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Is Sugar Really Toxic?

blogs.scientificamerican.com

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Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#51

Post by nitrogen »

jacques_chester wrote: post #20

Net caloric balance is still the best long term predictor of average body mass, regardless of dietary macronutrient composition. http://examine.com/faq/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss.htm... In turn, obesity is a strong predictor of many diseases, regardless of other factors. In individual cases unobservable "noise" can affect the rate of gain or loss vs the estimated rate given by subtracting an estimate (calories…

The correlation you want isn't BMIcalories, it's food typecalories. The question to be answered is whether some types of food make it easier or harder to maintain a caloric balance.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#52

Post by philwelch »

pvnick wrote: post #48
mullingitover wrote: post #2

Sola dosis facit venenum. I didn't pay attention to my weight for a couple years, ate a lot of sweets and drank a lot of beer. Before I knew it I'd gained 30 pounds, and had a minor freakout. I decided to do three things--weigh myself every morning, stop eating sugar except for from fruit, and stop drinking. I ended up shedding 30 pounds in 90 days, and have kept it off for a full year. I didn't exercise or count cal…

>I ended up shedding 30 pounds in 90 days, and have kept it off for a full year >I probably upped my overall calorie consumption but I replaced the sugars with more complex energy sources like nuts Unless you started exercising, these two statements are incompatible with one another (violates the first law of thermodynamics). What's more likely is you felt "fuller" from eating healthy foods and therefore consumed les…

The laws of thermodynamics do not preclude your body from ingesting something that has calories and shitting it out without actually doing anything with the calories. Your shit would just have more calories left in it, kind of like how a poorly made car might leak gasoline everywhere.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#53

Post by zurn »

astrange wrote: post #4
mullingitover wrote: post #2

Sola dosis facit venenum. I didn't pay attention to my weight for a couple years, ate a lot of sweets and drank a lot of beer. Before I knew it I'd gained 30 pounds, and had a minor freakout. I decided to do three things--weigh myself every morning, stop eating sugar except for from fruit, and stop drinking. I ended up shedding 30 pounds in 90 days, and have kept it off for a full year. I didn't exercise or count cal…

Most of your changes could be explained just by calories. Beer is quite high calorie since it has so many carbs, and eating nuts satiates you faster so you end up eating less. Alcohol itself doesn't affect weight much, though IIRC fat isn't metabolized well together with it. But it can improve your lifespan: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9481115

Blaming carbs is not a "just calories" explanation, rather the opposite.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#54

Post by jacques_chester »

hristov wrote: post #25
jacques_chester wrote: post #20

Net caloric balance is still the best long term predictor of average body mass, regardless of dietary macronutrient composition. http://examine.com/faq/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss.htm... In turn, obesity is a strong predictor of many diseases, regardless of other factors. In individual cases unobservable "noise" can affect the rate of gain or loss vs the estimated rate given by subtracting an estimate (calories…

The problem with refined fructose is that it contributes to you eating more because the liver cannot process it properly and does not send the "i am full" signals to the brain. Thus, it is in fact the reason why people have higher net caloric intake. US style food is being exported all over the world. Sodas are sold all over the world. Obesity around the world is generally correlated to the level at which US style fo…

Only the USA has an unusually high supply of fructose.

Everyone else uses cane sugar because it's cheaper.

People are getting fat because they like the taste of dense foods and those foods are cheaper and more available than ever before in history.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#55

Post by nitrogen »

pvnick wrote: post #48
mullingitover wrote: post #2

Sola dosis facit venenum. I didn't pay attention to my weight for a couple years, ate a lot of sweets and drank a lot of beer. Before I knew it I'd gained 30 pounds, and had a minor freakout. I decided to do three things--weigh myself every morning, stop eating sugar except for from fruit, and stop drinking. I ended up shedding 30 pounds in 90 days, and have kept it off for a full year. I didn't exercise or count cal…

>I ended up shedding 30 pounds in 90 days, and have kept it off for a full year >I probably upped my overall calorie consumption but I replaced the sugars with more complex energy sources like nuts Unless you started exercising, these two statements are incompatible with one another (violates the first law of thermodynamics). What's more likely is you felt "fuller" from eating healthy foods and therefore consumed les…

It's possible that they are eating more calories, but digesting or storing fewer (thus passing more as waste).

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#56

Post by spikels »

hristov wrote: post #25
jacques_chester wrote: post #20

Net caloric balance is still the best long term predictor of average body mass, regardless of dietary macronutrient composition. http://examine.com/faq/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss.htm... In turn, obesity is a strong predictor of many diseases, regardless of other factors. In individual cases unobservable "noise" can affect the rate of gain or loss vs the estimated rate given by subtracting an estimate (calories…

The problem with refined fructose is that it contributes to you eating more because the liver cannot process it properly and does not send the "i am full" signals to the brain. Thus, it is in fact the reason why people have higher net caloric intake. US style food is being exported all over the world. Sodas are sold all over the world. Obesity around the world is generally correlated to the level at which US style fo…

It seems to always be acceptable to blame the US for any problem but as pointed out in the article neither sugar cane, refined sugar nor high-fructose corn syrup originated in the US. And almost every "US style food" originated somewhere else. So should we blame Italy, France, China and Mexico too?

I would say the US may be primarily responsible for the technology (agricultural, supply chain, financing, etc) that made food potentially affordable to everyone. An unfortunate consequence of having enough food to eat is being able to eat too much.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#57

Post by alwaysinshade »

aethertap wrote: post #10
amerika_blog wrote: post #3

I really hope not. I love sugar. It's also the only stimulant I can mete out in small doses that will keep me going without obliterating my concentration, as caffeine tends to do (disclaimer: I haven't tried cocaine).

I read about some research* regarding ego depletion and its relationship to blood glucose levels that was pretty interesting. Basically, they did a study with two groups of people. Both were asked to do some challenging problems requiring concentration, then both were given lemonade. One group's lemonade was sweetened with glucose, and the other with some artificial sweetener. The two groups were then asked to do mor…

> I've been meaning to experiment on myself a bit with some glucose tabs after a long day of code

Anecdotal feedback - they work great for short bursts of activity. I use them when playing multiplayer games at night. Given my opponents are usually young and fuelled on caffeinated sodas I need some kind of edge after getting home from work. When I stomp a lobby on team deathmatch it's usually after popping a couple of glucose tabs. A good low-GI meal does much the same, but of course isn’t as convenient.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#59

Post by autarch »

hristov wrote: post #25
jacques_chester wrote: post #20

Net caloric balance is still the best long term predictor of average body mass, regardless of dietary macronutrient composition. http://examine.com/faq/what-should-i-eat-for-weight-loss.htm... In turn, obesity is a strong predictor of many diseases, regardless of other factors. In individual cases unobservable "noise" can affect the rate of gain or loss vs the estimated rate given by subtracting an estimate (calories…

The problem with refined fructose is that it contributes to you eating more because the liver cannot process it properly and does not send the "i am full" signals to the brain. Thus, it is in fact the reason why people have higher net caloric intake. US style food is being exported all over the world. Sodas are sold all over the world. Obesity around the world is generally correlated to the level at which US style fo…

Did you read the article? It argues directly against your claim that fructose is the primary culprit for obesity.

Re: Is Sugar Really Toxic?

#60

Post by hristov »

jacques_chester wrote: post #54
hristov wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with refined fructose is that it contributes to you eating more because the liver cannot process it properly and does not send the "i am full" signals to the brain. Thus, it is in fact the reason why people have higher net caloric intake. US style food is being exported all over the world. Sodas are sold all over the world. Obesity around the world is generally correlated to the level at which US style fo…

Only the USA has an unusually high supply of fructose. Everyone else uses cane sugar because it's cheaper. People are getting fat because they like the taste of dense foods and those foods are cheaper and more available than ever before in history.

Did you read the article? Cane sugar is sucrose. The sucrose molecule gets broken up into a fructose and glucose molecule by the gut. Thus, cane sugar is for all intents and purposes 50% fructose. This is very similar to HFCS, which is 55% fructose.
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