Why we should regulate sugar like alcohol

CNN ^ | February 1, 2012 | Laura Schmidt

[CharlesThe Hammer]

I am a medical sociologist, which means I study the health of whole societies. I've spent more than 20 years studying the best possible ways to address alcohol problems in societies -- what works and what doesn't to protect people from harm.

I work as a professor in the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine and at the UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. This allows me to connect with other scientists who come from very different backgrounds but who want to work together on big problems -- think of a Manhattan Project, only one focused on protecting health through the collaboration of scientists who study everything from tiny cells to entire societies.

[TigersEye]

-- Many of the health hazards of drinking too much alcohol, such as high blood pressure and fatty liver, are the same as those for eating too much sugar. When you think about it, this actually makes a lot of sense. Alcohol, after all, is simply the distillation of sugar.

Soon we will see the BATFES (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives and Sugar)

[RayChuang88]

This is an EXTREMELY dangerous precedent, because they can use this convenient excuse--plus plans to "lower the sodium intake"--to effectively remove a HUGE fraction of the food off supermarket shelves. Do we really want our food markets to look like markets in Communist countries with its frequently bare shelves?

[Future Useless Eater]

Not all things labeled 'junk science' are junk. In this case, there is NO money in it for researchers or endocrinologists to OPPOSE sugar. The sugar lobby is huge and super powerful, and our chance of eliminating taxpayer subsidies for sugar are almost zero.

I understand the comments on this thread are almost 100% against this author, but he/they are basically correct. Sugar IS a mild poison because the fructose that is 50% of every 'table sugar' (sucrose) molecule is toxic in that form. It MUST be detoxified by our livers into other compounds, and human livers can only detoxify a certain amount of fructose per day (roughly 25-30 grams of fructose if you are a full grown adult in good health). Most of the world now eats two or three times that amount or more because sugar is so cheap, and thought to be harmless. Children have smaller livers and can only detoxify even smaller amounts than healthy adults.

Over time, the excess fructose damages our livers, leading to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, and a host of other diseases. Type TWO diabetes used to be called 'adult onset diabetes', but it is now happening to younger and younger sugar addicts, even children.

Newt Gingrich took a beating after FL debates for even mentioning the possibility of someday eliminating the sugar subsidy, and that was after Newt's answer that the sugar lobby was too powerful and it would be almost impossible. [and he was right about that]


The following is an educational seminar by an expert on this subject, the endocrinologist Dr. Lustig

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Current Controversies in Nutrition: Letting Science be the Guide Sugar the Bitter Truth
[Right-click VIEW to enlarge, or Click above to Play] (7:05) We have an epidemic of obese 6-month olds! So any hypothesis that attempts to explain the obesity epidemic, must be able to explain this as well.	(09:10) Now, you all know, back in 1982, the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, and the US Department of Agriculture, admonished us to reduce our total fat consumption from 40% to 30%. Everybody remember that? ... So what happened? We did it. We've done it. 40% calories down to 30%. And look what's happened to the obesity, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke prevalance, ALL jacked way up as our total fat consumption as a percent, has gone down. It ain't the fat, people. It ain't the fat. So what it it? Well, it's the carbohydrate. Specifically, which carbohydrate? ...	(20:05) ...But indeed, this is true, High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar are EXACTLY the same. They are both equally bad. They are both dangerous. They are both poison. OK?, I said it. Poison. My charge before the end of tonight, is to demonstrate that fructose is a poison. And I will do it. And you will tell me if I was successful.	(22:48) So you can see that more and more of our caloric intake, a higher percentage, is being accounted for by sugar, every single year. So we're eating more; we're eating more sugar. And for adolescents today, they're up to almost 75 grams [of fructose] per day; 12% of total caloric intake. And 25% of adolescents consume at least 15% of their calories per day from fructose alone. This is a DISASTER. An absolute unmitigated disaster. The fat's going down, the sugar is going up, and we're all getting sick. Now let me show you why...
	(31:31) ...This was a "Battle Royal" back in the 1970's. This was not a simple thing. There were people lined up on both sides of this story. So this over here, is a book, 1972 it came out. And it was called Pure White and Deadly. Its all about Sugar. Written by a British physiologist, nutritionist, endocrinologist, by the name of John Yudkin. Now I never knew John Yudkin, he has passed away. But I read this book about a year ago, and without even knowing it, I was a Yudkin acolyte. I was a Yudkin disciple. EVERY SINGLE THING that this man said in 1972 is the God's honest truth. And if you want to read a true prophecy, you find this book. Its NOT easy to find, but you go find this book, and I'm telling you, every single thing this guy said, has come to pass. It's ASTOUNDING. I am in awe of this guy.

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There are other ways to sweeten things without using so much of the fructose-saturated table sugar (sucrose). For example, clear Karo syrup is 100% glucose, so it does not contain ANY of the liver damaging fructose. I don't expect these authors to succeed in regulating sugar, but if they have any hope of succeeding it should be a war on "liver-damaging-fructose", not a war on all forms of sugar.

[jpsb]

Sugar and Salt, white death, I use as little of both as possible.

[Pollster1]

I agree with you and want the sugar subsidy eliminated, along with all agricultural subsidies, but that is not relevant to regulating sugar. The federal government should put out the information and then let us decide. With lower taxes and less government, we would have more time to make informed decisions and more money to afford healthier foods. My family, including my children, eat only a very small amount of processed sugar. We buy almost nothing with added sugar, and we read labels very carefully when we do buy packaged food. I agree with your point on health. I just believe it is not the government’s place to regulate sugar for us - that is my job as a parent.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Sugar IS a mild poison because .....

Because it's the main source of energy for our cells? Or because you don't understand biology and chemistry?

[Future Useless Eater]

Because it's the main source of energy for our cells?

You don't read too good do you? Glucose is the main source of energy for our cells, not sucrose (which contains 50% fructose and needs to be detox'ed by our livers)

Or because you don't understand biology and chemistry?

Not only you don't read, you don't understand either subject

[Fresh Wind]

LOL!

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I noticed you cited Dr. Lustig, but as I pointed out in a previous post, his criticism of fructose was based on a limited study, with only a pediatric spectrum, for a relatively short time.

Here is a concise set of criticisms against Lustig’s histrionics:

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

[Toddsterpatriot]

sugars

A loose term applied to monosaccharides and lower oligosaccharides.

http://goldbook.iupac.org/S06088.html

[hal ogen]

What an arrogant putz this “professor” is. Personally, I don’t giver a damn what she thinks. Someone should throw her useless dissertation at her. Leave everyone alone, you food Nazi.

[9YearLurker]

That’s approximately one half of a glass of orange juice per day.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

You make a more convincing case than the author does. Of course, you didn’t waste valuable words trying to impress anyone with your resume.

[tomkat]

No one gets out alive

[desertfreedom765]

I have no problem eliminating the Sugar subsidiy.

However Education is greatly needed. I also have no problem if they required the Glycemic index be posted on processed foods.

Bread, Pasta, Starch are basically reduced to sugar in the body and are just as bad. I see people eat huge amounts of the above having no idea what they are doing to their body.

So Sugar is just part of the problem.

[3boysdad]

That’s very progressive! Well done.

[Mase]

the science behind America's enormous rate of obesity is simple and believable: high-fructose corn syrup - cheap sugar - is now the second or third largest ingredient in most packaged foods.

The science behind America's rate of obesity says that our rate of obesity is caused by the fact that we're consuming more energy than we burn. It can't be blamed on a macronutrient, a micronutrient, some food ingredient, or a chemical. Americans are consuming too much food and beverage while living a sedentary lifestyle.

Sugar makes you fat

Consuming more calories than you burn makes you fat. It's the amount of calories that matters, not the source of those calories.

[desertfreedom765]

“That’s very progressive”

I hope that was a complement, liberals have given the word progressive a bad name. :^)

Conservatives believe in giving people information to make their own decisions, Liberals believe in making decisions for people or making them pay dearly.

[Mase]

Your guy Lustig blames fructose for just about every problem facing society except global warming. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about, but he doesn't. Early in his sermon he claims that alcohol is a carbohydrate. It isn't. He also claims that alcohol and fructose are metabolized in the same manner. That's a bizarre statement coming from anyone who claims to understand biochemistry.

He also says that fructose is a toxin. It is not. The liver easily converts fructose to glucose. Of course, if you overwhelm the body with anything, bad things can happen.

Anyone with Lustig's background should know better than to promote the silliness he does, but there it is. He has an agenda, but I have no idea what it is. Who cares. If you're going to demonize sugar of any kind, you should probably find a source who knows what he's talking about.

[Mase]

which contains 50% fructose and needs to be detox'ed by our livers)

So fruit and honey are toxic? Sure. You do realize, don't you, that just about anything can be toxic in the right quantities? People die from drinking too much water.

Fructose utilizes a different pathway than glucose when metabolized. Even so, your liver easily converts fructose to glucose. You need to stop listening to Lustig.