Zoe Williams. To complicate the situation, it also has over fifty aliases: high-fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice, brown rice syrup, muscovado… the list goes on and on. And while the lobbying groups are sometimes at war over their individual cuts of the market, they all work towards the same goal, says Nestle: To suggest sugar isn’t really a problem and cast doubt on the research saying that it is. Neither Lustig nor Nestle suggests quitting sugar completely. “I wouldn’t say that it’s a poison; It’s not,” she tells Inverse. Added sugar is like a sweet poison! For most American women, the AHA recommends consuming no more than 25 grams of sugar per day, which equals about 100 calories or six teaspoons. Documentaries like Fed Up, books like Salt Sugar Fat, and viral articles demonize the white powdery substance many know and love. Make it a really spectacular, worthwhile dessert. “For a lot of people, that’s going to help them lose or maintain weight, and it’s not gonna mess up their metabolism. “Food companies learned a long time ago, the more they add, the more you buy.”. Is sugar toxic? “If your caloric intake is regulated and you’re not gaining weight and you eat a healthy diet, a little sugar doesn’t hurt at all,” she says. A child consumes roughly 32. Added sugar is also a poison. And metabolic syndrome isn’t rare. Lustig also plans to release a new book later this year called The Case for Real Food and helped start the“Eat Real” educational and food certification movement. This article helps us discover if sugar is a poison, but if you haven’t read the other previous article (Obesity isn’t the problem – click here to read) then I recommend you read it first.Otherwise, let’s crack on and discuss the truth behind sugar, and if we can go as far as calling sugar a poison. Lustig believes that sugar is a toxin, with a unique role in the development of metabolic syndrome (the common coexistence of insulin resistance, hypertension, obesity, and abnormal blood lipid levels). Fiber is a matrix with the sugars inside and takes longer to break down, Lustig explains. “You can make dog poop taste good with enough sugar,” he says. "The Sugar Film" is brilliant and David Gillespie (this author) is one of those interviewed in the film. “It’s their hook because sugar’s addictive,” Lustig explains. I do hope that this has been useful for you.  Do you think you’re health would benefit from cutting back on your sugar intake a little bit?  Please do share in the comments below.  I always love to hear from you. Like abortion. Then, there’s “added sugar,” the type that most nutritionists and physicians are more concerned about. Our economy is entirely built on hedonic pleasures, which is why we’re going to hell in a handbasket.”. Just like the rules of the road when it comes to speed, the figures listed below are limits not targets, so feel free to consume less!!! When you eat, your body breaks the carbohydrates in food down into glucose — what we know as blood sugar — as well as other sugars like sucrose, lactose, and fructose, to fuel the body and keep it running smoothly. “I am not for dessert for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Without major shifts in consumer preferences, systemic change towards using less sugar by these mammoth organizations seems unlikely. But doctors keep reminding us that sugar is responsible for many diseases that affect Western societies. Your email address will not be published. If you are among the few who have missed it, you have perhaps caught Gary Taubes’ “what he said” article in the New York Times Magazine. I’ve pulled together some information about how the guidance of no more than 10% translates into the number of teaspoons this adds up to. It was a secondary problem from the biochemical rise in insulin. As such, fructose can only be processed by the liver. She is one of thousands going sugar-free, but cutting it out completely can be challenging. One researcher in particular, Robert Lustig, M.D., a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, is spreading the message that "fructose is poison." Glucose is the body’s main energy source and can be metabolized by all organs in the body. “Insulin, when it’s high, is basically depriving your heart, your liver, your muscles, your bones, your kidneys, your brain, your lean body mass, of energy,” he says. Research shows such financial interventions work, and lead to less soda consumption. So off my soap box now and back to sugar! So it turns out, if you peel and eat an orange or nibble on corn on the cob, less sugar enters your bloodstream directly. Ultimately, metabolic syndrome can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even death. Gather your information, arm yourself with this information and get sugar out of your diet, for good and for life (yours and your loved ones). Sugar isn’t poison, but it definitely isn’t good for you. Sugar is in most indulgent foods, yes, but so are other refined carbohydrates, as well as fat and salt. On the other hand, sugar is a carbohydrate that provides human bodies with energy. Highlights. Is he right-or is it just a false alarm? But determining how much sugar is too much, and what types are good or bad, requires navigating a complicated food landscape. “When you eat a piece of fruit, you’re feeding your bacteria,” Lustig says. There are three major players in the U.S. sugar industry: The Sugar Association, Corn Refiners Association, and American Beverage Association all invest staggering financial resources towards shaping public and scientific perception of sugar. Fructose is the type of sugar that can be found in fruit and vegetables. And it's killing people.". The sugar industry is … The insulin came first.”. It naturally occurs in fruits and vegetables, and we’ve learned to extract it in the form of sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup, which are then added to soda and fruit-flavored drinks in high concentrations. Sugar is Poison. Learn more about the risks today. And don’t beat yourself up over the occasional cookie, cupcake or ice cream scoop. . Now it’s safe to say this can drive me completely up the wall and I’ll now confess, just between you and me, it sometimes leads to me having a one way dialogue with the TV and radio when said celebrities are telling the general public to add honey, molasses, coconut sugar and the like to recipes as healthy sugar alternatives!!! Marion Nestle, Ph.D., the Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita, at New York University and author of Food Politics and Unsavory Truth has been studying the food system since 1985 and takes a more measured approach. But you probably don't know that you're getting a lot of sugar from bologna, catsup, chicken noodle soup, mayonnaise, biscuit mix, medicine, and … I could agree that white table sugar is a poison, as well as being highly addictive, and probably should be banned. 116 likes. Lustig believes industrial food companies are majorly responsible for inventing new forms of sugar and hiding it in places it shouldn’t be. Even Beyoncé swore off sugar to prepare for her celebrated Coachella performance. Added sugar goes straight into the bloodstream after being digested by enzymes in the small intestine. Despite those efforts, some progress to curb sugar consumption has been made. I always said to myself “I’ll only have one bite of this (insert junk food here)”. For men, it’s 36 grams, 150 calories or about nine teaspoons of sugar per day. Much of the sugar from fibrous food is absorbed by bacteria in the intestine, supporting healthy gut function, and doesn’t actually cause an insulin response. well, one bite leads into another and then another and before you know it, the whole container is empty and the viscous cycle continues. Dessert should be safe and rare. “What we realized was that the gluttony and sloth that we were seeing in the obese population and the fact that everyone was getting obese was not the primary problem. Sugar is an integral part of our daily diet but it's also called the white poison because of its harmful side effects. Required fields are marked *. Sugar is sugar is sugar, wherever it comes from or what it’s called So in helping you know what to look out for, I’ve listed below many of the names food manufactures use to describe the sugars included in their products on food labels ingredients list: So please don’t believe the hype claiming that sugar is poison, it isn’t.  We just need to be mindful about how much sugar we eat, which is nothing new.  The previous guidance advised that we consume no more than 10% of calories from free-sugars, which has now been reduced to no more than 5%. See the thing is, sugar as we already know it; yes that granular, glistening white stuff being derided as poison IS NATURAL, just as natural as the honey, molasses, coconut sugar or any other so-called natural sugar alternative celebrities are promoting in their books. Sugar, natural or added, is in almost everything: ice cream, cake, fruit, milk, vegetables, pasta sauce, white bread — any food that contains carbohydrates. It’s easy to hit that number. Added sugar can put you at a high risk of several heart diseases Replace added sugar some healthy alternatives like fruits and dates They could’ve put heroin in the food, but that’s illegal. Sugar is everywhere, whether we know it or not. Worldwide, obesity has tripled since 1975, and at least 2.8 million people die each year as a result of being overweight or obese. So there seems to be no limit to the amount of money that they’re willing to spend to stop it.”. In the YouTube video, Lustig argues that the current obesity epidemic can be blamed on a marked increase in the consumption of a type of sugar called fructose over the last 30 years.Fructose is a component of the two most popular sugars: sucrose or table sugar, and high-fructose corn syrup, which has become ubiquitous in soft drinks and many processed foods. This triumvirate of nutrients is what drives craving and overeating. If you need further convincing that sugar is poison, read this book. 6:32. Let’s find out if sugar is good for the human body or if it should be eliminated from the diet altogether. Items which are made “low-fat” have dangerous levels of added sugar to make them palatable. Sugar: Toxic to Digestion Much like pouring sugar into the gas tank of a car will gum up the engine, sugar has a negative effect on digestion and nutrient absorption. Sugar is present in most dishes we eat today. Here’s to your nourishment; body, mind and spirit. I’ve displayed it in what I hope is an easy to read and understand table below. We support reducing sugar in the human diet and educating people on how to do it. Humans [and animals] are “unable to subsist on a diet of sugar”. Sugar Is Definitely Toxic, a New Study Says By Alice Park Updated: October 29, 2015 10:25 AM ET | Originally published: October 27, 2015 5:00 AM EDT Dr Martin classified refined sugar as a poison because it has been depleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals. “I think it takes a revolution, and hopefully a bloodless one.”, Nestle stresses that sugar, when consumed in moderation, isn’t harmful. But to pass soda taxes, legislators must face a formidable adversary: the soda industry. Sugar is NOT poison, we just need to be mindful about how much of it we consume, which is nothing new. “They could have put cocaine in the food, but that’s illegal. All Rights Reserved. An influx of sugar into the bloodstream upsets the body’s blood-sugar balance, triggering the release of insulin, which the body uses to keep blood-sugar at a constant and safe level. You know about the sugar in your coffee, and you know it's in snacks like marsh-mallows, chocolate bars, gum and soda pop. They include different forms of white granulated sugar, brown sugar, and raw sugar. An average American adult consumes 22 tsp of sugar per day. Where, over the last 2 years, several public health campaigns from Change4Life, in particular, have been hammering home the message. Fructose, glucose’s “twin,” has the same chemical compound but a different structure. His famous YouTube video “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” has been watched more than 6 million times. It’s perfectly normal and healthy to eat a very limited amount of sugar per day, but 20 tablespoons or even more lead straight to several very brutal diseases. "The vehicle is processed food.The payload is sugar. Taken from Joe Rogan Experience #1230 w/Killer Mike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7HMOsRUFS8 Copyright © 2018 WeighBetter. What sugar is really doing to your body – Why sugar is poison! Various cities across the US and Mexico have implemented so-called “soda taxes” aimed to make it more expensive, and less appealing to guzzle Pepsi, Fanta and other sweet fizzy drinks. All sugars are not the same, and the distinction is important. Obesity, which is especially dire in Western countries, is now considered an all-out pandemic — people are fatter, sicker, and dying younger. You may have seen a YouTube video in which Dr. Robert Lustig of UCSF opines that calories are irrelevant and that sugar is, in essence, the root of all dietary evil. If you’re one of the many making clean eating cakes and brownies and wondering why on earth you’re weight isn’t coming down, this information may give you some clues………… There’s been lots of information in recent times about the changes to guidelines about the limits around the amounts of free-sugars we should all be consuming. “When you drink fruit juice, you’re overwhelming your liver and that liver then makes fat and you drive up the insulin levels.”, Nestle puts it simply: “Everybody would be better off eating less of it.”. We get enough sugar from fruits and other sources to make up for any nutritional need our bodies may have for it. “The vehicle is processed food,” Lustig says. Sugar isn’t poison, but it definitely isn’t good for you. So even if a nutrition label seems sugar-free, look closer: Sugar might just be dressed up in a different way. by admin | Apr 14, 2018 | Uncategorized | 0 comments. Insulin, a naturally occurring hormone, helps cells use glucose for energy. It follows that if you cut down on sugar, you’ll cut down on calories, too. Sugar is called the “white death” as it is believed to be the cause of various health issues. Described as "white poison", this additive is often incorporated into our diet without our knowledge. In 2009, Lustig gave a lecture entitled “ Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which has since attracted more than a million views on YouTube. Eat a bowl of breakfast cereal and a glass of orange juice and you’ve almost reached the daily limit, Lustig says. Lactose is derived from dairy products, while sucrose is a combination of fructose and glucose. “So far they’ve spent well over a hundred million dollars fighting soda taxes. Robert Lustig: the man who believes sugar is poison. Professor Robert Lustig is perhaps the number one enemy of Big Sugar. . The dead dogs in Professor Magendie’s laboratory alerted the sugar industry to the hazards of free scientific inquiry. Chronically high insulin levels are dangerous. Sugar is a drug and it’s harming and killing millions of people every year. The “natural sugar” producers can point at the corn growers, and vice versa, without really confronting the jugular question. Added sugar is one of the worst and most toxic ingredients in the Western diet. There are two types of sugars in the American diet: naturally-occurring sugars and added sugars. The Poison Squad | Article The Great Electric Sugar Con ... As sugar historian Deborah Warner puts it, “Wiley was generally considered the leading sugar expert on the federal payroll. So I think it’s a great place to start,” she says. Sweet Poison. But is too much sugar simply a matter of extra calories in our diet-or is it harming our health, too? “Naturally occurring” sugar in fruits, vegetables, or milk is packaged alongside components like fiber, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that, crucially, help the body process the sugar slowly. Though it’s important to help fuel our cells or store energy sources for later, insulin isn’t always the good guy. “The soda industry fights against soda taxes so hard,” Nestle explains. “I do not believe it’s a poison unless it is consumed in very, very large amounts.”. He suggests incorporating nutritional curriculum into public education, emphasizing what he calls “real food” — food that’s low sugar and high fiber. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, irritability, mood-swings, persistent migraines, and even episodes of seizures – all linked to high sugar consumption. And, as ever, if you think this article may be useful to someone else please do feel free to share it with them.  And maybe come over and join the conversation in The Steps To Health Facebook Group, you’ll be most welcome. Sugar is poison. Sugar is poison, and it's everywhere. It’s just slower.”. In that video Lustig calls sugar toxic. Of course Dr. Lustig has had quite some pushback on that. 4 Sugar Alternatives That Won’t Poison You. – Overcome Sugar addiction - Duration: 6:32. They recommend limiting the amount of added sugars you consume to no more than half of your daily allowance of discretionary calories (these are the “excess” calories we consume after eating all required nutrients for the day and can include foods like chips, energy drinks, or an ice cream scoop). It metabolizes slower and steadier than sugar, making it a much safer sweetener for hypoglycemics and the sugar … “Therefore, you have to eat more and you feel lousy doing it.”, In a study Lustig published in 2004 in the International Journal of Obesity, he found that when obese participants’ insulin levels were lowered with medicine, people had more energy and even started exercising spontaneously and voluntarily. The American Heart Association estimates that about 34 percent of adult Americans have the condition, mostly from consuming a fast-food diet (spicy chicken sandwich, please), maintaining a sedentary lifestyle (Netflix and chill, not a walk in the park), and eating too much sugar (Cokes for lunch and dinner). Sugar and water can kill you. Lustig and Nestle, who have studied sugar for decades, can help clear up the confusion. When there’s too much fructose, your liver also stores the excess for later, but this time as fat. “The payload is sugar, and it’s killing people just like any nuclear bomb would. Jennifer x, Your email address will not be published. Few simple substances stir up as much controversy as sugar. And make it a special one. Sugar can seem so fundamental to our diets that we rarely think about how it actually functions in the body. But too much insulin, he learned, causes problems. But if there’s too much glucose in the body, insulin stores the excess in liver or muscle cells as glycogen, which can be broken down and used in the future. It has no nutritional value and lacks any essential proteins, minerals and vitamins. By David Katz, M.D. Unlike sugar, which provokes the release of insulin in response to its consumption, xylitol is metabolized independently of insulin in the gut. Table Sugar is commonly made of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. The body cannot utilize this refined starch and carbohydrate unless the depleted proteins, vitamins and minerals are present. “And that’s the national school breakfast program,” he says. “So, our kids are getting poisoned at school.”. A 2015 survey published in The Lancet found that 68% of all packaged foods and beverages in the United States food supply contain “caloric sweeteners” — another way of saying sugar. To curb sugar consumption has been made to myself “I’ll only have bite! 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