Toxic Sugar? Lustig & Taubes

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  • llstacy
    llstacy Posts: 91 Member
    What was up with the browning/aging on the inside bit? I'm on board with the amount of sugar we're eating being bad for us but making up nonsense doesn't help.
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
    I have no idea what that was about but it was oddly reminiscent of the fat clogs your arteries like the drain in your kitchen sink. Or saturated fat clogs your arteries because it's solid... You can't just say it ages your insides just like toast or whatever the hell he said without supplying some sort of mechanism for how that happens.

    It screams BS, whatever it was, which is unfortunate.

    ETA:
    Or not BS?

    Leanne at the Fat Head site had this to say about it in the comments:
    "Chemical alterations that require the application of heat outside of the body can be mediated inside the body by enzymes or hormones. Witness glycation, where cellular structures are stiffened and weakened by excess glucose in the blood. Just now, in the Glycation article on Wikipedia under “Endogenous” (within the body), I discovered that fructose and galactose are 10 times worse than glucose for this. I tend to refer to glycation as “caramelization”. Outside the body the creation of caramel requires sugar and heat – inside it does not. After looking at the Wikipedia article on the Maillard reaction, though (specifically under “Physiology”, where it discusses the Maillard reaction as it takes place within the body), it seems that THAT process is the actual culprit…but “caramelization” immediately conjures up images in people’s minds that give a reasonable approximation of what is actually taking place."

    And Eric from belgium had this to say:
    "The Maillard reaction is in general tems a reaction between proteins and sugars, leading to advanced glycation end products known as AGE.

    On the one hand, it is this reaction that gives a steak its nice taste (if cooked over 150°c), and on the other hand it is a natural process in the metabolism. Maillard reaction is *not* the same as caramelisation as many cooks incorrectly believe.

    One of the current thoughts trends is that excessive accumulation of AGEs is the cause of several diseases, and yes, AGEs can be produced in excess in the body by eating too much sugar(s), hence the metaphor of Lustig.

    Excess AGE in the body is believed to cause damage by not being easily filtered out by the kidneys, and cross-linking with other proteins. Glaucoma is an example.

    In simpler words, stop eating sugar or you’ll go blind, need kidney transplant, have a stroke and Alzheimer (now, what was his first name again…)

    Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_glycation_end-product

    My $0.02…"

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