The truth about sports, nutrition and pain!

Posts tagged ‘blood sugar’

Sugar, the hidden enemy – part 2

In the last blog I talked about what sugar is, what it consist of, and how it is broken down in the body. I also mentioned that High Fructose Corn Syrup and sugar are basically the same thing, and that the difference between these two things and other carbohydrates is the molecule fructose. This fructose molecule and the way the body metabolizes it, may make it singularly harmful, at least if consumed in sufficient quantities(1-3).

They have done different studies on animals and have seen that if the fructose hits the liver in sufficient quantity and with sufficient speed, the liver will convert much of it to fat(4). This, according to the studies, will lead to a condition know as Insulin Resistance. So what is Insulin Resistance?

  • INSULIN RESISTANCE – When you eat something ( particular carbohydrates) your body responds by secreting insulin, to keep blood sugar in control after a meal. When your cell´s become resistant to insulin, your pancreas responds to rising blood sugar by pumping out more and more insulin. At the end your pancreas will no longer be able to keep up, this will lead to your blood sugar to rise out of control, and eventually you will probably get type 2 diabetes. Some people who are insulin resistance may NOT get diabetes, as somehow their body will continue to secrete enough insulin to overcome their cell´s resistance. But having elevated insulin levels is also quite bad, as it can lead to heart disease.

So basically the theory goes like this, accumulation of fat in the liver will lead to insulin resistance. You may ask yourself that maybe simply getting fatter leads to a fatty liver? But, this does not explain fatty liver in lean (skinny) people. According to Prof Lustig, the fat in the liver is caused by the fructose found in the SUGAR (5)!! Because the fructose component of sugar is metabolized primarily by the liver, while the glucose from sugar is metabolized by every cell in the body. So consuming sugar means more work for the liver. And this has been demonstrated in laboratory rats (6).  Whenever they wanted to create insulin resistance on them, they would just simply feed them diets consisting of pure fructose or sugar.

Now, I don´t want people to panic and think that fructose is horrible. Fructose is horrible if eaten in abundance. The dosages of fructose required to produce negative effects are quite high. Not impossible to reach through dietary means but almost impossible through fruit alone!!  I say this because, as most of us, know fruit is made up of fructose, and some people may think this is bad and the reason why they aren´t losing weight. But this is FALSE. What´s bad for you is the regular consumption of sugar sweetened beverages and all that sugary food we are always eating. Plus, fruit contains a lot of vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients, as well as fiber (7,8). Fiber helps slow your absorption of fructose. The slow absorption minimizes any surge in blood sugar(9).

So how much Fructose should you be eating? According to different clinical trials, 25-40 grams of fructose per day is totally safe. That´s 3-6 bananas, 6-10 cups of strawberries, or 2-3 apples per day(11). But for all those who drink a lot of sugar sweetened beverages or other ¨ junk food¨, I want to give an example so that you guys understand where the problem is really coming from(11).

  • A 20- ounce bottle of soda contains 35 grams of fructose (10,11)!!
  • If you eat a dessert with 50 grams of sugar – remember sugar is made up of 50% glucose, 50 % fructose – you are getting about 25 grams of fructose(11).
  • And let us not forget that HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP is about 55% fructose, 45 % glucose, and this is found in many processed foods, fruit juices, sports-drinks, energy drinks and so on(11).

So now you tell me, where is the problem coming from? Why is sugar the hidden enemy? And how can we stop this obesity and diabetes epidemic?

Here is a link to a great video done by Prof. Lustig it has gotten 4 million views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM, it´s 1 hour and 20 minutes but it´s worth it.

References

  1. Wiernsperger N. Hepatic function and the cardiometabolic syndrome. Diabetes Metab Syndro Obes, 2013 Oct 10;6:379-88.
  2. Song M, Schuschke DA, Zhou Z, Chen T, Shi X Zhang J, Zhang X, Pierce WM jr, Johnson WT, Vos MB, McClain CJ. Modest fructose beverage intake causes liver injury and fat accumulation in marginal cooper deficient rats. Obesity (silver Spring). 2013 Aug:21(8):1669-75.
  3. Botezelli JD, Cambri LT, Ghezzi AC, Dalia RA, Voltarelli FA, de Mello Ma. Fructose-rich diet lead to reduced aerobic capacity and to liver injury in rats. Lipids Health Dis. 2012 Jun 19;11:78
  4. de Castro UG, Dos Santos RA, Silva ME, de LIma WG, Campagnole-Santos MJ, Alzamora AC. Age-dependent effects of high-fructose and hig-fat diets on lipid metabolism and lipid accumulation in liver and kidney of rats. Lipids Health Dis.2013 Sep18;12(1):136.
  5. Lustig RH. Fructose: It´s ¨alcohol without the buzz¨. Adv Nutr, 2013 Mar 1; 4(2):226-35.
  6. Lanaspa MA, Ishimoto T, Li N, Cicerchi C, Orlicky DJ, Ruzicky P, Rivard C, Inaba S, Roncal-Jimenez CA, Bales ES, Diggle CP, Asipu A, Petrash JM, Kosugi T, Maruyama S, Sanchez-Lozada LG, McManaman JL, Bonthron DT, Sautin YY, Johnson RJ. Endogenous fructose production and metabolism in the liver contributes to the developmetn of metabolic syndrome. Nat Commun.2013;4:2434
  7. Larsson SC, Virtamo J, Wolk A. Total and specific fruit and vegetable consumption and risk of strok3: a prospective study. Atherosclerosis, 2013 Mar; 227(1):147-52.
  8. Steinmetz KA, Potter JD. Vegetables, fruit, and cancer prevention: a review. J Am Diet Assoc.1996 Oct;96(10):1027-39.
  9. Ulrich IH, Albrin MJ. The effect of dietary fiber and other factors on insulin response: role in obesity. J Environ Pathol Toxicol Oncol.1985 Jul;5(6):137-55.
  10. Bray GA, Popkin BM. Calorie-sweetened beverages and fructose: what have we learned 10 years later. Pediatt Obes 2013 Aug;8(4):242-8.
  11. Matthew M. Do Fructose and Fruit Make You Fat and Unhealthy? www.muscleforlife. com April 15,2013.
Related articles

Category:

Diet

Tagged with:

Is food addictive?

Today in age people are getting fatter and fatter. Obesity is now a world wide epidemic. In the USA in 1995 two-thirds of Americans were overweight and obesity was killing 300,000 people a year, sickening millions and costing $99 billion annually. 10 years later and the Americans (the studies I have are from Americans but I bet in Europe it is the same thing) were eating 50 percent more fast food meals and five more pounds of sugar a year. US obesity related health costs have risen to $117 billion!!!(1) So what´s wrong? Why do we keep eating and getting fatter? We know it´s bad for us but we still don´t do anything about it. Are we just plain stupid? Or is there something more complicated that we still don´t understand? Can food be addictive……..

 

There is growing evidence that sugary foods can trigger changes in the same brain chemicals affected by addictive drugs. Researchers at Princeton have shown that natural opioids are released when rats eat a large amount of sugar and that they are thrown into a state of anxiety when the sugar is removed. Biologist are also finding that overeating on refined fatty meals triggers similar physiological changes. Leptin is a hormone which signals the body to stop eating after a certain point when consuming natural foods (2). Well, researchers at Albert Einstein Medical College saw that when they fed rats unnaturally fatty meals, the rats would loss all of their ability to respond to leptin. They just kept eating!!! The reverse effect happened when they were taken off the high fat for a while. There was also a study at Rockefeller University that showed that a high fat diet reconfigures the body´s hormonal system to want yet more fat. Galanin, a brain peptide that increases eating and slows energy expenditure, rises in rats on a high fat diet (3). In fact, it only takes 1 high fat meal to stimulate galanin release and the craving for fat. So we are beginning to see that food can actually be addictive, but we can also stop this addiction by eating properly. But what is eating properly? Before I answer this question I want to try to clear some terms that I think are important:

  • Refined: We always hear this word but few people really know what it means. When ¨refining¨ flour, sugar or other foods, it means it is removing the hull and fiber, often even the cell wall of plant structures, leaving only simple carbohydrate or clear oil. Farming refines our food all the time. A recent study of nutrients in food found that, in the second half of the last century (1900-2000), fruits and vegetables suffered significant decreases in protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin B2 and vitamin C.
  • Insulin: When we eat simple carbohydrates, glucose levels soar in the bloodstream. In the short term, our bodies release INSULIN to store the glucose as fat. Repeated surges in blood sugar make the pancreas work harder and can contribute to insulin resistance, thereby increasing the risk for type 2 DIABETES, in which blood sugar levels remain elevated, causing damage to our kidneys, eyes and immune system (4).
  • Trans Fats- ¨are produced by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of catalysts and hydrogen. This gives them a different shape from the original oil or the natural saturated fats found in meat. They don´t fit properly with cell membranes or with enzyme designed to digest fats. Trans fats cause a significant drop in HDL (good) cholesterol and a significant increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol, they make the veins and arteries more rigid, they cause major clogging of arteries and they contribute to the risk of death from heart disease. Because trans fats contain abundant calories without providing the beneficial fats found in natural vegetable oil, they lead to overeating with under nutrition. Trans fats now make up much of the fat in CANDY, COMMERCIAL COOKIES and cakes, and the oils in which FAST_FOOD CHAINS FRY FOOD¨  (*Taken from Waistland by Deirdre Barrett pg 34)

 

 

In my next post I will talk about what eating properly is and how we are doing right now the complete opposite. But in the meantime I would love for you guys to take a look at this link. It´s a series BBC did on obesity and it´s called THE MEN WHO MADE US FAT. It consists of 3 parts and each last 55 minutes but it´s very interesting. Here goes the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6nGlLUBkOQ.

 

References

 

Barrett D. Waistland, The (R)Evolutionary Science behind Our Weight and Fitness Crisis.Norton & Company.2007

 

Egan S. Making the Case for Eating Fruit. New York Times. July 2013.

 

Colantuoni C. Evidence that intermittent, excessive sugar intake causes endogenous opioid dependence.Obesity Research 10,6 (2002):478-88.

 

Martindale D. Burgers on the Brain:Can you really get addicted to fast food?, ¨New Scientist, February 1,2003.

 

Wang J. Overfeeding Rapidly Induces Leptin and Insulin Resistance. Diabetes 50(2001):2786-91.

Category:

Diet

Tagged with:

Tag Cloud