#cvdriskfactor

Behind the US and Mexico, New Zealand is the world’s third most obese developed nation, according to an OECD report released in June this year.

This is alarming.  What could possibly be tainting our food supply to cause such an epidemic in not only NZ but worldwide?

SUGAR!!

Too simple?

Emerging evidence is suggesting that sugar is in fact playing a significant role in the development of not only obesity but hypertension and other metabolic syndromes such as diabetes, and heart disease (1, 2, 3).

In fact globally, we have consumed three times as much as we did 50 years ago.  Put simply we are not eating more food per se, but more refined added sugars.

We were warned.  

The 1972 publication, ‘Pure, White and Deadly - How sugar is killing us and what we can do to stop it’ by biochemist John Yudkin was a controversial account on how physiologically, humans do not require any amount of sugar to function and that sugar ingestion causes heart disease - not saturated fat.  

One such critic was American physiologist Dr. Ancel Keys, who worked to prove the theory that saturated fat intake was associated with heart disease and that sugar played no part in it (4).  Unfortunately the nutrition community of that time were more accepting of Keys’ hypothesis.  His heavily flawed ‘Seven Country Study’ incorrectly linking dietary fat to heart disease became influential in establishing the low-fat dietary guidelines in mainstream nutrition.   

The fact of the matter is, obesity has been on the rise since this anti-fat dogma came about in the late 1970s (5).  So how it is possible that our current dietary guidelines are still based on BIG FAT LIES?

In April last year 60 Minutes explored the toxicity of sugar and its impact on global health (here); interviewing the likes of pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Robert H. Lustig, cancer researcher Dr. Lewis Cantley and nutrition researcher Dr. Kimber Stanhope who all have instigated a groundswell of awareness about the dangers of sugar.  

The clip stresses that most of us don’t realise how much sugar is added to products we wouldn’t necessarily identify as being sweet.  Manufactured food products such as bread, low-fat dairy products, canned soup, breakfast cereals and most condiments contain hidden sugars contributing to an “altered and adulterated food supply for the past 30 years” (Dr. Robert H. Lustig).

A crime the food and sugar industry are not willing to admit.  In fact, Big Food has become much worse than Big Tobacco ever was with the use of aggressive marketing tactics directly targeting children; also their influential financial power over major health organisations and in sponsoring favourable scientific research.

But the food processing companies had to add something to make their food palatable right?  

To avoid a ‘cardboard-like’ taste and be in keeping with the ‘low-fat’ health claim, just about every processed food has been laced with either Sugar or its counterpart High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS).  Both have been cheap to refine and produce however the problem lies with the fructose component of each sweetener - all along FRUCTOSE has been the main ingredient responsible for making us fat (6).

Sugar (sucrose) contains two molecules: 50:50 ratio of Glucose + Fructose.  Our bodies require healthful amounts of glucose for energy.  Fructose on the other hand is a very different molecule and our bodies treat this molecule very differently (7)…

FRUCTOSE IS NOT GLUCOSE

Glucose can be used by EVERY cell in the body and our bodies PRODUCE it. Fructose can only be used by LIVER cells and our bodies DO NOT produce it.  

Now, when we ingest sugar or sucrose the glucose molecule will cause a spike in INSULIN; fat storage hormone responsible for signalling fat cells to ‘stop burning and start storing fat’ and also to drive glucose into cells of the muscles and brain… The fructose molecule however can only be metabolized by the liver and will first want to store it as glycogen.

The trouble is, many of us do not carry out frequent intensive exercise regimes like those demonstrated on advertisements for Nutri-Grain and Powerade for example; which in effect depletes liver glycogen stores.  Because most of the time our liver glycogen stores are replete, the liver has no choice but to turn Fructose into Fat when faced with metabolizing fructose in excess (8, 9, 10).

When this happens, some fat enters the blood as TRIGLYCERIDES and small, dense LDL particles (very bad cholesterol).  

It is THIS type of cholesterol in the blood that puts those with high levels at risk of developing HEART DISEASE.  

Any remaining fat gets lodged in the liver, potentially leading to a condition known as NON-ALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE (11).  

Avoiding sugar should be piece of cake from now on right…?

Hmmm…

There is no denying it, SUGAR IS ADDICTIVE.  

“When sugar is added to foods, as consumers we over use it, and this is part of the abuse issue” Dr. Robert H. Lustig: Sugar - A Sweet Addiction

Sugar can ‘HIJACK’ your BRAIN!

Addiction is the down regulation of the D2 receptors in the reward centre of your brain (dopamine, ‘feel-good neurotransmitter’ - you derive reward when this is signaled) and SUGAR ingested in large amounts biochemically down-regulates these D2 receptors i.e. sucrose directly down-regulates the receptors in the reward centre of the brain as do other addictive abused drugs such as nicotine, cocaine, morphine etc (12).

This means that with fewer receptors for dopamine, the effect is impaired.

You end up ingesting more to get that ‘dopamine hit’ - a phenomenon called ‘tolerance’.  In addition, when you pull the chemicals that cause this pleasure away, leaving no dopamine response with fewer receptors this is called ‘withdrawal’.  Both tolerance and withdrawal are considered “hallmarks” of addiction demonstrated in the above Sugar: A Sweet Addiction video.  

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom from here on in.  

So… How about avoiding these highly processed foods and munch on REAL FOOD like a piece of fruit instead?

Fortunately, fruit does not have the same effect as ingesting foods and beverages containing added sugars.  

Whole pieces of fruit are not only high in vitamins and minerals but contain fibre and water which makes you full more quickly.  The fact that it can take awhile to chew and digest whole fruit makes it nearly impossible to overload your liver with fructose.  

In saying this, steer clear of fruit juice and dried fruit.  

When fruit is juiced, the fibre part gets removed giving no chewing resistance which essentially is needed to slow consumption.  Furthermore, the amount of sugar in a glass of fruit juice is practically equivalent to that of a sugar sweetened beverage.

In essence.. public pressure is needed to make a significant impact on mainstream nutrition policy for Big Food to pull their head in.

We have had it wrong for at least 30- 40 years people!

Saturated fat is not harmful, it is the sugar that is the poison.  

If consumption of the culprit is not reduced, obesity and other metabolic syndromes will become the norm; a depressing thought isn’t it?  

This sums up sugar for me personally: