Life This just in: Sugar is bad for you - Page 4

**petegz28** · 01-02-2015, 02:01 PM

Scientific team sounds the alarm on sugar as a source of disease

Is sugar making us sick? A team of scientists at the University of California in San Francisco believes so, and they're doing something about it. They launched an initiative to bring information on food and drink and added sugar to the public by reviewing more than 8,000 scientific papers that show a strong link between the consumption of added sugar and chronic diseases.

The common belief until now was that sugar just makes us fat, but it's become clear through research that it's making us sick. For example, there's the rise in fatty-liver disease, the emergence of Type 2 diabetes as an epidemic in children and the dramatic increase in metabolic disorders.

Laura Schmidt, a UCSF professor at the School of Medicine and the lead investigator on the project, SugarScience, said the idea is to make the findings comprehensible and clear to everyone. The results will be available to all on a website (SugarScience.org) and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

Added sugars, Schmidt said, are sugars that don't occur naturally in foods. They are found in 74 percent of all packaged foods, have 61 names and often are difficult to decipher on food labels. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires food companies to list ingredients on packaging, the suggested daily values of natural and added sugars can't be found.

The FDA is considering a proposal to require food manufacturers to list information on sugars in the same way they do for fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates and protein. But because so much added sugar is dumped into so many products, one average American breakfast of cereal would likely exceed a reasonable daily limit.

"SugarScience shows that a calorie is not a calorie but rather that the source of a calorie determines how it's metabolized," said pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, a member of the SugarScience team and the author of "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease." Lustig said that more than half of the U.S. population is sick with metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and liver disease that are directly related to the excessive consumption of added sugars in the Western diet.

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the category of heart attack/stroke as the leading cause of death in the United States. Every day, 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular disease. That's about 800,000 a year, or one in three deaths.

The latest statistics from the American Diabetes Association show that 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent, have diabetes. Of that number, 21 million have been diagnosed and 8.1 million have not, and the numbers continue to grow, according to the association.

It doesn't stop there. The American Liver Foundation says at least 30 million Americans, or 1 in 10, has one of 100 kinds of liver disease.

Clinicians widely believe that obesity is the cause of metabolic disease. Although it is a marker for these diseases, Lustig said, it's not the cause. "Too much sugar causes chronic metabolic disease in both fat and thin people," he said, "and instead of focusing on obesity as the problem, we should be focusing on our processed-food supply."

The average American consumes 19.5 teaspoons (78 grams) of sugar a day, substantially more than the amount recommended by the American Heart Association. The association sets these limits: 6 teaspoons (24 grams) for women, 9 teaspoons (36 grams) for men, and 3-6 teaspoons (12-24 grams) for children, depending on age. Just one 12-ounce soda contains 8 to 9 teaspoons (32-36 grams) of sugar.

Liquid sugar in sodas, energy drinks and sports drinks is the leading source of added sugar in the American diet. That represents 36 percent of all added sugars consumed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And because liquid does not include fiber, the body processes it quickly. That causes more sugar to be sent to the pancreas and liver than either can process properly, and the resulting buildup of sugar leads to heart disease, diabetes and liver disease.

Consuming too much sugar causes the level of glucose sugar in the bloodstream to increase. That, in turn, causes the pancreas to release high levels of insulin that cause the body to store extra calories as fat.

Too much insulin also affects the hormone leptin, a natural appetite suppressant that signals the brain to stop eating when full. But the imbalance of insulin levels caused by the intake of too much sugar causes lipid resistance, and the brain no longer gets that signal.

Another member of the SugarScience team, Dean Schillinger, is a professor of medicine at UCSF and a practicing primary care doctor at San Francisco General Hospital. He believes the overconsumption of added sugars is a social problem, not a problem of individual choice and freedom.

"People are becoming literate about the toxic effects of sugar," Schillinger said, "and have more understanding of the idea that high doses are bad for one's health." He sees evidence that those in a higher socioeconomic bracket are taking steps to limit intake of sugar when compared with poorer, less literate people.

Healthy food is expensive and less readily accessible in poorer neighborhoods, and because corn is so abundant and cheap, it is added to many food products. "Dumping high fructose corn syrup into cheap foods, sodas, sports drinks and energy drinks is toxic to the body, causing epidemic metabolic diseases and a serious health crisis," Schillinger said.

To underscore the scope of the problem, he pointed out that during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 1,500 American soldiers lost a limb in combat. In that same period, 1.5 million people in the U.S. lost limbs to amputations from Type 2 diabetes, a preventable disease. "We have yet to mobilize for a public health war," he said, "but the time has come to do so."

Such a war would have to take on the root causes of the problem. As a nation, Schillinger added, we would need to look at our food policies, food pricing, availability of healthy foods, and the marketing being carried out by food and beverage industries to hook the public on unhealthy choices loaded with added sugar.

Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, is not a SugarScience researcher, but he agreed that the amount of sugar consumed by the American public is too high. SugarScience, he said, is being helpful by bringing the information about added sugar to public attention.

"It's just about impossible," Hu said, "to know from food labels what kinds and amounts of sugars are in a product." That's why he thinks the FDA should require food companies to list those amounts on all food labels so people know what they're eating, in what amounts they're eating it, and what amounts are safe.

Food labels are important, Schillinger said, and they need to be revised, but the most important change needed is to make the healthier choice the easier choice.

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-0...ar-source.html

WhiteWhale · 01-03-2015, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Count Alex's Losses

You know what's bad for you?

Eating more calories than you burn.

The rest is bullshit.

It wasn't that long ago you were on an anti-sugar rampage and disparaging people for saying this exact thing.

WhiteWhale · 01-03-2015, 11:26 AM

I'm confused BEP... are you promoting individual responsibility on this matter? Because it doesn't sound like it.

**SAUTO** · 01-03-2015, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EPodolak

According to that movie, a rat addicted to cocaine and to sugar will choose to get his sugar fix first.

Rats are dumb.

BucEyedPea · 01-03-2015, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

I'm confused BEP... are you promoting individual responsibility on this matter? Because it doesn't sound like it.

You extrapolated that on your own, based on an assumption. I called for moderating it's use. That was responsibility right there.

Anyone can criticize Big Agra/Food and not buy their products. It's called having an opinion on the thread title: Sugar is bad for you. Topic was not about personal responsibility but the characteristics of sugar if'n' you noticed. Responsibility is another angle. I addressed sugar. It was educational which affects the market. Food companies have responded to a degree from that. After that others can choose to act based on that or not.

So quit being a jerk and read with comprehension. That would handle your confusion. Also, I am not a libertarian. I just know big agra is in bed with govt protecting them. Corny syrup is even worse and that's due to govt policies that it's in so many many things. No it's not the same as in it's just another calorie it metabolizes differently.

I buy natural and organic food and little sugar except for special occasions. I am sensitive to cane sugar but not beet sugar. I have often posted I use Stevia. You know what ASSumptions make you?

So where's the lack of responsibility? Nowhere.

As for someone calling out posters for criticizing the big food companies denying them their right to an opinion, that also doesn't mean those doing the criticizing buy those products either. Afterall, organic food purchases grew 14% from 2013-14 and more natural food markets are opening.

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Mar...4-from-2013-18

In fact The Guardian reports :

Quote:

Four out of five households now buying organic produce, with younger shoppers willing to spend the most, industry report finds.

BucEyedPea · 01-03-2015, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cmd'r&Chief

Don't blame the food companies? This guy works for ****ing Nabisco

Or Big Pharma/Med.

-King- · 01-03-2015, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by teedubya

Watch the documentary, Fed Up. It will infuriate you, how systematically the food industry adds salt and sugar to food to make you crave more of it.

Since I watched that on Oct 30th, I've cut all excess sugar, no sugary drinks, no processed sugar or white carbs... and I'm down 21.8 pounds.

I worked out ZERO times to see the effects without working out. Great jump start to the New Year.

-tw

It's not BECAUSE of sugar. You're just taking in less calories than you're buring. You can be on an all chocolate cake diet and achieve the same results.

Sully · 01-03-2015, 12:26 PM

You just have to eat more vegetables. Like chocolate!

-BEP

-King- · 01-03-2015, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

It wasn't that long ago you were on an anti-sugar rampage and disparaging people for saying this exact thing.

That was Buck not Gochiefs

BucEyedPea · 01-03-2015, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -King-

That was Buck not Gochiefs

Link?

And did you read it right or are you confusing context? I notice lefties tend to twist words around to mean something other than posted.
In fact I posted the EXACT same thing you did about chocolate cake in your Post #51. Please read, instead of twisting my words to suit your antagonism.

I think that was on aspartame being bad for you. Between aspartame and sugar, sugar is the lesser of two evils. Moderation is fine though.

Cmd'r&Chief · 01-03-2015, 12:45 PM

Case in point, more calories consumed than burned causes obesity and weight gain. But food companies know that putting excessive sugar and sodium in their foods make them addictive and this makes it difficult for people to fight the craving. It's not much different than using other drugs. Happy chemicals like dopamine are released, thus making the feeling that comes from consuming high amounts of sugar and sodium addicting, not to mention it makes the food delicious. It's not a conspiracy. It's just part of the business and money game.

But yeah, no shit the more vague comment is that excessive calories is what causes weight gain. But there are more details as to why people continue to eat these excessive calories in unsafe moderations.

There's no caloric debate, as to whether or not excessive sugar causes diabetes or excessive sodium causes high blood pressure. These things are medical facts.

So while you ****s argue whether calories or sugar is causing weight gain, you're all technically right. There are calories in sugar, and sugar can be addictive to certain people. So stfu.

ThaVirus · 01-03-2015, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -King-

It's not BECAUSE of sugar. You're just taking in less calories than you're buring. You can be on an all chocolate cake diet and achieve the same results.

You could eat Oreos all day long and lose weight if you wanted to. That would be a horrible, horrible idea though.

I think the important thing to note is that foods with excess amounts of added sugar (cookies, sodas, cakes, candy, etc) are the ones that do the most in significantly add to your daily caloric intake.

The guy you quoted said he lost 21 pounds so I'm assuming he was, and maybe still is, a fat shit. To a guy like that, it might be best to drop down to about 1800-2000 calories per day (depends though). If he drinks one glass of soda, he's already used up like 1/4 of his daily limit. Not to mention, those types of sugary foods/drinks are rarely ever satisfactory and tend to leave you wanting more.

**Donger** · 01-03-2015, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sully

You just have to eat more vegetables. Like chocolate!

-BEP

ThaVirus · 01-03-2015, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea

Moderation is fine though.

As with most everything.

ThaVirus · 01-03-2015, 01:07 PM

I had read the other day that one cup of Coca Cola has enough sugar to make you throw up. The only reason you don't is that they put some type of chemical that prevents you from doing so.

Thankfully, I've never been particularly fond of soda.

beach tribe · 01-03-2015, 01:10 PM

I'm sorry, but if this planet is going to continue to sustain us in the future, people are going to have to ****ing die.
I know how that sounds.
But I just don't understand the world's infatuation with wanting to live until someone else has to wipe your ass.
Heart attack sounds good to me.
Just about everything that tastes good is bad for you, and everything that is fun is dangerous.
I'm gonna eat it, drink it, climb it, jump it, **** it, and enjoy it with my foot on the gas.
I'm gonna live for 60 years, give or take, when most people live for 30, exist for 20, ponder for 15 and die for 10..
And in 50 years the government is going to either have to start more wars, or find more creative ways to kill all you leaf eaters.

01-02-2015, 02:01 PM
petegz28 Supporter Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Olathe, Ks Casino cash: $-905873	This just in: Sugar is bad for you Scientific team sounds the alarm on sugar as a source of disease Is sugar making us sick? A team of scientists at the University of California in San Francisco believes so, and they're doing something about it. They launched an initiative to bring information on food and drink and added sugar to the public by reviewing more than 8,000 scientific papers that show a strong link between the consumption of added sugar and chronic diseases. The common belief until now was that sugar just makes us fat, but it's become clear through research that it's making us sick. For example, there's the rise in fatty-liver disease, the emergence of Type 2 diabetes as an epidemic in children and the dramatic increase in metabolic disorders. Laura Schmidt, a UCSF professor at the School of Medicine and the lead investigator on the project, SugarScience, said the idea is to make the findings comprehensible and clear to everyone. The results will be available to all on a website (SugarScience.org) and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Added sugars, Schmidt said, are sugars that don't occur naturally in foods. They are found in 74 percent of all packaged foods, have 61 names and often are difficult to decipher on food labels. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires food companies to list ingredients on packaging, the suggested daily values of natural and added sugars can't be found. The FDA is considering a proposal to require food manufacturers to list information on sugars in the same way they do for fats, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates and protein. But because so much added sugar is dumped into so many products, one average American breakfast of cereal would likely exceed a reasonable daily limit. "SugarScience shows that a calorie is not a calorie but rather that the source of a calorie determines how it's metabolized," said pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig, a member of the SugarScience team and the author of "Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease." Lustig said that more than half of the U.S. population is sick with metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and liver disease that are directly related to the excessive consumption of added sugars in the Western diet. Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the category of heart attack/stroke as the leading cause of death in the United States. Every day, 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular disease. That's about 800,000 a year, or one in three deaths. The latest statistics from the American Diabetes Association show that 29.1 million Americans, or 9.3 percent, have diabetes. Of that number, 21 million have been diagnosed and 8.1 million have not, and the numbers continue to grow, according to the association. It doesn't stop there. The American Liver Foundation says at least 30 million Americans, or 1 in 10, has one of 100 kinds of liver disease. Clinicians widely believe that obesity is the cause of metabolic disease. Although it is a marker for these diseases, Lustig said, it's not the cause. "Too much sugar causes chronic metabolic disease in both fat and thin people," he said, "and instead of focusing on obesity as the problem, we should be focusing on our processed-food supply." The average American consumes 19.5 teaspoons (78 grams) of sugar a day, substantially more than the amount recommended by the American Heart Association. The association sets these limits: 6 teaspoons (24 grams) for women, 9 teaspoons (36 grams) for men, and 3-6 teaspoons (12-24 grams) for children, depending on age. Just one 12-ounce soda contains 8 to 9 teaspoons (32-36 grams) of sugar. Liquid sugar in sodas, energy drinks and sports drinks is the leading source of added sugar in the American diet. That represents 36 percent of all added sugars consumed, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. And because liquid does not include fiber, the body processes it quickly. That causes more sugar to be sent to the pancreas and liver than either can process properly, and the resulting buildup of sugar leads to heart disease, diabetes and liver disease. Consuming too much sugar causes the level of glucose sugar in the bloodstream to increase. That, in turn, causes the pancreas to release high levels of insulin that cause the body to store extra calories as fat. Too much insulin also affects the hormone leptin, a natural appetite suppressant that signals the brain to stop eating when full. But the imbalance of insulin levels caused by the intake of too much sugar causes lipid resistance, and the brain no longer gets that signal. Another member of the SugarScience team, Dean Schillinger, is a professor of medicine at UCSF and a practicing primary care doctor at San Francisco General Hospital. He believes the overconsumption of added sugars is a social problem, not a problem of individual choice and freedom. "People are becoming literate about the toxic effects of sugar," Schillinger said, "and have more understanding of the idea that high doses are bad for one's health." He sees evidence that those in a higher socioeconomic bracket are taking steps to limit intake of sugar when compared with poorer, less literate people. Healthy food is expensive and less readily accessible in poorer neighborhoods, and because corn is so abundant and cheap, it is added to many food products. "Dumping high fructose corn syrup into cheap foods, sodas, sports drinks and energy drinks is toxic to the body, causing epidemic metabolic diseases and a serious health crisis," Schillinger said. To underscore the scope of the problem, he pointed out that during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, 1,500 American soldiers lost a limb in combat. In that same period, 1.5 million people in the U.S. lost limbs to amputations from Type 2 diabetes, a preventable disease. "We have yet to mobilize for a public health war," he said, "but the time has come to do so." Such a war would have to take on the root causes of the problem. As a nation, Schillinger added, we would need to look at our food policies, food pricing, availability of healthy foods, and the marketing being carried out by food and beverage industries to hook the public on unhealthy choices loaded with added sugar. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, is not a SugarScience researcher, but he agreed that the amount of sugar consumed by the American public is too high. SugarScience, he said, is being helpful by bringing the information about added sugar to public attention. "It's just about impossible," Hu said, "to know from food labels what kinds and amounts of sugars are in a product." That's why he thinks the FDA should require food companies to list those amounts on all food labels so people know what they're eating, in what amounts they're eating it, and what amounts are safe. Food labels are important, Schillinger said, and they need to be revised, but the most important change needed is to make the healthier choice the easier choice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-0...ar-source.html
Posts: 132,315

01-03-2015, 11:26 AM	#47
WhiteWhale Bring it on Ahab! Join Date: May 2011 Location: Doo-Dah Casino cash: $10015152	I'm confused BEP... are you promoting individual responsibility on this matter? Because it doesn't sound like it.
Posts: 14,861

01-03-2015, 12:26 PM	#52
Sully It Goes On Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Lees Summit Casino cash: $10026331	You just have to eat more vegetables. Like chocolate! -BEP __________________ "And I don't wish that girl any bad luck," he said, "but I hope she gets hit with a car." - Tommy Lasorda
Posts: 18,295

01-03-2015, 12:45 PM	#55
Cmd'r&Chief In Reid We Trust Join Date: Dec 2012 Casino cash: $10016415	Case in point, more calories consumed than burned causes obesity and weight gain. But food companies know that putting excessive sugar and sodium in their foods make them addictive and this makes it difficult for people to fight the craving. It's not much different than using other drugs. Happy chemicals like dopamine are released, thus making the feeling that comes from consuming high amounts of sugar and sodium addicting, not to mention it makes the food delicious. It's not a conspiracy. It's just part of the business and money game. But yeah, no shit the more vague comment is that excessive calories is what causes weight gain. But there are more details as to why people continue to eat these excessive calories in unsafe moderations. There's no caloric debate, as to whether or not excessive sugar causes diabetes or excessive sodium causes high blood pressure. These things are medical facts. So while you ****s argue whether calories or sugar is causing weight gain, you're all technically right. There are calories in sugar, and sugar can be addictive to certain people. So stfu.
Posts: 1,233

01-03-2015, 01:07 PM	#59
ThaVirus 5 o’clock free crack giveaway Join Date: Sep 2007 Casino cash: $-1627631	I had read the other day that one cup of Coca Cola has enough sugar to make you throw up. The only reason you don't is that they put some type of chemical that prevents you from doing so. Thankfully, I've never been particularly fond of soda.
Posts: 46,923

01-03-2015, 01:10 PM	#60
beach tribe Keep doubting J MFing Houston Join Date: May 2007 Location: ft.lauderdale Casino cash: $4008036	I'm sorry, but if this planet is going to continue to sustain us in the future, people are going to have to **ing die. I know how that sounds. But I just don't understand the world's infatuation with wanting to live until someone else has to wipe your ass. Heart attack sounds good to me. Just about everything that tastes good is bad for you, and everything that is fun is dangerous. I'm gonna eat it, drink it, climb it, jump it, ** it, and enjoy it with my foot on the gas. I'm gonna live for 60 years, give or take, when most people live for 30, exist for 20, ponder for 15 and die for 10.. And in 50 years the government is going to either have to start more wars, or find more creative ways to kill all you leaf eaters.
Posts: 21,429