That’s not a Twinkie your child is eating, is it? Why, you might as well be teaching your kid how to smoke a cigarette or do body shots. At least, that’s the impression you might get from reading a recently published paper in the journal Nature, called, The toxic truth about sugar. The commentary, written by Robert H. Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist, and his colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), argues that sugar is as dangerous as tobacco and alcohol, and should be regulated in a similar manner. But before you go hiding your Ho-Hos, the authors note that they’re not insisting upon Prohibition-like measures. Good thing, because we all know how well that turned out. (On a side note, though, sugar speakeasies would be pretty sweet.) Instead, the researchers are calling for taxes on sugary snacks and drinks, and putting restrictions on their sale for children under 17. So what’s their beef with the white, granulated powder? They are mad that sugar is a major culprit in many chronic diseases, yet has a virtually untarnished public image. According to the paper, most people regard sugar as a harmless indulgence that, at worst, will add padding to our waistline. “There is nothing empty about these calories,” they write. “A growing body of scientific evidence is showing that fructose can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and a host of other chronic diseases. A little is not a problem, but a lot kills -- slowly.” Too much sugar can raise triglycerides, increasing the risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke. It messes with the metabolism, raises blood pressure and can even damage the liver. Plus, studies on animals suggest that sugar is addictive. Then again, the same can be said for just about any activity that stimulates the reward areas of the brain, like, for instance, exercise. Should that be regulated, too? Too much of anything -- water, food, sunlight -- can kill us. Do we really need governments stepping in to put the kibosh on our sugar habit? Some public health officials think so. We’re clearly not doing a very good job of regulating our sugar intake on our own. While a single can of soda will put us over the sugar guidelines recommended by the American Heart Association, the obvious sugary offenders are only part of the problem. Our mega-consumption of the additive may have more to do with our love affair of convenient, processed foods. Sweeteners hide out in all kinds of healthful-seeming foods like breakfast cereal, yogurt, whole-wheat bread and spaghetti sauce. I never realized how much sugar I ate until I started cutting back on sweets and some of those processed food staples. Now, on the rare occasions when I eat conventional peanut butter or bread, I can’t get over how sweet they taste. Candy bars like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or Snickers actually make me gag a little. I’m all for using less sugar policy. But if we’re going to start throwing rules around, I think they ought to be aimed at the food manufacturers. If these food companies had to cut back on the amount of sweeteners they’re putting in food items, eventually, we’d barely miss it.