Is Sugar Toxic?

[n2doc]

By GARY TAUBES
Published: April 13, 2011

On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology.

Lustig is a specialist on pediatric hormone disorders and the leading expert in childhood obesity at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, which is one of the best medical schools in the country. He published his first paper on childhood obesity a dozen years ago, and he has been treating patients and doing research on the disorder ever since.

The viral success of his lecture, though, has little to do with Lustig’s impressive credentials and far more with the persuasive case he makes that sugar is a “toxin” or a “poison,” terms he uses together 13 times through the course of the lecture, in addition to the five references to sugar as merely “evil.” And by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”

It doesn’t hurt Lustig’s cause that he is a compelling public speaker. His critics argue that what makes him compelling is his practice of taking suggestive evidence and insisting that it’s incontrovertible. Lustig certainly doesn’t dabble in shades of gray. Sugar is not just an empty calorie, he says; its effect on us is much more insidious. “It’s not about the calories,” he says. “It has nothing to do with the calories. It’s a poison by itself.”

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html

[sheldon]

1. Toxic, and addicting.

Just try and quit eating it for a month. I dare you!
I'm 99% sugar-free! Have been for about 2 years. Life is better now.

[tabatha]

2. yep - in many ways

I read as a teenager that sugar and too much salt wer bad.

I gave up the sugar in tea, coffee, etc that was customary when growing up.

However, sugar was consumed from other sources.

I have been totally off sugar for about 5 years (including hidden), and can only drink one brand of almond milk with the least sugar - I cannot stomach the sweeter varieties. It has gotten to the point where I actually prefer bitter food.

[Adsos Letter]

3. Ask a diabetic.

[hedgehog]

4. It's a real argument for home cooking and home baking. When I do

all my own, i know exactly how much sugar comes into the house and into my mouth. A lot of sugar sneaks by in store bought bread, spaghetti sauces, pizza, etc.

[Warpy]

21. A five pound bag of sugar lasts me years

and the humming bird feeder gets most of it.

I eat very little processed stuff. I find out I feel better when I've done a large pot of something or other instead of having an "I don't wanna cook" day and eating something prefab. This week it was a package of free range chicken wings turned into a huge pot of chicken rice soup. Tomorrow it'll be a huge pot of spaghetti sauce that will last several days. None of this stuff requires a huge amount of time, just slapping the ingredients together and letting the stove or crockpot do its thing.

[MineralMan]

5. Oh, noes! I just ate a Hostess Snoball. I'm doomed.

I think I'll lie down now and wait for the end. :rofl:

[gateley]

8. If my last meal was a Hostess Snoball, I'd die with a smile on my face. :-) nt

[MineralMan]

10. Especially a pink one. They're hard to find.

All that chocolatey, marshmallowey goodness. And that Kreme center, all full of tasty chemistry.

I think I'll go eat the other one from that package....then I'll lie down and wait for the end.

[gateley]

11. And the chewy, chewy, chewy marshmallow-ish covering. Well, you'll have a little

bit of heaven on this side, even if you don't make it to the one on the other side. :7 Bon appetit!

[trotsky]

6. Water is a poison too.

If you drink too much of it, you will die. Guaranteed.

Do we consume too much sugar (and other sweeteners)? Absolutely. THAT should be the message - not just demonizing a particular sweetener or two.

[Dorian Gray]

15. I totally agree

be mindful of what you ingest. Know how much sugars you are getting. Like everything else in life, it's about moderation. Demonizing sugar will only create more problems.

[Abq_Sarah]

18. How do you define moderation?

Sugar is in almost everything you eat. Cutting out added sugar is a good step but unless it's protein, fat or fiber, your body is going to convert what you eat to sugar.

[WatsonT]

7. Not really

but it is dangerous in large doses.

Moderation is best for most things.

Trying to cut out sugar entirely from your diet will be difficult. And likely you'll cheat and end up right back where you started.

But cutting it down to a reasonable level is entirely doable.

[gateley]

9. Stevia. nt

[astral]

19. Yes, stevia, but CLEAN stevia.

Not the crappy stuff that is something - else- but- with - stevia - added - too - so - they - can - call - it - stevia. And most especially not with that grapefruitseed extract added (as a 'preservative'). Stevia IS a preservative, it doesn't NEED one ADDED.

Sugar = acidifying = toxic. We all eat lots of stuff toxic to us, but the facts are still the facts.

[laconicsax]

12. No, it isn't.

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2075

[northoftheborder]

13. There are so many substances which are clearly poisonous,>>>>

air pollution, radiation, drugs, chemicals in water, on and on, that saying eating sugar even in moderation is poison, seems ridiculous to me. Clearly there are studies indicating that too much sugar derived from corn is not healthy.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Dr. Philpott stated in "Brain Allergies" in 1980

I give this book a 5 star rating, your mileage may vary.


http://www.lowcarbmonthly.com/general-health/the-relationship-between-sugar-and-inflammation.html

>>Dr William Philpott, in his book BRAIN ALLERGIES says, "One of the most important systemic functions of the pancreas is to supply proteolytic enzymes (enzymes from the pancreas that aid in the digestion of proteins into polypeptides and then amino acids) which act as regulatory mechanisms over inflammatory reactions in the body. Poor digestion of proteins to amino acids occurs as a consequence of insufficient pancreatic proteolytic enzymes. As a result, unusable inflammation evoking protein molecules are absorbed through the intestinal mucosa and circulate in the blood, reaching tissues in partially digested form.<<

The medical community rejected this concept for years. As the old saying goes, first they ignore it, then they ridicule it, then they call it their own. Well, that is just what they have done. They call it the leaky gut syndrome, gut permeability and/or food allergy. As partially digested protein molecules (peptides), the immune system, which protects us from foreign invaders, sees these protein molecules as foreign invaders and responds the only way it knows how with inflammation. Depending on where this partially digested protein goes in the body, inflammation can set in any organ or tissue.(6)

This foreign matter, or partially digested protein, is in particles too large to be utilized by the cells. They can not get into the cell and function. This form of food allergy can cause havoc in our blood stream.(7) One of the things these particles can do is cause the classic symptoms of allergy, the inflammatory response, the runny eyes, sinusitis, sneezing and scratchy throat.(8),(9) These particles can go to the joints, tissues or bones and cause arthritis.(lO),(ll). They can go to the nervous system and cause multiple sclerosis.(l2) Medical research shows that this foreign matter can go to the skin and cause psoriasis,(13) hives,(14), and eczema.(15) The inflammatory process takes place in all these diseases.

[salvorhardin]

16. The headline is sensationalist since Taubes is really talking about fructose*

But the article is really good, and Taubes goes out of his way to not oversimplify the topic.

Of course, Taubes has an agenda and a book to sell and both he and Lustig go against the current scientific consensus. Harriet Hall savaged Taube's book back in January. It's well worth reading, as are the comments disagreeing with Hall and the subsequent replies by Steven Novella to some of the negative comments. http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=9841

Personally, I don't have the knowledge to say whether Taubes and Lustig are right or wrong but Lustig has some really interesting arguments. I think the best we can say right now is that the science isn't settled and time well tell.



*Taubes is very clear that he is talking about fructose found in table sugar (sucrose) and HFCS. He's also not demonizing sugar and cites an '80s study that recommended a number of grams of added sugars per day that's about half what the average American consumes daily. He also plainly states that this is a "the dose makes the poison" situation.

[salvorhardin]

17. For anyone who's interested... Gary Taubes is interviewed on Skepticality

Gary Taubes is interviewed on the latest episode of Skepticality.

Each year 45 million Americans diet to lose weight, spending $33 billion on weight-loss products - and yet, 68 percent of Americans are now classified as overweight or obese. If the prescription to eat less and exercise more, or maintaining a calorie deficit is all it takes to lose or maintain a healthy weight, why are so many of us fat and getting fatter?

This week on Skepticality, Swoopy talks with award-winning science journalist Gary Taubes about his most recent book, Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It which looks critically at the science of adiposity, the hundreds of years of scientific research and data about the best ways to avoid obesity and obesity related illness, and debunks the myth that losing weight is all about the calories.

Listen online or subscribe to the podcast: http://www.skepticality.com

If you just want to grab the mp3, here's a direct link: http://traffic.libsyn.com/skepticality/153_Skepticality.mp3

[Lex]

20. I'm *very* sensitive to sugar. I stay away from it like it was poison.

Your mileage may vary. I feel a thousand times better since ditching sugar (and refined carbs). Lost 90 lbs too and have kept it off since 2006 when I stopped consuming sugar and overprocessed carbs.