Dr. Lustig's Sugar: The Bitter Truth

The past fifty years has seen a spike in the consumption of sugar, that number totaling a tripling increase. However, sugar is not the only risk factor here, alcohol and tobacco can also be attributed with the spike, albeit not as prevalent as sugar. The biggest question that Lustig et al. poses to its’ readers is this: “What aspects of the Western diet should be the focus of intervention”? (par. 3) The current USDA has been deemed “boogeymen” of diets, as well as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Lustig et al. all believe that our attention should be turned towards “added sugar”, which is a sweetener that has fructose in it. Perhaps the biggest controversy from the past fifty years has been none other than a severe culprit that experts know as high fructose corn syrup or HFCS.

Sugary beverages suggest a poor dietary quality; they are loaded with added sugars and attribute to the body’s energy density. “A 20-year study on 120,000 men and women found that people who increased their sugary drink consumption by one 12-ounce serving per day gained more weight over time—about 4 pounds per year” (19). Through increasing the daily intake in trivial increments, the body substantially results in an increased BMI (body mass index) and an increased body fat percentage score. Another study conducted at Harvard found that a 60 percent increase occurs in children for each 12-ounce they additionally drink daily. (________) The growing correlation between obesity and sugar has led to further studies, and statistical data. Researchers have revealed that in total, “half the people in the U.S. consume sugary drinks; 1 in 4 get at least 200 calories from such drinks; and 5% get at least 567 calories.” It was additionally found that one-fourth of Americans are consuming more than 135 grams of sugar per day from soda and other sweetened beverages, which compares to people of the past who only had 10 grams of fructose a day (_____). Such a high daily intake of sugar and calories illustrates the risk that arises when people consume too much sugar; that is, sugary drinks result in weight issues and medical consequences.

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is an inexpensive syrup created by changing about half of the particles comprising corn starch into fructose. Due to the cheapness of HFCS it has replaced natural sugars in most of the food consumed in America. Resulting in HFCS being found in just about all processed foods made today. Consuming any kind of sweetener has shown to greatly increase the chances of obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol and metabolic syndrome (Zeratsky, 2015). Since the invention of HFCS American obesity rates went from fifteen percent of the population to around one third of the population suggesting a strong

Second, free sugar contains fructose which is of little or no value to the body. Fructose is the main reason there has been a lot of outcry about sugar. It is processed by the liver and may interfere with processing of other fats leading to weight gain and

Abstract: The use of high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener in various food and drink products has drastically affected the American people in the last three decades. Dominating 55% of the sweetener market because of its industrial benefits, HFCS’s increased use has caused dramatic effects in its consumers, including upsetting normal hormonal functions, destroying vital organs, nerves, and throwing off the body’s mineral balance. As the use of HFCS increased, the rates of obesity, diabetes, and related health problems have escalated, resulting in a nationwide epidemic.

Thesis: Overall, recent studies have shown that sugar substitutes isn’t and can cause potential health problems.

We all know that High Fructose Corn Syrup is in our food but we don’t know what it truly is and its hidden health risks it carries. High Fructose Corn Syrup is mad of two main things: fructose and glucose. Fructose is a sugar that is found in many fruits and vegetables, and glucose is a sugar that helps our bodies retain energy. Fructose is a tough energy source for the body to use due to it has to be processed through the liver. “It is also more lipogenic, or fat-producing,

This research essay will investigate the effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup. The liver is effected because the fructose—as it is being metabolized deposits fatty acids into the liver, it also develops cirrhosis, which has the same effect normally seen in alcoholics. High Fructose Corn Syrup increases cholesterol which blocks the inner walls of the arteries and may be fatal if not treated. High Fructose Corn Syrup was believed to be beneficial to diabetics, but studies show the they may actually promote more diseases. Obesity is a major problem, as High Fructose Corn Syrup does not release leptin—which is what signals the brain to stop eating, so society is prone to over consumption. It also alters the heart's use of other

Gary Taubes argues that sugar is a killer. The major flaw of his argument is that he doesn’t have any concrete evidence that shows that sugar is indeed the killer. However, a lot of the evidence hints that sugar may be the cause of many of the catastrophic health problems. He has built a case that leads back to the 1600’s about different studies and how they have might of hinted to the dangers of sugar. He shows how places like Southeast Asia who once lived off a lot of reined grains had a low level of obesity and health problems, but once they adopted a Western diet those rates increased. Sugar may not be the only possibility this happened, but it has a lot of potential to be. Another key point to this whole argument is how a lot of studies

Studies show that high fructose corn syrup fat. The article “sweet confusion” Say’s that high fructose corn syrup started out as a scientific achievement. After high fructose corn syrup was made most factories started using it instead of sugar cane because it was a lot cheaper. Which is bad because now the factories are mainly only using high fructose corn syrup, which is also really bad for you and they have yet to find that out. This done by “After factories started using high fructose corn syrup obesity rates grew rapidly.” (Beil, Laura, 2013) So then people began to wonder if the unnatural sweetener was the effect of why the rates were growing.“Beil then exams science designed to look for any health effects specific to fructose.” (Beil,

After watching the video and reading the article provided, I found that the arguments the two used were very interesting because of how different they were. In the video, Robert Lustig’s argument, in which he claimed sugar was bad for us, was limited to added sugar. He mentioned that 80% of foods have added sugar, and used soda several times in his video to argue his point. For example, he shared a statistic about the relationship between soda and the risk of diabetes. He also mentioned that sugar causes fat accumulation in/around organs, specifically mentioning the liver. To anyone listening, these are great reasons to dub sugar ‘evil’. However, David Katz’ article was written to counter the claims made in the video. In it, sugar was not made out to be a ‘villanous nutrient’. In fact, Katz included the importance of sugar as an evolutionary mechanism. He explained that it was a method of natural selection, in which, for the most part, sweeter things were classified as good for us, while bitter things were classified as bad for us. In addition, I think it was a smart move on his part to take the argument out of the realm of added sugar. He argued that the types of food (and, therefore, the types of sugar) were important, as strawberries and soda do not have the same nutritional values.

Sugar is, and has always been, unavoidable; conversely, sugar has not always been toxic. Naturally abundant and technically enhanced, this substance has followed in the footsteps of tobacco and alcohol, becoming just as unhealthy and ultimately lethal. And, without the implementation of government

Humans should not consume a large amount of sugar, especially at one time. In the data of webmd.com, ¨Americans average about 20 teaspoons of sugar daily compared to the 6 teaspoons women and 9 teaspoons for men, people are supposed to have.¨ Sugar can cause a build up of fat around the organs. ¨When your organs store fat around themselves, it can cause diseases like liver disease.¨ According to the text in prevention.com. When your body stores a large amount of sugar, it can cause an organ like your liver to get a fatty extra layer around it. As you can see, sugar is good to the taste, but bad for your health.

As we hear of more studies exclaiming alarming findings of negative health concerns related to obesity and our continuously growing percentage of obesity in our country, particularly childhood obesity, sugar is in the spotlight. We often hear of dieticians and weight loss experts warning us that we

Advertisement and commercial industries portray table sugar, and other artificial sweeteners as fuel needed by the body. Though body and body cells need sugar as fuel source. The body mechanism is just like the case of engine, there are bad fuels which can destroy engine. Table sugar is just a bad fuel for the body. Several research studies have arraigned sugar first culprit for the epidemics of complicated health problems such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and cancer. Worst of it, several research now ranking sugar as addictive substance as drugs.