not only just sugar but high fructose corn syrup in particular. and yes, I know they're both basically metabolized the same but one is more likely to cause inflammation than the other. and the fact that it's dirt cheap compared to cane sugar makes it more likely to end up in our food at an affordable price. unlike other countries, we substitute sugar with corn syrup and the use of hfcs correlates to the increased obesity we've seen in the past few decades no matter how the ag lobby tries to rationalize otherwise.