sugar toxic

freerange

I get mixed up, aren't you the guy that eats 8 pounds of meat in one meal and declare yourself primal?

Nope, I've never called myself primal, I don't believe in labels, but if I had to pick a "named diet," I probably would have to choose the Mediterranean Diet.
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I thought that was you, Mr. "I ate 8 pounds of meat a day and gained weight" So primal doesn't work. LOL do you and acg67 travel in pairs

freerange

However, if you eat some bread or some brown rice, say a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread, and then wash it down with a soda, then the fiber from the bread will slow the absorption of the sugar exactly the same way as the fiber in an apple. Remember, food takes HOURS to digest and be processed. Even if you eat an hour before drinking the soda, the fiber will still be in your digestive system and will still slow the sugar absorption.

Exactly the same way? Really, got any studies proven that?

It's basic biology. Your body recognizes food only on a molecular level. Oatmeal with sugar added and an apple are both treated the same way from a molecular standpoint, as it pertains to the nutrition. The sugar added to the oatmeal (and the sugars in the oats themselves) are both broken down in the exact same manner as the sugars in the apple, and the fiber in the oats is treated the same way as the fiber in the apple. The body absorbs what part of the fiber it can, and the rest just passes through, slowing digestion down as it goes.

The human digestive tract doesn't recognize or understand the concept of various food items, it sees "sucrose, glucose, aspartic acid, tryptophan, retinol, riboflavin, iron, fructose, linoleic acid, etc. Recognizing "orange," or "steak," or "soda" is strictly a thought process, it has no effect on how the food is processed and used.

so the answer is, no you don't have any studies to prove the malarky you are spreading. Because I could have sworn the body has to work haeder to get the sugar out of the apple then it does to get the sugar out of the pop, no matter what else you eat with it. But hey that's just me. Fail.

freerange

I guess because he hasn't proven in controlled studies that X amount of fructose in the form of added sugars causes obesity and disease, that he must be full of crap, right?

I understand your skepticism, and I have a small amount myself, but its not a risk I'm willing to take and I wouldn't tell people to eat as much sugar as they like, just watch their calorie intake because I don't think that's going to help them. I don't believe that obesity is so multifactorial that we can't find a primary root cause, but I'm interested to see how this sugar thing plays out.

]

The point was, saying an arbitrary amount of sugar would be excessive for everyone is silly. Clearly, someone who is petite and sedentary and someone who is bigger and works out 5x a week would have different energy requirements and the amount of sugar that would be considered excessive would be scaled to the energy requirements. Most likely consistently eating more than 20-25% of your daily cals in the form of added sugar isn't the greatest idea.

So you're saying as long as you burn it, there is no harm?

Studies on sugar consumption in a hypocaloric state don't show the adverse metabolic effects you tend to see in studies with subjects consuming maintenance or a surplus

Well gee willikers so if I eat twinkies, and nothing else, at or below maintenance, I will be just fine and dandy. LOL

Acg67

I guess because he hasn't proven in controlled studies that X amount of fructose in the form of added sugars causes obesity and disease, that he must be full of crap, right?

I understand your skepticism, and I have a small amount myself, but its not a risk I'm willing to take and I wouldn't tell people to eat as much sugar as they like, just watch their calorie intake because I don't think that's going to help them. I don't believe that obesity is so multifactorial that we can't find a primary root cause, but I'm interested to see how this sugar thing plays out.

]

The point was, saying an arbitrary amount of sugar would be excessive for everyone is silly. Clearly, someone who is petite and sedentary and someone who is bigger and works out 5x a week would have different energy requirements and the amount of sugar that would be considered excessive would be scaled to the energy requirements. Most likely consistently eating more than 20-25% of your daily cals in the form of added sugar isn't the greatest idea.

So you're saying as long as you burn it, there is no harm?

Studies on sugar consumption in a hypocaloric state don't show the adverse metabolic effects you tend to see in studies with subjects consuming maintenance or a surplus

Well gee willikers so if I eat twinkies, and nothing else, at or below maintenance, I will be just fine and dandy. LOL

Strong reading comprehension as usual.

tigersword

However, if you eat some bread or some brown rice, say a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread, and then wash it down with a soda, then the fiber from the bread will slow the absorption of the sugar exactly the same way as the fiber in an apple. Remember, food takes HOURS to digest and be processed. Even if you eat an hour before drinking the soda, the fiber will still be in your digestive system and will still slow the sugar absorption.

Exactly the same way? Really, got any studies proven that?

It's basic biology. Your body recognizes food only on a molecular level. Oatmeal with sugar added and an apple are both treated the same way from a molecular standpoint, as it pertains to the nutrition. The sugar added to the oatmeal (and the sugars in the oats themselves) are both broken down in the exact same manner as the sugars in the apple, and the fiber in the oats is treated the same way as the fiber in the apple. The body absorbs what part of the fiber it can, and the rest just passes through, slowing digestion down as it goes.

The human digestive tract doesn't recognize or understand the concept of various food items, it sees "sucrose, glucose, aspartic acid, tryptophan, retinol, riboflavin, iron, fructose, linoleic acid, etc. Recognizing "orange," or "steak," or "soda" is strictly a thought process, it has no effect on how the food is processed and used.

so the answer is, no you don't have any studies to prove the malarky you are spreading. Because I could have sworn the body has to work haeder to get the sugar out of the apple then it does to get the sugar out of the pop, no matter what else you eat with it. But hey that's just me. Fail.

Do you have studies to prove that? Because that's just not true. All the anti-carb in general and anti-fructose in particular arguments all rely on one thing, vacuum food. once you eat more than one food, the entire digestive process shifts to accommodate it. The body doesn't digest one thing at a time, and patiently store the rest until it's done with it. If you drink a soda at the same time as eating oatmeal, while the soda may be faster to digest on its own, the body still has to process the oatmeal at the same time, which slows down the processing of the soda as well. All those "sugar causes problems" studies are all fine and dandy in controlled lab settings, where they carefully monitor feeding windows, food content, and digestion, but they've never been able to replicate those results under real world conditions.

AeolianHarp

so the answer is, no you don't have any studies to prove the malarky you are spreading. Because I could have sworn the body has to work haeder to get the sugar out of the apple then it does to get the sugar out of the pop, no matter what else you eat with it. But hey that's just me. Fail.

Yes, you are fail.

AeolianHarp

This made me LOL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=MGDDyyQV9Qo#!

Also, Alan Aragon will be responding soon to it. This gun be good.

Lindaj44

"Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, believes the high amount of sugar in the American diet, much of it in processed foods, is killing us."
OK, that does not sounds crazy to me. I have to agree with that.

"And as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, new scientific research seems to support his theory that sugar is toxic, including some linking the excess ingestion of sugars to heart disease."
That is widely believed. Ever seen Food Matters?

I don't understand the haters who posted before me. I have never heard of this Lustig guy but sounds like he is on the right path.

I agree!!

neanderthin

"Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, believes the high amount of sugar in the American diet, much of it in processed foods, is killing us."
OK, that does not sounds crazy to me. I have to agree with that.

"And as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, new scientific research seems to support his theory that sugar is toxic, including some linking the excess ingestion of sugars to heart disease."
That is widely believed. Ever seen Food Matters?

I don't understand the haters who posted before me. I have never heard of this Lustig guy but sounds like he is on the right path.

I agree!!

There's a thing called context and dosage, which he seemed for some reason to not talk about and why he was called an alarmist. Is american eating too much sugar, you bettcha. Is sugar evil, no.

tigersword

Not to mention, that study that was used consisted of the equivalent of 300 grams of sugar a day, which is far more than the average American consumes.

lovely78

I watched this report also. Dr. Lustig's generalized view that sugar is killing us is true, BUT the context is wrong. He's not educating people, he's just fear mongering.

The problem is that we are eating too much sugar because we have a food industry that insists on using cheap, artificial ingredients. Also, the food industry is adding these ingredients to foods that just don't need them. Sugar (real sugar) has always been an ingredient in tomato sauce (homemade or bottled) but what the heck is HFCS doing in bread crumbs???

The other problem is that as a nation we just aren't exercising enough.

mmapags

I watched this report also. Dr. Lustig's generalized view that sugar is killing us is true, BUT the context is wrong. He's not educating people, he's just fear mongering.

The problem is that we are eating too much sugar because we have a food industry that insists on using cheap, artificial ingredients. Also, the food industry is adding these ingredients to foods that just don't need them. Sugar (real sugar) has always been an ingredient in tomato sauce (homemade or bottled) but what the heck is HFCS doing in bread crumbs???

The other problem is that as a nation we just aren't exercising enough.

Bingo! Very smart lady!!

neanderthin

I watched this report also. Dr. Lustig's generalized view that sugar is killing us is true, BUT the context is wrong. He's not educating people, he's just fear mongering.

The problem is that we are eating too much sugar because we have a food industry that insists on using cheap, artificial ingredients. Also, the food industry is adding these ingredients to foods that just don't need them. Sugar (real sugar) has always been an ingredient in tomato sauce (homemade or bottled) but what the heck is HFCS doing in bread crumbs???

The other problem is that as a nation we just aren't exercising enough.

While I agree with your post i just want to comment on the sugar in tomato sauce. I've never put sugar in tomato sauce and neither has my nona...........so to say sugar has always been there is probably true on a processed level, certainly not from a home made stance.

Real sugar in processed foods limitations (doesn't mix in well) it's one of the original reason manufacturers switched to HFCS. As far as HFCS is concerned it's again a matter of context and dosage, some HFCS isn't the problem, overconsumption is and considering the concessions to grow corn (cheap) and the fact that HFCS works better in baking and most processed food is the reason it is the go to sweetner, but is it worse that table sugar, not when you take context and dosage into account. Unfortunately because HFCS is used in processed food and that's what everyone is eating to excess, it's the eazy target to blame instead of taking person responsibility for the overconsumption of sugars in general from processed foods.

mmapags

I watched this report also. Dr. Lustig's generalized view that sugar is killing us is true, BUT the context is wrong. He's not educating people, he's just fear mongering.

The problem is that we are eating too much sugar because we have a food industry that insists on using cheap, artificial ingredients. Also, the food industry is adding these ingredients to foods that just don't need them. Sugar (real sugar) has always been an ingredient in tomato sauce (homemade or bottled) but what the heck is HFCS doing in bread crumbs???

The other problem is that as a nation we just aren't exercising enough.

While I agree with your post i just want to comment on the sugar in tomato sauce. Real sugar in processed foods limitations and it's also one of the orginal reason manufacturers switched to HFCS. As far as HFCS is concerned it's again a matter of context and dosage, some HFCS isn't the problem, overconsumption is and considering the concessions to grow corn (cheap) and the fact that HFCS works better in baking and most processed food is the reason it is the go to sweetner, but is it worse that table sugar, not when you take context and dosage into account. Unfortunately because HFCS is used in processed food and that's what everyone is eating to excess, it's the eazy target to blame instead of taking person responsibility for the overconsumption of sugars in general from processed foods. Also i just want to say, that I've never put sugar in tomato sauce and neither has my nona...........so to say sugar has always been there is probably true on a processed level, certainly not from a home made stance.

I agree that in my Italian family we do not put sugar in tomato sauce but I thought that was a minor point in an otherwise awesome post. Many do but not around my Nona you didn't unless you wanted to be on the wrong end of a wooden spoon! (she was tiny but she was deadly with those things!)

neanderthin

I watched this report also. Dr. Lustig's generalized view that sugar is killing us is true, BUT the context is wrong. He's not educating people, he's just fear mongering.

The problem is that we are eating too much sugar because we have a food industry that insists on using cheap, artificial ingredients. Also, the food industry is adding these ingredients to foods that just don't need them. Sugar (real sugar) has always been an ingredient in tomato sauce (homemade or bottled) but what the heck is HFCS doing in bread crumbs???

The other problem is that as a nation we just aren't exercising enough.

While I agree with your post i just want to comment on the sugar in tomato sauce. Real sugar in processed foods limitations and it's also one of the orginal reason manufacturers switched to HFCS. As far as HFCS is concerned it's again a matter of context and dosage, some HFCS isn't the problem, overconsumption is and considering the concessions to grow corn (cheap) and the fact that HFCS works better in baking and most processed food is the reason it is the go to sweetner, but is it worse that table sugar, not when you take context and dosage into account. Unfortunately because HFCS is used in processed food and that's what everyone is eating to excess, it's the eazy target to blame instead of taking person responsibility for the overconsumption of sugars in general from processed foods. Also i just want to say, that I've never put sugar in tomato sauce and neither has my nona...........so to say sugar has always been there is probably true on a processed level, certainly not from a home made stance.

I agree that in my Italian family we do not put sugar in tomato sauce but I thought that was a minor point in an otherwise awesome post. Many do but not around my Nona you didn't unless you wanted to be on the wrong end of a wooden spoon! (she was tiny but she was deadly with those things!)

yeah, I agree with her post otherwise. Unfortunately HFCS is a lot cheaper and works better and it's the only reason it's used but is it worse than table sugar, no, not in my opinion.

About sugar in tomato sauce.....I agree, it's just wrong, and the taste is just nasty.

Acg67

I watched this report also. Dr. Lustig's generalized view that sugar is killing us is true, BUT the context is wrong. He's not educating people, he's just fear mongering.

The problem is that we are eating too much sugar because we have a food industry that insists on using cheap, artificial ingredients. Also, the food industry is adding these ingredients to foods that just don't need them. Sugar (real sugar) has always been an ingredient in tomato sauce (homemade or bottled) but what the heck is HFCS doing in bread crumbs???

The other problem is that as a nation we just aren't exercising enough.

While I agree with your post i just want to comment on the sugar in tomato sauce. Real sugar in processed foods limitations and it's also one of the orginal reason manufacturers switched to HFCS. As far as HFCS is concerned it's again a matter of context and dosage, some HFCS isn't the problem, overconsumption is and considering the concessions to grow corn (cheap) and the fact that HFCS works better in baking and most processed food is the reason it is the go to sweetner, but is it worse that table sugar, not when you take context and dosage into account. Unfortunately because HFCS is used in processed food and that's what everyone is eating to excess, it's the eazy target to blame instead of taking person responsibility for the overconsumption of sugars in general from processed foods. Also i just want to say, that I've never put sugar in tomato sauce and neither has my nona...........so to say sugar has always been there is probably true on a processed level, certainly not from a home made stance.

I agree that in my Italian family we do not put sugar in tomato sauce but I thought that was a minor point in an otherwise awesome post. Many do but not around my Nona you didn't unless you wanted to be on the wrong end of a wooden spoon! (she was tiny but she was deadly with those things!)

yeah, I agree with her post otherwise. Unfortunately HFCS is a lot cheaper and works better and it's the only reason it's used but is it worse than table sugar, no, not in my opinion.

About sugar in tomato sauce.....I agree, it's just wrong, and the taste is just nasty.

If you use good quality fresh tomatoes, herbs, garlic and oo, no need for sugar in your sauce

MikeSEA

If you use good quality fresh tomatoes, herbs, garlic and oo, no need for sugar in your sauce

I don't know about that. Even with good quality tomatoes, sometimes they're a little acidic and a small amount of sugar can balance that out some.

beckajw

"Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, believes the high amount of sugar in the American diet, much of it in processed foods, is killing us."
OK, that does not sounds crazy to me. I have to agree with that.

"And as Dr. Sanjay Gupta reports, new scientific research seems to support his theory that sugar is toxic, including some linking the excess ingestion of sugars to heart disease."
That is widely believed. Ever seen Food Matters?

I don't understand the haters who posted before me. I have never heard of this Lustig guy but sounds like he is on the right path.

Don't rely on CNN to accurately report anything.

grinch031

If you use good quality fresh tomatoes, herbs, garlic and oo, no need for sugar in your sauce

I don't know about that. Even with good quality tomatoes, sometimes they're a little acidic and a small amount of sugar can balance that out some.

I would like to see a study to back up both of these claims.

neanderthin

If you use good quality fresh tomatoes, herbs, garlic and oo, no need for sugar in your sauce

I don't know about that. Even with good quality tomatoes, sometimes they're a little acidic and a small amount of sugar can balance that out some.

Not if the sauce has been reduced properly. Saying that I'm talking a traditional italian marinara sauce. you also have to take into consideration that the taste of Italians or people that have always had tomato sauce that way actually don't find acidity a bad thing in tomato sauce. Some and actually many traditional Italian dishes that include tomato but not necessarily reduced marinara will have some acidity, which could be considered the standard taste for that particular regional dish.......I'm a chef, just thought I'd mention that.