Study: Sugar Toxic, Should Be Controlled Substance

[Pumpkin Eater]

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/health/2012/02/01/sugar-is-toxic-and-should-be-a-controlled-substance-research-shows/

 

Sugar is toxic and should be a controlled substance, research shows

Uncategorized — posted by mjameson on February, 1 2012 4:02 PM

 

Those who think the worst part of consuming sugar is its empty calories need to think again.

 

Sugar is the root of the worst health crisis in the civilized world, say researchers from the University of California-San Francisco, and should be handled as a controlled substance, much like alcohol and tobacco.

 

Sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, said the researchers, whose report was published today in Nature. Three out of every four health-care dollars are spent treating these diseases and their associated disabilities.

 

The pervasiveness of sugar in the Western diet coupled with its toxicity makes it the primary culprit in the world’s biggest health crisis, according to the team, which included physicians trained in endocrinology as well as sociologists and public health professionals. The research was supported by National Institutes of Health.

 

Worldwide consumption of sugar has tripled during the past 50 years and is a key driver behind the obesity epidemic, according to the study. At the levels Americans consume, sugar changes metabolism, raises blood pressure, critically alters the signaling of hormones, and causes significant damage to the liver. It also explains the rise in metabolic syndrome, a precursor to heart disease and cancer, which affects 40 percent of adults.

 

“As long as the public thinks that sugar is just empty calories, we have no chance in solving this,” said Dr. Robert Lustig, co-author of the study, and professor in the division of endocrinology at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.

 

“There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates,” Lustig said. “But sugar is toxic beyond its calories.”

 

Turning the problem around will require a lot of public education as well as environmental and community-wide solutions, similar to what has occurred with alcohol and tobacco, said Claire Brindis, study co-author and director of UCSF’s Institute for Health Policy Studies.

 

“We’re not talking prohibition,” said Laura Schmidt, another co-author and UCSF professor of health policy, but rather ways to make sugary foods less convenient, and foods that aren’t loaded with sugar easier and cheaper to get.

 

mjameson@tribune.com or 407-420-5158

[calfoxwc]

translation:

 

"gee, this is one more thing we must TAX to support our stupidass marxist

 

entitlement vote buying to get unlimited power"

 

loose translation......

[Pumpkin Eater]

well, it seems is if this explanation is a little lacking. I suppose they are talking about sucrose or fructose, not glucose, which is the human body's fuel.

[MLD Woody]

It's kinda sad Americans are so fucking fat that the only way to get them eating healthier is to completely remove the bad choices from their food options.

 

I'd like to see the study done, and see what they found. Should be interesting.

 

Too bad it takes so long to die from obesity. If they didn't create a drain on society for as long maybe that all could be driven out sooner.

[Westside Steve]

Yes indeed, white sugar really is terrible for you.

Of course it's also true that's plenty of people want to use that as an excuse for more taxation.

Everybody wants to rule the world.

WSS

[ballpeen]

It is toxic.

 

Three years ago I weighed 280lbs, had type II diabetes, high blood pressure and was well on my way to the grave.

I decided I needed to do something, and did. I cut the sugars and started walking 30 miles a week.

 

 

This morning I weighted 195, have been off my diabetes medication for a year and a half and feel pretty darn good for a old fart. I feel good I have taken steps that will probably extend my life rather than cut it short.

 

In the end though, it isn't controlling sugars that will get people to change. They have to take responsibility for what they eat. It's all about choices they make, not about choices others make for them. If they choose to live a unhealthy lifestyle, they will.

 

Follow a fit looking person at the grocery store and look in their cart. See what you find. Then follow the unhealthy, overweight slug and look in their cart....see what you find. You find it full of sugar, pasta, processed food and void of fruits and fresh veggies.

 

Rather then try to regulate what you can't, regulate what you can. Put phys-ed teachers back in the schools and get these fat ass kids out running around 3 days a week. They sit around all day at school to go home to sit around to play video games or chat away on a message board, all the while eating the crap their fat parents stick in the fridge.

[MLD Woody]

Congrats

 

 

 

 

and then throw in the fact there is such a thing as the Fat Acceptance Movement.... fucking fat acceptance. We most look like Retards to the rest of the world.