Knowledge equates to the awareness a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is avoiding it in a fruit salad. Ketchup from that fruit, and other condiments packed with sugar, are essentially the equivalent of "meat frosting."
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Refined sugars and processed food significantly impact one's energy levels, behavior, mental and physical performance, and long-term health. As Dr. Robert Lustig highlights in his book "Metabolical," food affects illness and wellness; it's the poison and the antidote. It is NOT what's in the food, it's what was DONE TO the food. "Processed" foods are not "real foods" and often have added sugar, to include high fructose corn syrup, changing the category of most foods as "desserts." If it comes in a box, a can, or wrapper, the "food" has been processed with unnecessary ingredients such as food coloring, artificial flavoring, added sugars, and void of necessary fiber.
Table sugar is one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose. High fructose corn syrup is manufactured from starch, and contains more fructose than glucose, an element as unnecessary for humans as alcohol. Natural fructose found in fruits, also accompanies the necessary fiber to divert that molecule to the gut microbiome, which does not happen with processed foods. The gut bacteria in turn release compounds that affect the hunger hormones, increasing our caloric intake. Our health is dependent on the microbiome. Added sugar and the fructose found in processed foods, bypasses the microbiome and is absorbed into the body and leads to elevated blood sugar levels, increased insulin surges (fat storage hormone), and can overwhelm mitochondria in cells leading to short-term behavioral issues and long-term metabolic illnesses to include obesity, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (affecting 40% of the U.S. population and the leading cause of liver transplants). Fructose and alcohol are processed in the liver the same way, and sugar is the leading cause of liver failure. Fructose also affects the intestinal epithelial barrier, causing the tight junctions to become porous and allowing partially digested proteins to cross the barrier, leading to food allergies and inflammation caused by "leaky gut."
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Parents usually require kids to wash their hands before they eat, to avoid poisons entering their body, but don't often stop to consider the poisons found in processed foods, delivered from those clean hands. Parents help children establish good habits, and this should include the consumption of real foods and elimination of harmful, addictive ingredients. There are poisons that will kill people quickly, and poisons that will kill people over time. Items in our food "generally recognized as safe," are measured in low doses and not based on elevated every-day exposure. The dose determines the poison, and kids are consuming harmful ingredients at levels that far exceed the "intended" use that warrants them "safe" for consumption. The FDA regulates poisons with acute toxicity, while there are also items that lead to chronic toxicity, such as cigarettes, causing harm over time with cumulative exposure, just like the amounts of processed and sugary foods.
A pound of subcutaneous fat is not the same as a pound of visceral fat around your organs, which leads to organ damage and inflammation, and even cancers. Sugar is the leading cause of visceral fat. The American Heart Association recommends adult men consume less than 9 teaspoons (50 grams max) of sugar a day, while adult women consume less than 6 teaspoons (30 grams max). One 20 ounce regular soda exceeds the entire daily allowance, and if consumed daily, equates to 1 pound of extra sugar each week. A "calorie" is simply a measurement of energy, and food ingredients "low in calories" such as artificial sweeteners, still result in a biochemical reaction that impacts cellular function and the microbiome.
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I strongly consider you to review Dr. Lustig's website and book, in addition to Peter Attia's book on health. The images of both books below provide links to Amazon.
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https://robertlustig.com/sugar-education/
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