Is Sugar the New Fat?

Eating a fun-size Butterfinger candy bar was maybe a mistake while watching filmmaker Cameron Bennett's New Zealand-produced documentary on the perils of sugar. Presented by psychologist and author Nigel Latta, the film features expert Robert Lustig, who vehemently denounces processed foods as being “poisoned” with sugar, noting that “it's time to change the paradigm.” Vignettes find Latta visiting a store and examining labels to see just how much sugar is in foods he normally buys (with some surprises); talking with food technologists who say that sugar helps offset other costs; interviewing a young urban sugar addict; and getting his own health checked (with unexpected results). A nutritionist, a dentist, and Katherine Rich of the New Zealand Food and Grocery council (who doesn't think government should step in but that people should step up because “the choice you make will have an impact on your life”) weigh in, while personal stories are also included touching on a school offering better food choices to their students and a woman whose health improved with moderation. Offering an eye-opening but not terribly shocking look at the link between sugar and health, this is recommended. Aud: P. (J. Williams-Wood)