[synetic]

Sugar is the worst substance for public health ever. It's literally poison.

Its hyperbole meant to convey a sense of how bad sugar (particularly added sugars) is to the health of the population. Sugar is in everything (more hyperbole!) in the U.S. America by and large is addicted to sugar and it’s very bad for us. Everything is over sweetened. Can’t even buy bacon without sugar added in some form or other.

[cinntaile]

Hyperbole usually leads to a lot of unnecessary discussion where people tell you that it's an exaggeration and so on. A good old meta-discussion to eventually conclude that their stance on a topic was pretty similar after all.

[datavirtue]

Or you could move on, knowing perfectly well what they were saying...without being a putz.

[NikolaNovak]

Charitable interpretation by listener is indeed an important part of productive conversation. But charitable, I.e. Not intentionally or accidentally disingenuous statement by the speaker is also an important part. "You should know what I meant" rarely leads to good outcomes, not the least because typically any 4 people will have 5 Completely different but equally confident interpretations on what was so obviously meant :-)

Anyhoo. Yes sugar can be good and sugar can be bad. "It's literally poison and worst thing ever" does not productively move the needle of the conversation, almost regardless of interpretation.

[strken]

Leaving aside the hyperbole and going back to the question from before, when is dietary sugar advantageous, and is adding extra refined sugar ever beneficial? To my understanding sugar is present in foods that are good for other reasons, but the sugar itself is only useful in niche situations when you need blood glucose fast, and there's almost never a health reason to add more.

This is in contrast to carbs in general, and to protein and fat, where some level of each is useful in the diet and provides a reduction in mortality and CVD risk.

[matkoniecz]

> Leaving aside the hyperbole and going back to the question from before, when is dietary sugar advantageous, and is adding extra refined sugar ever beneficial?

As far as I know, it could be useful in case of huge need for calories.

Which basically never happens with modern lifestyle. But I guess may apply to firefighters working for several days or soldier lugging around piles of equipment.

But unlikely to apply to anyone reading HN. Unless they climb Mount Everest for fun, or volunteer as firefighters or are unlike enough to end in a war zone.

[PaulDavisThe1st]

I know people who believe precisely that "sugar is a poison". The poster who wrote this could have been agreeing with them, or could have been using hyperbole. Who knows?

[matkoniecz]

> Its hyperbole

If you need to rely on hyperbole/lies/propaganda then I am going to assume that you have no case.

[synetic]

Everyone speaks in hyperbole occasionally. One doesn’t need to rely on it but has its uses. It’s sometimes used to convey the strength of a belief. For instance, “I’m so mad at you I could kill you.”. It has other uses. That you appear to be unaware of how hyperbole is often times used and that it is a normal part of communication suggests that you are not really ready to participate in discussions.