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Comment by shijie | Hacker News Reader

Salt might be a contributing factor, albeit small, but there's an increasing tsunami of research pinning sugar, especially added sugar in the forms of table sugar and high fructose corn syrup, as the primary cause of hypertension, obesity, heart disease, and a huge host of other diseases.

This is a lengthy discussion between a health/fitness expert and Gary Taubes, author of “The Case Against Sugar”: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/podcast/nutrition-podcasts/...

After listening to that and reading some of the linked studies and articles, it seems obvious to me that sugar is orders of magnitude the highest candidate for heart-related disease and obesity. Just my conjecture though, happy to be proven wrong. In the meantime, I'm cutting down heavily on refined sugar and processed carbohydrates. I've never felt better. Same caloric intake, just different sources.

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Very interesting. In the last 2 years I scare-tactic'd myself into seriously restricting my sugar (basically down to what the WHO would recommend for a person like myself) and immediately saw improvements in my skin, and not long after noticed that I don't get sick as often.

As well, I've adopted the practice of avoiding any eating after 7pm.

These two things combined resulted in me going from the 150s down to the 140s, seemingly only losing fat in the process.

All anecdotal but it has been more than enough to convince me that sugar (despite my deep, deep, deep, love for it) is not good for me.

Anecdote of one here, but I've had a lot of success putting all my focus on eating less sugar. After calming the sugar cravings, I moved on to reducing the number of processed carbs. Less hunger / mood swings, more energy; generally fitter and healthier. Again, just my personal experience.

It's true that sugar is responsible for much disease, however "the primary cause of hypertension"? I really don't think so, unless indirectly, as a consequence of diabetes and obesity.

In any case, there is no controversy regarding the role of salt in hypertension. The evidence has been accumulating for a very long time, with numerous studies and meta-analyses. The physiological mechanism by which sodium and potassium control blood pressure is also uncontroversial.

And anyway, just because sugar is bad for you doesn't mean salt is good for you- in the same way that smoking is not good for you just because sugar is bad.

Taubes has degrees in aerospace engineering and journalism. Not to say that formal education is the marker for expertise, but it's at least a contributing factor.

I'd hardly call him a "health expert" just because he wrote a controversial book about nutrition.

I believe the commenter was referring to Ben Greenfield as the health and fitness expert. The podcast is a conversation between him and Taubes.

I’ve been saying for years: Sugar is Evil

I often feel very “energy depleted” after eating sugar. Yes, you get the initial push, but that is followed by a drag and mood deterioration, which I can only fight by getting something salty or simply waiting it out

Gary is a big proponent of the low carb/insulin hypothesis for weight loss. And so far, with his Nutritional Science Initiative and their testing, it's just not panning out..

https://examine.com/nutrition/low-fat-vs-low-carb-for-weight...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiUyjMjuLl0&t=674s

I'm wondering if he's still worth listening to..

Weight loss is only one aspect of the nutrition story. That being said, remember that just because Taubes is wrong on a bunch of things, doesn't make sugar any healthier.

Sugar can be unhealthy without being the Ultimate Evil, cause of all ills, that Taubes makes it out to be.

Looking at the actual paper the Examine article is based on (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/26731...), you can see that the so-called low-carb diet still included 30% of calories from carbohydrates. That's way more than most low-carb diets, including those promoted by Gary Taubes. The main benefits of low-carb diets come from switching into ketosis.

I think another direction to look is also seed oils, specifically high polyunsaturated. I am not sure what I believe but I do think it's as valid of a possibility.

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