Not all sugar is the same
There are two main forms of sugar, and they are NOT the same.
One form of sugar is called glucose. Glucose, according to Dr. Lustig, is the "energy of life"; every cell burns glucose for energy. In fact, it is so essential that we can consume absolutely no glucose and yet have measurable blood levels, because our body manufactures glucose from both protein and fat.
Fructose, the storage form of energy in plants, on the other hand, is not essential. Fructose can cause inflammation, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH- a type of fatty liver disease), high blood pressure, and insulin resistance.
what is fructose?
*A natural sugar found in honey and fruit
*Involved in energy storage rather than energy production
*Tastes a lot sweeter than glucose
*High fructose corn syrup = typically 55% fructose, 45% glucose in soft drinks
“Foods high in added fructose include sauces, salad dressings, sugary drinks, colas, yogurt, baked goods, and fast foods. Foods naturally rich in fructose include honey, molasses, agave, dried fruits, fruits, and fruit juices.”
What is fructose doing to us?
We Eat Without Feeling Full: When glucose is eaten, the hunger hormone called ghrelin goes down, while with fructose it doesn’t change. Meaning, when we consume a lot of fructose our brain doesn’t know we’ve eaten and so we end up consuming more and more.
Our Blood Pressure Increases: Uric acid (as in gout) is increased by fructose, which in turn causes our systolic blood pressure to go up. Also, this 2013 study showed that increases in the sodium concentrations (note: drink more water and concentrations go down) cause fructose to be made in the body, which results in raised blood pressure. Fructose, whether in eating it or our body making it, results in raised blood pressure, and inflammation in the kidneys makes the elevation persistent. In animals, when you block the metabolism of fructose, you actually block the rise in blood pressure.
Our Bodies Are More Inflamed: Fructose increases inflammation and that increases visceral fat (dangerous fat around the midsection) and homocysteine levels.
Our Cardiovascular System Suffers: Fructose creates a "browning reaction" (think bananas), that causes aging in humans to occur at a rate seven times faster than glucose! This same process causes atherosclerosis. Also, inflammation and high homocysteine levels caused by fructose increase cardiovascular disease.
Cancer loves fructose! For cancer cells, fructose can be an incredible survival nutrient. Many cancers (i.e. colon, liver, kidney, breast, brain, intestinal) use fructose as their preferential fuel. For example, if you take colon cancer and put high fructose corn syrup on it the cancer grows and metastasizes!
We Become Addicted: Fructose lights up the reward center in the brain just like cocaine, heroin, nicotine, and alcohol. When dopamine receptors go down in response to constant bombardment by dopamine, we need a bigger hit each time to get the same results.
Our Taste Buds Are Desensitized: We keep wanting more and more sweets when we eat fructose, because the taste buds get down regulated. It triggers both hunger and thirst, so we eat more, and don’t forget, much of fructose tends to turn into fat and fuel storage.
important truth!
1st birthday and wanting more fire engine cake!
How many times do you have to introduce a savory food vs a sugary food to an infant before they will accept it? Studies show that it takes a median of 13 times for savory food and only 1 time for sweet foods. That explains a lot!!
sugar is hiding!
What does the Atkins diet and the Japanese diet have in common? They both eliminate fructose. There are many diets that work (Japanese, Atkins, ketogenic, Paleo, Mediterranean etc.), and they all have something in common...they eliminate processed food, and processed food is high sugar and low fiber. We want real food!! Think about it this way says Lustig..."if there's a label on the food, that's a warning label, because it means it's been processed: real food doesn't need a label." Fructose is hiding in much of the processed food!
Dr Lustig stresses, the food industry would have us "believe a calorie is a calorie, a sugar is a sugar… and that is absolute garbage: they are quite different, and it does matter."
If fructose is dangerous, and it comes from fruit, is fruit okay?
According to researcher, Rick Johnson, fruit juices, sports drinks, and sodas are important to avoid (liquid fructose is especially dangerous!!), while he has shown that patients on a low fructose diet, that then add in a single fruit, do just as well as the no fruit group. Focus on lower fructose fruits. Kiwi and lime and lemon have almost no fructose, and blueberries, raspberries, strawberries are low.
He says, “You can eat a big bowl of blueberries, no problem.” But, in contrast, grapes, banana and large apples have a lot of sugar!
Good things like vitamin C, epicatechin, flavonols, and potassium help fight the effects of fructose, but he recommends not overwhelming our system by eating a lot of fruit at once.
Is a diet soda better than a regular soda?
When we eat sugar, our taste buds are activated and it stimulates this dopamine response in the brain that tells us that we like sugar. Artificial sugar is driven by the sweet taste, while the draw to real sugar is driven by its metabolism. So even though both artificial and real sugar have the sweet taste and the dopamine response, the real sugar gives us added pleasure. Even when animals no longer have working taste buds, if left to their own devices, they will eat enough sugar to develop metabolic syndrome! On the other hand, if you give a mouse artificial sugar, they don’t gain weight!
Photo by Olena Sergienko on Unsplash
What about the dangers of artificial sweeteners?! Aspartame has been studied more by the FDA than any other molecule ingested by humans! In concentrations higher than a human could possibly get, aspartame can generate tiny amounts of formaldehyde and saccharin has been associated with little bladder tumors in mice. According to Dr. Peter Attia and Dr. Rick Johnson, diet soda is a healthier option than regular soda. That doesn’t mean it is beneficial, it is just not as harmful according to current data.
“If a person says to me, ‘Oh doc, I’m afraid to drink this diet Coke because it’s got chemicals in it, I want to drink regular Coke because of that.’ That’s an error. Regular Coke is more dangerous than a diet Coke.”
Why consider eating low carb?
Excess glucose (i.e. carbohydrates) can cause problems even in the absence of fructose, so...
1 Reduce fructose (which is in almost all processed foods)
2 Beware of what MAKES fructose (i.e. high salt concentrations, dehydration, high uric acid, and high glucose).
Glucose is a simple sugar and the building block of carbohydrates, and a low carb/glucose diet is really great for metabolically ill people. Metabolic health is defined as having optimal levels of five factors: blood glucose, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference, without the need for medications. A low carb diet removes the high glycemic carbs that are driving these diseases, because it is cutting the glucose that turns into fructose! According to research, only 12% of adults are metabolically healthy, that means a large number of our population could improve their health by reducing glucose!
simple steps for reducing fructose:
1. Eliminate sugary drinks
2. Eat carbohydrates with fiber
3. Wait 20 minutes before taking seconds
4. Change your routine to replace “sugary habits”
5. Eat unprocessed foods (Remember: ingredient label = warning label)
“‘It’s not the added sugar you know, it’s the added sugar you don’t know.” ”
What are your tricks for dealing with sugary temptations?
Updated blog from Jan 2019.
Wendy Dellis is a certified wellness coach. She joins years of training and work in the area of behavior change, experience as a fitness instructor and run club coordinator with a passion for adventure and people. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, Jay, and two sons.
Warming up in MN!
The information contained on this page is for general information purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical or healthcare advice, but only topics for discussion. No physician-patient relationship exists; please consult your physician before making changes in diet or lifestyle.