FW: [diabetesworld] Researchers looking at sugar as a toxic chemical rather than as food

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From: diabetesworld@y

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A spoonful of sugar might make the medicine go down. But it also

makes blood pressure and cholesterol go up, along with your risk

for liver failure, obesity, heart disease and diabetes.

Sugar and other sweeteners are, in fact, so toxic to the human

body that they should be regulated as strictly as alcohol by

governments worldwide, according to a commentary in the current

issue of the journal Nature by researchers at the University of

California, San Francisco (UCSF), USA.

The researchers propose regulations such as taxing all foods and

drinks that include added sugar, banning sales in or near schools

and placing age limits on purchases.

Although the commentary might seem straight out of the Journal of

Ideas That Will Never Fly, the researchers cite numerous studies

and statistics to make their case that added sugar - or, more

specifically, sucrose, an even mix of glucose and fructose found

in high-fructose corn syrup and in table sugar made from sugar

cane and sugar beets - has been as detrimental to society as

alcohol and tobacco.

Sour words about sugar

The background is well-known: In the United States, more than

two-thirds of the population is overweight, and half of them are

obese. About 80 percent of those who are obese will have diabetes

or metabolic disorders and will have shortened lives, according

to the UCSF authors of the commentary, led by Lustig. And

about 75 percent of U.S. health-care dollars are spent on

diet-related diseases, the authors said.

Worldwide, the obese now greatly outnumber the undernourished,

according to the World Health Organization. Obesity is a public

health problem in most countries. And chronic diseases related to

diet such as heart diseases, diabetes and some cancers - for the

first time in human history - kill more people than infectious

diseases, according to the United Nations.

Less known, and still debated, is sugar's role in the obesity and

chronic disease pandemic. From an evolutionary perceptive, sugar

in the form of fruit was available only a few months of the year,

at harvest time, the UCSF researchers said. Similarly, honey was

guarded by bees and therefore was a treat, not a dietary staple.

Today, added sugar, as opposed to natural sugars found in fruits,

is often added in foods ranging from soup to soda. Americans

consume on average more than 600 calories per day from added

sugar, equivalent to a whopping 40 teaspoons. " Nature made sugar

hard to get; man made it easy, " the researchers write.

Many researchers are seeing sugar as not just " empty calories, "

but rather a chemical that becomes toxic in excess. At issue is

the fact that glucose from complex carbohydrates, such as whole

grains, is safely metabolized by cells throughout the body, but

the fructose element of sugar is metabolized primarily by the

liver. This is where the trouble can begin - taxing the liver,

causing fatty liver disease, and ultimately leading to insulin

resistance, the underlying causes of obesity and diabetes.

Added sugar, more so than the fructose in fiber-rich fruit, hits

the liver more directly and can cause more damage - in laboratory

rodents, anyway. Some researchers, however, remained unconvinced

of the evidence of sugar's toxic effect on the human body at

current consumption levels, as high as they are.

Economists to the rescue

Lustig, a medical doctor in UCSF's Department of Pediatrics,

compares added sugar to tobacco and alcohol (coincidentally made

from sugar) in that it is addictive, toxic and has a negative

impact on society, thus meeting established public health

criteria for regulation. Lustig advocates a consumer tax on any

product with added sugar.

Among Lustig's more radical proposals are to ban the sale of

sugary drinks to children under age 17 and to tighten zoning laws

for the sale of sugary beverages and snacks around schools and in

low-income areas plagued by obesity, analogous to alcoholism and

alcohol regulation.

Economists, however, debate as to whether a consumer tax - such

as a soda tax proposed in many U.S. states - is the most

effective means of curbing sugar consumption. Economists at Iowa

State University led by Beghin suggest taxing the sweetener

itself at the manufacturer level, not the end product containing

sugar.

This concept, published last year in the journal Contemporary

Economic Policy, would give companies an incentive to add less

sweetener to their products. After all, high-fructose corn syrup

is ubiquitous in food in part because it is so cheap and serves

as a convenient substitute for more high-quality ingredients,

such as fresher vegetables in processed foods.

Some researchers argue that saturated fat, not sugar, is the root

cause of obesity and chronic disease. Others argue that it is

highly processed foods with simple carbohydrates. Still others

argue that it is a lack of physical exercise. It could, of

course, be a matter of all these issues.