Sugar... not so sweet after all??

I just watched a segment from a recent 60 Minutes episode that I had to share:

Oh how I love sugar!  Life at our home typically includes me eating sugar in some form or another (ice cream, applesauce, fruit chews, peanut butter granola bars).  But after watching this clip I might start thinking twice about my love affair with Nutella.  According to recent research studies:

• Sugar consumption is linked to 75% of preventable obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension & heart disease.
• Americans consume 130 lbs of sugar per person per year (which is 1/3 lb per day - yikes!!)
• Sugar consumption increases LDL levels and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, after only 2 weeks of consumption.  When you consume too many sweets your liver gets overloaded with fructose so it converts some of the frucstose to fat.  The fat ends up in the blood stream, creates bad LDL, forms blocks in arteries and causes heart attacks.
• Sugar intake may also correlate with cancer development, due to spikes in insulin.  Insulin can serve as a catalyst to fuel certain cancer types.  Nearly 1/3 of some common cancers (incl. breast and colon) have insulin receptors that use glucose to grow.
• The brain responds to sugar in a similar way as it does to cocaine.  Like with drug use, we build up resistance to sugar so we need more and more over time to feel the same effects.
• Regular table sugar (and sugar in foods like bread and peanut butter) can be just as harmful as high fructose corn syrup.

 Now that I'm aware of how toxic sugar may be, I'm going to resurrect my new year's resolution of eating healthier.  Or at least I'll try.  ;)