Sugar is poison

[DGuller]

I came across this article in NY Times magazine.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Sugar-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1  It argues that sugar is actively harmful, and not just high fructose corn syrup, and is the main cause of the obesity epidemic.

I thought it was very interesting and thought-provoking.  Ever since I stopped consuming practically all refined sugars as an experiment, and quickly lost 20 pounds as a result, I've been interested in this topic.  I've never been on board the idea that eating too much and not exercising is all there is to the obesity epidemic.  I wonder if in the future, we would regard the society's view on sugar right now the same way we view society's attitude toward smoking 50 years ago.

[MadImmortalMan]

Not unlikely. Lots of things about nutrition we thought were carved in stone are pretty much nonsense. Also, exercise has little to do with weight loss. Who knew? Now, people are saying if you want to lose weight, don't exercise too much because it makes you hungry. And don't eat too little because it puts your body into energy-saving mode and you won't burn fat. And if you are trying to work out to get stronger, it's better to only do it for a short time. All those cardio and targeted muscle machines are worthless. Margarine is worse for you than butter. Nutrition and fitness is a witch doctor's business.

[Neil]

What a silly thing to worry about.

[DontSayBanana]

*ahem* Lactase.

[DGuller]

What a silly thing to worry about.

You mean obesity and diabetes?

[Fate]

Sugar is not a poison. Whoever wrote that article for the New York Times should be fired.

[Tamas]

 

Isn't "sugar", ie. C6H12O6, the very thing your digestive system converts your food to, in other words, the thing in which it carries energy to your cells?

[Brazen]

Like everything else, it's part of a balanced diet to be used in moderation, as they say on the ads. It does have an effect on your insulin mechanism, yes, but that's not going to make you fat or diabetic if you don't do massive quantities on a regular basis.

That said, I'd add that I'm terrified at the amount of sweet stuff in the American diet. Every time I've been there, EVERYTHING tasted sweet to me - even the meat, vegetables, sauces and salads. Some restaurant meals made me feel quite ill, a sweet steak for example. What's up with that?

For someone not suffering from obesity or diabetes, you'd probably improve your diet more by ditching diet sugar substitutes rather than the real stuff.

[Caliga]

I agree, and it's frustrating to me too.  One of the ways you can tell a good Italian restaurant from a shitty one is that the good ones don't have sweet tomato sauce.

Sadly, so few people know what good Italian food is like here that they actually prefer sugar sauce on their Italian food.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Friend of mine dumps splenda in his red sauce. Yeakth.

It is annoying to go looking for unsweetened canned vegetables or fruits.  Its nearly impossible. 

[Caliga]

That's why I've started growing my own fruits, my good man.

[alfred russel]

Not unlikely. Lots of things about nutrition we thought were carved in stone are pretty much nonsense. Also, exercise has little to do with weight loss. Who knew? Now, people are saying if you want to lose weight, don't exercise too much because it makes you hungry. And don't eat too little because it puts your body into energy-saving mode and you won't burn fat. And if you are trying to work out to get stronger, it's better to only do it for a short time. All those cardio and targeted muscle machines are worthless. Margarine is worse for you than butter. Nutrition and fitness is a witch doctor's business.

I completely disagree. Start running five miles a day and you are going to lose some weight unless you start doing something crazy. Watching a five minute ab video may be less effective.

[DontSayBanana]

Isn't "sugar", ie. C6H12O6, the very thing your digestive system converts your food to, in other words, the thing in which it carries energy to your cells?

That's a "simple" sugar- a disaccharide.  Fructose and sucrose are polysaccharides, which we already knew were harder for the body to metabolize.  The flaw in the "sugar is poison" argument is that it relies mostly on correlation in historical analysis- that attributes a certain static quality that we know isn't the case in human biology- it's why I mentioned lactase, since our bodies have adapted to produce it for digestion of dairy products.

[Neil]

What a silly thing to worry about.

You mean obesity and diabetes?

Yes, although worrying about sugar is silly as well.

[jimmy olsen]

That said, I'd add that I'm terrified at the amount of sweet stuff in the American diet. Every time I've been there, EVERYTHING tasted sweet to me - even the meat, vegetables, sauces and salads. Some restaurant meals made me feel quite ill, a sweet steak for example. What's up with that?

Really? I found that found in Korea (when it's not bitter or hot) is often much sweeter than American food.