Is Sugar Toxic?

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  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
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    Upon doing a Google search, the only source of claims of the toxicity of sugar is Dr. Robert Lustig. Every single article that mentions sugar as being toxic or poisonous links back to him. Generally, when information is coming from one source, it is not reliable. There were no direct studies about fructose as a whole being toxic, but there was a mention of research from University of California Davis which is suggesting that excess consumption of high fructose corn syrup could increase your cholesterol, which can then increase risk for heart disease.
    A Google Scholar search turned up absolutely nothing. Not a single article. Unless, of course, you're concerned about a type of sugar that is toxic to honey bees.

    Wrong.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAHgChvUwh8
    (jorge Cruze and Dr. Oz on sugar as a toxin)

    So you're saying Dr. Oz is more reliable than peer reviewed scientific journal articles? Or are you simply saying that Dr. Lustig isn't the only quack to claim that sugar is a toxin?
  • johnsnana
    johnsnana Posts: 63
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    Sorry, forgot to quote before replying but in response to jamek92's post of

    "Ignoring the total falsity in which you claim sugar causes diabetes, I'm really curious as to how the hell you trained for a half marathon on 60g or less of carbs per day. That is insanely low carb for anybody, let alone somebody who's running upwards of (I'm assuming) 30 miles a week. I was tired as hell when I got less than, like, 250 when I was doing peak mileage.
    Actually, since you're eating such a low carb diet and running a great volume, I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that the reason you were craving sugar is because your body requires glucose and you're not giving it enough carbs to break down into glucose.
    Additionally, and this is just nitpicking, but bulimia, or any other binge eating disorder, doesn't have limitations on what constitutes a binge. There are people who binge on proteins and vegetables. Just because you binged on sugar doesn't mean everybody else does. "
    I reply....

    Well, my diary is open & my results for both the Summer Breeze race 8/04/12 & the one I did on May 18th (the Eye-Q Classic) are posted at Active.com so it can be done. Not sure if you are questioning me or just not aware of how low carb effects the body. There are many runners on the Atkins website that run 1/2's & full's without "carb loading" & run much faster times than me!
    I think I gave TMI & will refrain from doing so as some members can be too cruel & while I'm a big girl, I don't want to discourage anyone else who has an eating disorder not to ask for help or not to feel free to message me about they're issues. And as for the comment about bulimics binging on protein & veggies" I would be willing to bet I have been around more people with eating disorders than you have in your lifetime & NONE binged on protein & veggies! Unfortunately, it is a topic I DO know alot about.
  • lauraniwa
    lauraniwa Posts: 131 Member
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    http://urlybits.com/2010/04/every-facebook-political-argument-youve-ever-seen/

    Thought this might help.
  • gdbadass
    gdbadass Posts: 60
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    Sorry, forgot to quote before replying but in response to jamek92's post of

    Johnsnana, you bravely shared your story and I hope people won't be discouraged from doing so in the future because of someone else's insensitivity.
  • johnsnana
    johnsnana Posts: 63
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    Sorry, forgot to quote before replying but in response to jamek92's post of

    Johnsnana, you bravely shared your story and I hope people won't be discouraged from doing so in the future because of someone else's insensitivity.
  • johnsnana
    johnsnana Posts: 63
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    Thank you:flowerforyou: I really appreciate that. At 45 yrs old (end of August) & what I've been through in my life, I surely won't let someone elses comments scare me away that quickly:ohwell: I was once told "you can't be hurt by someone you don't care about".
    Thanks again for the support:flowerforyou:
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
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    It is quite annoying how they put it in EVERYTHING! every freakin thing.
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    It is quite annoying how they put it in EVERYTHING! every freakin thing.

    You have to make low-fat stuff palatable somehow ;)
  • TheRealParisLove
    TheRealParisLove Posts: 1,907 Member
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    sugar does not cause diabetes.

    Not in moderation. But what it does is creates a cycle that will burn out the body's insulin response, causing a person to be unable to create enough insulin to stay healthy. Sort of like Crystal Meth burns out the dopamine receptors in the brain due to a dopamine overload when on meth.

    We haven't evolved enough to handle the large amount of sugar in the SAD.
  • Hendrix7
    Hendrix7 Posts: 1,903 Member
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    You made the claim, the burden of proof is on you. First you should probably start with metabolically how do refined sugars differ from their naturally occurring counterparts.

    The history lesson part, frankly, I don't have time for right now. Maybe after dinner, if I still feel like playing :). A little research on Google would probably show you the truth, but I can see you aren't that sort of guy.

    The sugar part is easy - I am not claiming a metabolic difference between refined sugars and glucose. Read carefully - that isn't what I said. I said the brain can make glucose from sources of carbohydrate other than added refined sugar. In fact, it can make glucose from fat as well.

    Nobody needs refined sugar in their diet. Punto, period, end of story. It's yummy, though.

    Saying you don't need sugar is not the same thing as saying it's toxic, you say there is proof that it is toxic, well post it up.

    This is the number one line of defence for scaremongers, 'hey the proof is out there' 'do some research' etc etc but never actually posting any

    A quick good search only reveals that lustig was completely unable to defend himself in a proper debate on the subject, and backed out as soon as he could

    http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMc0_s-M08I
  • owyn999
    owyn999 Posts: 12 Member
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    There are myriad diseases in the developed world that kill and seriously disable, such as heart disease, cancers, Alzheimer's, etc. If there was a food that was causing these diseases I think it would be fair to characterize it as toxic. Lustig claims that food is sugar. The dosage at which it is causing these diseases is the average American consumption.

    We don't know for sure what individual components contribute to modern diseases, but studies have shown that the Western diet (and presumably lifestyle) causes modern diseases, as seen repeatedly when people in the developing world transition from their traditional diets to western diets. They even did a study showing the same effect in reverse, where Aboriginals returned to live in the bush, dramatically improving their health. I don't think sugar is the only culprit, but based on my own research I think time will prove Lustig right.

    P.S. Lustig isn't a crackpot, he is (or atleast was) a respected figure within nutrition. That is why he has gotten so much attention, especially given how extreme his allegations are.
  • smaschin
    smaschin Posts: 91
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    everything is toxic in excess, even in water ! (though strictly speaking toxic is a very specific description which doesnt really fit)

    everything in moderation
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
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    Lustig also has some issues with both the facts in his presentations (documented by Zoe Harcombe on her website) and a credibility problem, i.e. he is sugar-fixated, podgy and admits to eating bagels and junk.

    Lol Harcombe. She is as bad as Taubes etc. Although her writeup on the lipid hypothesis was better than Taubes' imo

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/530718-if-you-liked-taubes-gcbc-why-we-get-fat-you-ll-love-this (Harcombe nonsense)
    Call me crazy but I'd rather listen to someone like Mark Sisson or Robb Wolf for a decent well-rounded view of what constitutes good health.

    Well rounded view or extremely biased view?
  • AllTehBeers
    AllTehBeers Posts: 5,030 Member
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    Don't you know that you're toxic?

    britney-spears-2.jpg
  • ModoVincere
    ModoVincere Posts: 530 Member
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    everything is toxic in excess, even in water ! (though strictly speaking toxic is a very specific description which doesnt really fit)

    everything in moderation

    This!
    Anything can be toxic in the wrong quantities. Even oxygen is toxic when concentrated too much.
  • EvgeniZyntx
    EvgeniZyntx Posts: 24,208 Member
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    sugar does not cause diabetes.

    Not in moderation. But what it does is creates a cycle that will burn out the body's insulin response, causing a person to be unable to create enough insulin to stay healthy. Sort of like Crystal Meth burns out the dopamine receptors in the brain due to a dopamine overload when on meth.

    We haven't evolved enough to handle the large amount of sugar in the SAD.

    Sort of correct - sugar alone will not "burn out" the body's insulin response. There are numerous studies on this.

    But it is a risk factor for type II diabetes, along with eating large quantiies of white rice, types of fat, no exercise, obesity, stress, etc..

    and the reason why it was called sugar diabetes is simply due to the detection method. A doctor would taste the urine of the patient - a sweet taste meant the person had the "sugar disease".

    http://www.news-medical.net/health/History-of-Diabetes.aspx
  • angiemartin78
    angiemartin78 Posts: 475 Member
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    It depends on who you ask :tongue:
  • jen10st
    jen10st Posts: 325 Member
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    any food is toxic if you eat too much of it. moderation is as always the key. and yes too much sugar does cause type 2 diabetes.
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
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    McKeithNigella_n.jpg
  • TheVimFuego
    TheVimFuego Posts: 2,412 Member
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    Well rounded view or extremely biased view?

    A something that makes intuitive sense to me and also happens to work for me view?

    I'm getting results, I ain't arguing with it.

    Good luck on your path, by the look of your profile picture you are way younger than me (41). I have this theory that younger people are less responsive to the whole broken metabolism line of argument and they tend to side with calories in/out because they haven't experienced the long term effects of eating nutrient deficient calories yet.

    I could shovel all sorts of crap into my mouth 15 years ago and burn it off and look good, not anymore ...

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