How does sugar make you fat?

missylectro

Interesting... I am pretty sure I read in Dr Fuhrman's book Eat To Live that sugar gets stored as fat... "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"

eric_sg61

Interesting... I am pretty sure I read in Dr Fuhrman's book Eat To Live that sugar gets stored as fat... "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"

If that were true I would be over 400lbs

BombshellPhoenix

Interesting... I am pretty sure I read in Dr Fuhrman's book Eat To Live that sugar gets stored as fat... "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"

If that were true I would be over 400lbs

^me too

And my hips wouldn't lie when I try to squeeze through doorways

Unknown

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rml_16

Does anyone know?

When you eat too many calories and most of them are from sugar?

jkal1979

Sugar raises insulin level in body. If you constantly eat a lot of sugar then too much insulin secretion may eventually lead to body not being able to produce insulin. Thats when you become diabetic. Once your body turns diabetic, your digestion and metabolism will slow down, which will lead to more fat stored in your body for the same calorie that you used to consume and burn. Sugar also raises inflammation in body, making you think, you are hungry when you are not and that leads to eating food you don't really need.

So sugar by itself doesn't directly make you fat, but it initiates a process in your body that would lead to getting fat.

Latrice always seems to have an answer for any topic.

Stoshew71

The obesity fairy will visit you when you are asleep at night and take your sugar from underneath your pillow and then deposit fat into your body.


This was covered yesterday in another forum post.

LolBroScience

When you eat too much sugar at a time or eat a high glycemic food.Your blood sugar rises quickly than you release insulin and then the excess sugar get stored as fat. Than you blood sugar is low and you crave that food again.

is your last name 'Brah'?

Last name Science, first name Bro

bergpa

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

missylectro

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

Makes sense

links_slayer

science, yo.

424a57

I just read this a couple days ago. The explanation of how sugar gets stored as fat starts in the paragraph beginning, "So why should we care about the sugar to fiber ratio?"

http://www.thinkingaboutnutrition.com/2011/11/the-sugar-to-fiber-dietary-ratio/

cwolfman13

Interesting... I am pretty sure I read in Dr Fuhrman's book Eat To Live that sugar gets stored as fat... "A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips"

You cannot store fat if you are in a deficit of energy...ie a calorie deficit. Science is pretty cool...

As a matter of vast oversimplification, yes...it is easy for your body to convert excess sugar to fat if you're not burning it off...but if you're in a calorie deficit you can't store that fat long term...your body is going to burn off whatever excess you have to make up for the energy deficit. Also, your body is always in a constant state of storing and then burning fat...from sugar or anything else.

If it was as simple as sugar causing you to be fat, I'd weigh a gazillion pounds...I eat around 80 - 100 grams of sugar per day and I pretty easily lost 40 Lbs...soooooo....there's that.

BombshellPhoenix

http://www.fitnessbaddies.com/your-problem-with-sugar-is-the-problem-with-sugar/

I'm just gonna leave this here

Stoshew71

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

uhhhhhh.... all sugars have the potential to cause weight gain if you consumed enough calories to go over your TDEE.
All carbs, fat, and proteins share this property.

lindsey1979

This is both a simple and complicated subject.

Simple. If you have no health issues, the amount of sugar isn't gong to make much of a difference so long as you're in your calories goals. But, it's not very satiating, so eating a lot of it may make it more difficult to stay in your calorie goals. Humans (especially in the US) have been consuming a LOT more sugar in the last couple hundred years than we used to consume prior to that.

Complicated. If you're in the 40+% of the US adult population that has insulin resistance, the amount and type of sugar may make a HUGE difference to you personally because of the wonky glucose metabolism issues seen with insulin resistance. Also, there is some talk out there that different types of sugar have more deleterious effects -- fructose one of the suspected worse ones and why high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be particularly bad for people (often the go-to sweetener in many high processed foods).

Aaron_K123

Sugar raises insulin level in body. If you constantly eat a lot of sugar then too much insulin secretion may eventually lead to body not being able to produce insulin. Thats when you become diabetic. Once your body turns diabetic, your digestion and metabolism will slow down, which will lead to more fat stored in your body for the same calorie that you used to consume and burn. Sugar also raises inflammation in body, making you think, you are hungry when you are not and that leads to eating food you don't really need.

So sugar by itself doesn't directly make you fat, but it initiates a process in your body that would lead to getting fat.

So when should we expect Michael Phelps, the olympic swimmer, to become diabetic given that he eats 12,000 calories a day largely consisting of carbohydrates and sugars?

Your description of what causes diabetes is oversimplified to the point of being incorrect.

missylectro

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

uhhhhhh.... all sugars have the potential to cause weight gain if you consumed enough calories to go over your TDEE.
All carbs, fat, and proteins share this property.

The question was not "will going over your tdee cause fat gain?" it was "does eating sugar (period) cause fat gain?"

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

uhhhhhh.... all sugars have the potential to cause weight gain if you consumed enough calories to go over your TDEE.
All carbs, fat, and proteins share this property.

The question was not "will going over your tdee cause fat gain?" it was "does eating sugar (period) cause fat gain?"

The answer to that question is no.

QuietBloom

Sugar raises insulin level in body. If you constantly eat a lot of sugar then too much insulin secretion may eventually lead to body not being able to produce insulin. Thats when you become diabetic. Once your body turns diabetic, your digestion and metabolism will slow down, which will lead to more fat stored in your body for the same calorie that you used to consume and burn. Sugar also raises inflammation in body, making you think, you are hungry when you are not and that leads to eating food you don't really need.

So sugar by itself doesn't directly make you fat, but it initiates a process in your body that would lead to getting fat.

Not sure if srs...

Unknown

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peanutcats

Sugar in itself does not make you fat. Of course, if you eat excess calories coming from anything (including sugar) you will gain weight. However, it is easier to gain fat from sugar because sugar is one of the most addictive substances (it's right up there with crack!!) and you just want to eat more and more of it. Ever reached in to a bag of M&M's and wondered "oh my, where did they all go? I think I'll move on to the ice cream now". You can't seem to get enough! Simply put it's not satiating, nor does it have any nutritional value except for pure energy (calories.) Sugar gives you a huge insulin spike which puts you in "fat storage mode'' but if you don't consume excess calories you won't gain fat. I guess fat will be stored more easily than if you eat too many calories in protein/fat, but the difference is negligible. I'm no scientist or anything so correct me if I'm wrong but this is what I know from trawling through a couple of sites a while ago when I asked myself the same question!

For the record, I still love the stuff. Reese's PB cups are still my one true love.

eric_sg61

Sugar in itself does not make you fat. Of course, if you eat excess calories coming from anything (including sugar) you will gain weight. However, it is easier to gain fat from sugar because sugar is one of the most addictive substances (it's right up there with crack!!) and you just want to eat more and more of it. Ever reached in to a bag of M&M's and wondered "oh my, where did they all go? I think I'll move on to the ice cream now". You can't seem to get enough! Simply put it's not satiating, nor does it have any nutritional value except for pure energy (calories.) Sugar gives you a huge insulin spike which puts you in "fat storage mode'' but if you don't consume excess calories you won't gain fat. I guess fat will be stored more easily than if you eat too many calories in protein/fat, but the difference is negligible. I'm no scientist or anything so correct me if I'm wrong but this is what I know from trawling through a couple of sites a while ago when I asked myself the same question!

For the record, I still love the stuff. Reese's PB cups are still my one true love.

Having known a few crackheads, I take issue with this.

BombshellPhoenix

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

uhhhhhh.... all sugars have the potential to cause weight gain if you consumed enough calories to go over your TDEE.
All carbs, fat, and proteins share this property.

The question was not "will going over your tdee cause fat gain?" it was "does eating sugar (period) cause fat gain?"

I've gone from 170 lbs to 120 lbs over 35% BF to 17% BF, all while almost double exceeding my sugar allowance both with fruit and ice cream. No. Sugar does not make you fat.

bergpa

One thing to keep in mind is that "sugar" isn't just one substance, rather it is a class of many difference substances. For example both lactose and fructose are sugars but they aren't metabolized in the exact same way. There is some interesting research on the relationship between fructose consumption and leptin resistance that indicates a possible relationship to weight gain but you can't extrapolate from that and say that all sugars causes weight gain.

uhhhhhh.... all sugars have the potential to cause weight gain if you consumed enough calories to go over your TDEE.
All carbs, fat, and proteins share this property.

Well of course any food item that is consumed in excess of TDEE can cause weight gain. While that is an important point, the real question that is being asked here is does sugar have unique biochemical properties that will lead to weight gain, fat retention, and the like if you consume it as opposed to another food of an equal caloric value. Assuming that we are talking about a healthy person consuming a moderate quantity of any of a variety of sugars, I am not aware of any medical research indicating that this is going to result in weight issues in and of itself.

walleyclan1

Calories

laddyboy

Sugar in and of itself will not make you fat but an excess of it like any other nutrient will get stored as body fat. sugar in the normal sense of it is a disaccharide, even purer would be glucose or dextrose which is as pure as the sugar in your blood and in the sense of glucose it is blood sugar, but the body can only store so much of this. so table sugar for example gets ingested, the body breaks it down and fills your glucose stores, insulin is also released in response to this. your body will then store glycogen in the muscle and liver and any excess from there will be stored as body fat. key word here is excess. Myself and other athletes take upwords of 60-80g of dextrose post workout in a 2:1 Ratio to protein specifically for the insulin response to carbs. Its part of nutrient timing principles I heavily support and practice and has worked great for myself and the guys I have trained. So in conclusion. sugar does not make you fat and when timed properly can have positive effects but only if you know what your doing.

This...so glad I didn't have to type it all.

FatFreeFrolicking

When you eat too much sugar at a time or eat a high glycemic food.Your blood sugar rises quickly than you release insulin and then the excess sugar get stored as fat. Than you blood sugar is low and you crave that food again.

This only happens if you have diabetes or insulin resistance.

ge105

cause these threads always end well.

BombshellPhoenix

cause these threads always end well.

Oooone of my favorite episodes of the seeeeason