ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses not only the changes of status which accompany the rise of its consumption but also the debates that have been caused in contemporary France for its part in the development of obesity. France was the largest European producer of sugar if one considers both the production of metropolitan France and its Overseas Departments of Rn, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. By the end of the twentieth century, because of the development of obesity in France typical of developed countries, sugar became seen as a problem of public health which reactivated the debates between the 'saccharophobes' and the 'saccharophiles'. The rebuilding of the beet industry from 1919 onwards was accompanied by further centralization of production but the economic crisis of 1929 destroyed its plans. With the introduction of the Common Market for sugar in 1968, French production continued to develop and reinforce its competitiveness thanks to the modernization of its production equipment.
