Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit
theglobeandmail.com
theglobeandmail.com
When we bring the car into the equation and the way it has transformed the way we travel we suddenly have this health 'time' bomb that is beginning to explode.
Now people may say it's down to the individual to make dietary decisions, but this is more fundamental than this. In the same way the tobacco industry has to pay for the damage it inflicts on the population through taxation, I can see sugar taxes becoming something governments will implement to recover the cost to the state of a unhealthy population.
(This is not a serious suggestion, but I think it would still be interesting to brainstorm the implications of such a tax.)
I agree that some stuff already has a high amount of sugar in it naturally, but I think in the grand scheme of things they make up just a small minority of all products. My concern is for more common stuff, like bread. Why does bread have to have high-fructose corn syrup in it again? The answer is that it doesn't.
Does US bread have more than that?
http://www.pepperidgefarm.com/FreshBreadsGateway.aspx
2 to 4 grams of sugar per slice is typical there. That sort of bread is prepared at large regional bakeries.
Decent grocers will also have a fresh bakery, with somewhat more variety to the product, and probably breads with little added sugar.
If you live in a decent size town, there will also be one or more store front bakeries that uses a shorter list of ingredients (I almost said they are more traditional, but I'm sure they are mostly using big mixers and nice ovens and the like).
Some blame comes down to the producer and marketing trends, gluten is a good example. Up until recently, gluten free had no regulation with using that on packaging. http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocuments...
When discussing this with friends, I use the example of sodas being marketed as caffeine-free, rather than caffeine added. They are all caffeine free to start.
edit: I had meant the indirect subsidy through corn subsidies. I agree that there shouldn't be much of a distinction between HFCS and sugar (fructose) from other sources.
HFCS is metabolically identical to white sugar and bobos singling it out are misguided.
HFCS is produced by running corn starch through an enzyme process identical to one that happens in your pancreas. Corn starch is broken up into glucose and then half the glucose is converted to fructose.
Personally I find HFCS drinks have a mild metalic aftertaste whereas sugar doesn't. I don't know what causes it. But HFCS is metabolically exactly the same as white sugar. And neither are "bad" for you.
That is going to be much trickier, though. The sugar binge is partially a result of the well-meaning but misguided demonization of fats during the 70s and 80s, something those very governments participated in.
You can live in perfect health on close to zero fat intake. Sustained zero sugar/carb intake is extremely stressful for the body and sends catecholamine levels way up, accelerating aging.
The anti sugar thinking is basically some dumb ideas from diabetes research extrapolated out. If you have a healthy pancreas there is zero reason not to get a load of your calories from sugar. You just have to get sufficient mineral and vitamin intake as well, so for this reason fruit juice is better than white sugar.
«Lipogenesis is the process by which acetyl-CoA is converted to fatty acids. The former is an intermediate stage in metabolism of simple sugars, such as glucose, a source of energy of living organisms. Through lipogenesis and subsequent triglyceride synthesis, the energy can be efficiently stored in the form of fats».
If you have healthy pancreas and keep overloading them with sugar, you will quickly develop insulin sensitivity and eventually kill your pancreas.
"Anti-sugar thinking" has started out as diabetes research and over the last few decades has turned up plenty of evidence of how unrestricted sugar heavy intake leads to a number of health related issues and degenerative diseases. Role of sugar in endogenous glycation processes can't be underestimated either.
I very much doubt that - quite the opposite, you can live in perfect health on close to zero sugar intake. In fact, there are essential amino acids, and there are essential fatty acids, so you can not live without either protein or fat. There's nothing like "essential sugars", however.
Sustained zero sugar/carb intake is extremely stressful for the body and sends catecholamine levels way up, accelerating aging.
I'm interested to see sources for "low carb accelerates aging" claim.
Sugar/starch is more rightfully considered essential because glucose is clearly the preferred fuel for animal cells. Glucose deprivation leads to disease.
You may look up Pellagra. It is, of course, not a threat in a modern western society, but it used to kill people. Not even an experiment, but something that happened in nature. Yes, there are reasons to consider EFA deficiency.
Would a person die horribly if good sources of fat and protein are abundant, but glucose is not? I don't think so.
Glucose deprivation leads to disease.
Again, I would like to see some source. What particular diseases? There are whole groups of peoples (i.e. Inuit, Maasai) who were eating diets almost entirely lacking glucose before Western foods became available to them.
Do you realise, at least, that the body can produce it's own glucose from the excess fat (Gluconeogenesis)?
A person eating nothing but fat and protein will have chronically elevated adrenalin and cortisol, will prematurely age, and be more prone to various degenerative diseases.
You could at least look up the first line of a Wikipedia article? Tryptophan is an essential amino acid.
It can be caused by decreased intake of niacin or tryptophan,[1] and possibly by excessive intake of leucine.
Anyway, in the absence of any sources there's not much I can gain from this discussion, unfortunately.
I would hate for ignorance to turn the essential sugar fuel I need to ride 100 miles on my bike (no, it turns out, you don't want to do that on fat metabolism alone!) into some unobtainable luxury.
i'm not an expert in this field, but during my personal ketogenic diet research, i came across many elite but amateur endurance athletes blogging about their switch from carb-adapted to fat-adapted performance.
to a layman like me, it would seem that professionals wouldn't be publicizing the fact that they have switched to fat-fueled endurance training because it would be a massive competitive advantage.
the research in this area of biology is extremely cutting edge with new information being published monthly, and i can only imagine well-funded professional athletes are simply training/eating and performing at a level far and away beyond the typical enthusiast or fitness athlete. not only that - they can sustain a specialized, ketogenic diet required to actually achieve such a state.
Except it's a disadvantage, not an advantage. All kinds of diets have been tried in the name of performance and the results are pretty clear. The typical world class runner's diets in the top performing country (Kenya) has 76.5 percent of daily calories consumed as carbohydrates. This group of runners has absolutely demolished lower carbohydrate consuming western runners. Marathoners from other top-performing countries (Ethiopia and Japan) have similarly been scrutinized with similar results.
the proper experiment would be to take half of the kenyan runners and fat-adapt them, and compare their performance to the other kenyans, as well as their previous selves.
has that study been done?
You're not going to find a "proper" experiment, but many, many athletes experiment with their diets, and ketogenic diets are pretty well explored ground. Athletes and coaches alike gravitate towards what yields results. Running is an extremely competitive sport with few barriers to entry and the claim of such a low-hanging "massive competitive advantage" is an extraordinary one that requires extraordinary evidence to be taken seriously.
Carbohydrates shouldn't be unobtainable or something just for the rich, but a bag of gummi bears should no longer be 2 ten thousandths of a cent per calorie.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%2412.25+divided+%285+p...
As for the obesity argument, I think there are two things to consider here: 1. sweet foods are calorie dense. Hence, it's easy to consume too many calories until you feel full. 2. they also have a high reward factor, so it's likely that you would keep eating even after you're full - there's always room for dessert!
Though, these problems not limited to sugar/hfcs. Fructose-free sweeteners suffer from them as well.
King Louis XVI kept his sugar in a locked container and kept the key with him. He would open it up for special guests and personally delivered small amounts of sugar to each person. Similarly, in French noble households it was common for the man of the house to control the sugar-key, and to distribute small amounts of sugar to the family as he saw fit.