Sugar, the bitter truth

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lodro
lodro Posts: 982 Member
in Food and Nutrition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 16717]

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  • crazyfob07
    crazyfob07 Posts: 10
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    Not only sugar, but carbohydrates in general.
  • sharoniballoni
    sharoniballoni Posts: 163 Member
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    I just read the article about this. Fascinating. Carbs are not the issue, actually. We need carbs. Sugar, mainly in the form of fructose, is the issue. Glucose is fine because it's metabolized by the entire body. Fructose is only metabolized by the liver, which turns it into fat, causing a fatty liver. This raises our triglycerides, causing heart problems, as well as making the pancreas work hard to control the blood sugar (resulting in potential Diabetes and various cancers).

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?_r=1
  • lil_missfit
    lil_missfit Posts: 565 Member
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    Just curious....us the best way for us never to eat bad sugar ( fructose) to just never stuff on a box...or is it hidden in other stuff too?
  • LORR79
    LORR79 Posts: 55
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    Its high fructose corn syrup he has an issue with which is apparantly added to lots of products in America. I watched the full lecture a few weks ago because I eat a lot of sugar but through checking labels I havnt seen many with HFCS that I use regularly,i'm in Scotland.
  • sharoniballoni
    sharoniballoni Posts: 163 Member
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    We can eat sugar, just not in the amounts that we all typically do in a Western diet. HFCS isn't the only problem. Fructose is in everything from fruit to corn syrup to table sugar, to condiments, etc. It all adds up. Even a carrot has a lot of sugar. We just have to eat less of it. Get it from fruits and veggies, but try to stay away from added sugars. It's VERY difficult. I'm trying to watch it, but I'm still going to go over on my sugar. Besides, if you read the article in the NY Times, there is still no data to show how much is too much. That is still TBD.
  • grace42d
    grace42d Posts: 156 Member
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    If you make your food from scratch, it is cheaper and healthier. You can control all the ingredients and eliminate a bunch of chemicals, artificial flavorings and colors, and sugar.
  • guidnca
    guidnca Posts: 64
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    That lecture is incredible. Really changed my view on things.
    I showed my wife how much sugar is in one of my kids sodas. Incredible.
    We no longer drink fruit drinks, except OJ when someone is sick and fighting a cold.

    The whole changing of the metabolism is scary. I think even the sugar in fruit is a problem, but it is less harmful with fruit providing fiber to digest it. (I think that was his reasoning.)

    What are the items we can drink or eat that have glucose? I googled it, but that was pretty useless in my search. Anybody have some wisdom on that?
  • TimWeis75
    TimWeis75 Posts: 30
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    Fructose is inescapable. It's found in fruits and vegetables (to a lesser degree).

    Half of sucrose (table sugar) is fructose.

    Sucrose was a main ingredient in industrially-produced foodstuffs (box dinners, soda, bread, etc.) before HFCS.

    Industrially-produced products labeled "fat free" or "reduced fat" or "low fat" and the like are often HFCS bombs. Fat free ranch dressing is bland and tasteless. To make it appealing to your taste buds, they re-load it with HFCS. They use HFCS because it's less expensive than table sugar.

    I like lime and vinegar on my salad greens. Sure: I get fructose in the lime juice, but not in the quantity one gets from a like amount of Kraft "fat free" Ranch.
  • TimWeis75
    TimWeis75 Posts: 30
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    What are the items we can drink or eat that have glucose? I googled it, but that was pretty useless in my search. Anybody have some wisdom on that?
    Glucose still changes your metabolism. Drink water, coffee, tea, etc.
  • crystal_sapphire
    crystal_sapphire Posts: 1,205 Member
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    well yeah. that's why it's encouraged in diabetics to take in less sugar and carbohydrates in general (and the carbs should be complex). this could be applied to majority of people though as i find there is a huge excess of carbohydrates in the general diet of developed countries.
  • lodro
    lodro Posts: 982 Member
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    I don't have the impression that nowadays diabetics are encouraged away from carbohydrates: rather, they learn to control blood sugar, which they then mostly do with the aid of insulin and other medication.

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