Hi Fred
A number of Poison Information Centres use a similar definition of poison to this one from Carolinas Poison Center “A poison is any product or substance that can harm someone if it is used in the wrong way, by the wrong person, or in the wrong amount. Examples of possible poisons include some household products, chemicals at work or in the environment, drugs (prescription, over-the-counter, herbal, or illegal) snake bites, and spider bites.”
Then we have a sort of definition from Medicine.net that states “Poison: Any substance that can cause severe organ damage or death if ingested, breathed in, or absorbed through the skin. Many substances that normally cause no problems, including water and most vitamins, can be poisonous if taken in excessive quantity. Poison treatment depends on the 'substance.”
Most definitions include the fact that what are seen to be usually non -harmful substances eg water can be seen as poisons based on usage.
Nice article here that includes links to peer reviewed evidence about sugar intake:
Another on added sugar in diets:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/123/3/249.short
And an article that asked several Health Specialists eg researchers, doctors and dietitians about too much sugar:
Just as an interesting but somewhat unlinked fact to the amount of sugar in a diet is the LD50 (can’t subscript the 50) of sucrose ie the dose of sucrose needed to kill 50% of subjects 29,700 mg/kg and of glucose 25,800 mg/kg and of water >90g/kg
I guess it depends on what normal is. If it is the added sugar in food we now eat and drink then I think some sugars are becoming what one might call poisonous (damage to organs), not as a single dose but the repeated ingestion so that pancreas and livers are affected. Certainly evidence is accumulating that too much “added” sugar in the diet is of great concern and the WHO have now considered the amount of daily consumption of what they call “free” sugar from all “added” sources should be about 6 teaspoons a day or 25 grams (WHO urges global action to curtail consumption and health impacts of sugary drinks & WHO calls on countries to reduce sugars intake among adults and children), for example a can of Coke has about 40 grams. This advice does not include sugars that are naturally occurring in the product which do not seem to add any bad effect eg eating an apple.
