Robert Lustig: the man who believes sugar is poison

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Northerner

Northerner

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If you have any interest at all in diet, obesity, public health, diabetes, epidemiology, your own health or that of other people, you will probably be aware that sugar, not fat, is now considered the devil's food. Dr Robert Lustig's book, Fat Chance: The Hidden Truth About Sugar, Obesity and Disease, for all that it sounds like a Dan Brown novel, is the difference between vaguely knowing something is probably true, and being told it as a fact. Lustig has spent the past 16 years treating childhood obesity. His meta-analysis of the cutting-edge research on large-cohort studies of what sugar does to populations across the world, alongside his own clinical observations, has him credited with starting the war on sugar. When it reaches the enemy status of tobacco, it will be because of Lustig.

"Politicians have to come in and reset the playing field, as they have with any substance that is toxic and abused, ubiquitous and with negative consequence for society," he says. "Alcohol, cigarettes, cocaine. We don't have to ban any of them. We don't have to ban sugar. But the food industry cannot be given carte blanche. They're allowed to make money, but they're not allowed to make money by making people sick."

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/24/robert-lustig-sugar-poison
 
I read that article expecting to be outraged by some ridiculous no sugar diet, but actually I'm tempted to read his book now 🙂. There's a lot of really interesting research on food addiction that has a similar premise, that the real problem is the isolation of sugar from fat, so the shift in the 80's to low fat (and high sugar to "retain" taste) was the turning point in terms of the obesity crisis. Interesting!
 
KookyCat said:
I read that article expecting to be outraged by some ridiculous no sugar diet, but actually I'm tempted to read his book now 🙂. There's a lot of really interesting research on food addiction that has a similar premise, that the real problem is the isolation of sugar from fat, so the shift in the 80's to low fat (and high sugar to "retain" taste) was the turning point in terms of the obesity crisis. Interesting!
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I wouldn't be surprised if, in a few years time, this is the sort of thing we will look back on and think, 'that was so obvious, why didn't people realise it sooner?' 🙄
 
cherrypie said:
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I wonder is it is something to do with the US and their inclusion of larger amounts of high fructose corn syrup in their diets rather than the rest of the world.

A substantial decline in sugar intake over the same timeframe that overweight and obesity have increased. The Australian Paradox

http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/3/4/491/

Is sugar evil?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/sugar-health-evil-toxic_b_850032.html
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It has to be more complex than sugar alone, not everyone who is overweight has a sweet tooth. In the US I suspect portion size is significant also, and lower activity levels generally must have a big influence. It would be a start in changing our perceptions of a 'healthy' diet, but a tax on sugary drinks as if frequently proposed would be pretty meaningless and ineffective, I think. In efforts to make the message simple, there's a danger of misinformation and being ineffective.

Plus, of course, for a large proportion of people with diabetes, diet has little or nothing to do with their diagnosis.
 
I doubt there are any statistics but I would be interested in knowing if people who work and live in urban areas have a higher incidence of diabetes than people who live and work in rural areas

Does pollution have anything to do with more cases of asthma, cancers and diabetes? Is our love affair with the motor car and labour saving devices, televisions, mobile phones, etc... making us more susceptible to chronic conditions?
 
I remember that years ago, late 1960s I think, there was a book that criticised sugar; 'Pure White and Deadly', I think was the title
I glanced through it, but can't remember much detail. Would be interesting to see how the two books compare
 
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