Professor Barry Popkin, Dr. John White, Dr. Nick Fuller, Professor Paul Breslin, Dr. Richard Johnson, and Dr. Vasanti Malik. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Merrill Horan filling in for Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Verses.
0:07.2	This is the show that pits facts against fructose.
0:15.2	Today, we're looking at sugar. Is it really that bad?
0:19.3	Sugar has always been the villain in our diets, that thing calling
0:23.1	out to us that we know we should resist. And recently, it feels like everyone's piling on to tell us,
0:29.3	don't do it. Sugar is one of the deadliest things you can eat. Our bodies are not able to adapt
0:36.5	the amount of sugar that we're consuming, and it's making
0:38.5	us so sick.
0:39.9	Every time you eat sugar, every time it does permanent damage to your body.
0:45.0	Sugar is poison, and Americans need to know that.
0:48.4	It is poisoning us.
0:50.2	That last voice you heard was RFK Jr., the Health and Human Services Secretary in the U.S.,
0:55.2	and he's recommended that Americans have zero added sugar in their food.
1:00.0	Zero!
1:01.1	And things get even more heated when the topic of high-fructose corn syrup comes up.
1:05.8	We hear that this one is way worse for us than other types of sugar.
1:09.7	High-fructose corn syrup, where do I fucking start?
1:12.8	Literally cheap garbage with zero nutritional value.
1:17.7	Ah, high fructose corn syrup actually has a similar effect to obesity as fuel to a fire.
1:23.8	But then at the same time, influencers are telling us that there's a loophole here.
1:29.1	Just eat natural sugars. Those are way healthier.
1:32.7	So the best alternative is agave.
	...

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