Tag: sugar

Research Finds Sugar Changes Metabolism in Even the Healthiest of People

Inscription sugar made into pile of white granulated sugar

Sugar is likely one of the most dangerous products you can ingest and may trigger an addiction that is difficult to break. What is so terrifying is that you can find it in almost every processed food you purchase. It hides under a number of different names and affects your body in ways that scientists are continuing to discover. While the media and medical associations have warned about overeating fat and salt, there has been relatively little said about the overabundance of sugar in the American diet.

The sad truth is there are copious numbers of studies spanning decades that demonstrate the damage sugar does to your health, but the industry has managed to bury the evidence, and claim sugar has little to no effect on your health or your weight.

Related: Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease

According to one recent study, consumption of sugar is responsible for as much as 40 percent of health care dollars spent each year.1In the U.S. more than $1 trillion is spent fighting obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. All of these diseases are related to the excessive consumption of sugar.

The foods you eat have an immense impact on your brain, gut health and cellular metabolism, all which impact your health and daily ability to be productive at home and work. Historically, sugar was a treat enjoyed only on special occasions. Today, it’s found in almost everything you eat, short of whole foods. It’s in processed foods of all kinds, snacks, drinks, sauces, breads, condiments and deli meats. Even infant formula and baby food is loaded with sugar, which triggers the brain’s reward center, increasing desire for more.

Research quite clearly shows that refined sugar in excessive amounts promotes mitochondrial dysfunction. These little powerhouses provide the energy for your cells, so when they cease to function normally, any number of functions throughout your body may be disrupted. Now, researchers have confirmed that sugar damages cellular function no matter how healthy you were before you began eating poorly.

Sugar Triggers Metabolic Changes That Damage Your Health

In a study from the University of Surrey, researchers asked two groups of men to change their eating habits for three months.2 In the beginning, one group had evidence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); the other group did not. Each man went through a 12-week period when he ate 650 calories from sugar each day or no more than 140 calories from sugar each day. The researchers measured levels of fat in the participant’s blood and liver.3

What they discovered was not surprising. Those who ate 650 calories of sugar per day for 12 weeks had much higher levels of fat in their blood and liver. The research was designed as a randomized-crossover study, meaning each participant followed both diets and the order they followed the diet was randomly assigned. Lead researcher Bruce Griffin, Ph.D., professor of nutritional metabolism at the University of Surrey, commented on the results, saying:

“Our findings provide new evidence that consuming high amounts of sugar can alter your fat metabolism in ways that could increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Fat metabolism is the process fats undergo to be broken down and transported in the blood to cells around your body. The results also showed that when men who began the study with low levels of liver fat ate a diet high in sugar, their blood and liver measurements and fat metabolism became similar to that of men suffering from NAFLD.4 This condition is tied to obesity and affects up to 25 percent of Americans.5

Related: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

The researchers’ goal was to determine the role sugar has on the metabolism of the liver and how it influences cardiovascular health. What they found was that both groups of men, those with and without NAFLD, showed changes in fat metabolism linked to cardiovascular disease.6

In the past, NAFLD occurred almost exclusively in adults. However, there is evidence to suggest it now occurs in up to 10 percent of children7 ages 2 to 19, and the reason for this is a high-sugar diet, starting in infancy. Sadly, these children are at a significantly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease unless their diet is changed.

Sugar — A Driving Force Behind the Leading Causes of Death

In the video above, investigative journalist and author, Gary Taubes, discusses how the sugar industry has manipulated information and perpetrated a fraud on the public across the world. At the start of his book, “The Case Against Sugar,” he makes the comparison between the sparse number of individuals who were diagnosed with diabetes in the late 1800s when sugar was not a staple in the diet, and the rate of 1 in 3 individuals who suffer from diabetes and prediabetes today.

The sugar added to one 6-ounce soda is enough to increase your risk of obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease if you drink it every day.8 The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates the average American gets 16 percent of their daily calories from sugar,9 or as much as 30 teaspoons a day, which is three times the recommended amount.10 This is equal to eating 35 5-pound bags of sugar every year.

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternative and More

Manufacturers have used the addictive property of sugar to drive sales of their products, and the use of high fructose corn syrup to get more bang for their buck. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is not only cheaper for manufacturers to use, it also gives your body a bigger sugar jolt. Dr. Yulia Johnson, family medicine physician with the Iowa Clinic, comments on the use of HFCS:11

“Your body processes high fructose corn syrup differently than it does ordinary sugar. The burden falls on your liver, which is not capable of keeping up with how quickly corn syrup breaks down. As a result, blood sugar spikes quicker. It’s stored as fat, so you can become obese and develop other health problems, such as diabetes, much faster.”

The danger to growing children is even greater as their bodies cannot handle the amount of sugar they get from candy, processed foods and sugary drinks, and they have many more years of sugar consumption during which they damage their mitochondria and cellular metabolism — damage that has been linked to many of the leading causes of death, including:12

Heart disease Hypertension
Atherosclerosis Cancer
Stroke Diabetes
Chronic liver disease Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease13

Sugar Associated With an Increased Risk of Depression

Sugar is also associated with an increased risk of depression. It stands to reason that as sugar adversely affects your brain, it may trigger damage that affects your mood and behavior. Several studies have found an association between rising sugar intake and an increase in depression rates.14,15,16

There are several ways sugar contributes to mood changes. For starters, sugar increases insulin resistance, which plays a significant role in your mental health. Over the long term, this creates a chronic inflammatory response in your body. In one cross-cultural analysis,17 the researchers concluded the dietary predictors of outcome for depression and schizophrenia are very similar to those that predict diabetes and heart disease. They all involve a chronic inflammatory response, of which sugar is a primary driver.

Researchers have also found a significant association between addiction and mood disorders, including depression. In a study18 that tracked the dietary habits and medical conditions of 8,000 people over 22 years, researchers found that men who consumed 67 grams or more of sugar per day were 23 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression in five years than those consuming 40 grams or less.19 None of the participants had been treated for mental illness at the start of the study.

The effect of sugar on mental health appeared to be independent of socioeconomic status, physical activity, drinking, smoking or other eating habits. The findings from this study are noteworthy. Although the methodology didn’t allow researchers to find cause and effect, the results line up well with previous studies that suggest over-consumption of sugar may trigger an imbalance in neurological chemicals that affect your mood, raising your risk for depression and anxiety.

Related: Natural Remedies for Depression

Sugar impacts the function of dopamine in your brain, the neurotransmitter that triggers your reward system, in the same way narcotics affect your brain, and may trigger a strong addictive response. Since addiction and mood disorders have been linked, and sugar fuels powerful mood changes associated with addiction, researchers who have analyzed the biochemical and neurological effects of sugar concluded it may be as addictive as cocaine for some people.20

Excessive Sugar Is Toxic

In the video above, Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California in San Francisco (USCF), discusses the role of sugar in society’s diet over past decades and how it can poison your body. Sugar stimulates the release of dopamine,21 a neurotransmitter that plays a role in many important pathways, most notably the mesolimbic pathway.

The way dopamine affects your brain in this area changes with addiction and spikes your perception of motivation or pleasure.22 These chemicals are what makes sugar feel so good to you, and why manufacturers use it to drive your behavior. But, just like other addictive drugs, sugar is not healthy for you. Lacking any nutritional value, added sugar is one of the most toxic ingredients in a Western diet.

Processed fructose such as HFCS is another form of added sugar in processed foods that has demonstrated greater damage than simple glucose or table sugar, which is a mixture of glucose and fructose. A study led by Kimber Stanhope, Ph.D., research nutritional biologist from the University of California Davis, demonstrated that fructose does not act like glucose in your body.23

Individuals were randomized to consume drinks sweetened with glucose or fructose over a 10-week period. Even though the drinks contained the same number of calories, the fructose group experienced an increase in lipids associated with cardiovascular disease, increased resistance to insulin and greater visceral fat associated with metabolic disease.

The glucose group did not experience these adverse changes. According to the authors, “These data suggest that dietary fructose specifically increases DNL [hepatic de novo lipogenesis], promotes dyslipidemia, decreases insulin sensitivity, and increases visceral adiposity in overweight/obese adults.”

Related: Start Eating Like That and Start Eating Like This – Your Guide to Homeostasis Through Diet

Sugar Addiction Has Been Manipulated by the Industry

There are a significant number of studies detailing the damage sugar causes your body that spans many decades. The cost of consumption drives up insurance rates and number of hospitalizations, and is linked to eight of the leading causes of death. However, unlike tobacco products that are sold with severe cancer and respiratory warnings, the sugar industry and processed food manufacturers are free to use sugar to feed the consumer’s addiction without any warning whatsoever.

Long before a conflict of interest statement was required on research studies, the sugar industry sponsored research that promoted dietary fat as the culprit behind cardiovascular disease and weight gain.24 However, there was evidence that sugar was linked to heart disease in studies dating to the 1950s. Following the deaths of organic chemist Roger Adams, University of Illinois, and nutritionist David Mark Hegsted, Harvard University, their personal correspondence and materials were gifted to their respective universities.

It was in this correspondence that Cristin Kearns, postdoctoral researcher at USCF, discovered references to research conclusions that were influenced by the sugar industry in an effort to hide the damaging effects sugar has on health.25 Historical analysis has provided proof the sugar industry has guided nutritional research, impacting public policy and shifting the blame for chronic disease to saturated fat.

Recent reports show the food industry is still influencing nutritional science.26 In the end, the combination of flawed science, poor governmental oversight, and the natural effects sugar has on your brain has led many into an addictive relationship with a substance that is fueling heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

As Health Insurance Rates Rise, Your Best Insurance May Be to Avoid Sugar

Research from many of the most respected institutions around the world confirms sugar is a primary factor driving the development of chronic diseases and contributes to the leading causes of death,27 including cancer and heart disease. It stands to reason, if you want to reduce your health care costs, it is best to avoid sugar as much as possible, if not eliminate it from your diet completely.

While eating whole, organic foods is the best thing you can do for your health, when you do pick up packaged foods, read the labels carefully so you can make an informed decision about the amount of sugar you are adding to your diet. Keep in mind there are many different types of sugars that may go unnoticed on labels. Below is a list of some of the more common sugars, but there are more names for sugar than are listed here.

Related: Hypothyroidism – Natural Remedies, Causes, and How To Heal the Thyroid

Also, remember food labels list ingredients in order of the amount in the product. In other words, there is more of the first ingredient in the product than the second, and so forth. When looking at the amount of sugar in the product you’re considering, remember if sugar is in the fourth, sixth, ninth and 11th positions, the combined total may well put it in the first or second position. You’ll notice that some of these names end with “syrup” or “ose,” which identifies them as sugars.28

Fruit juice concentrate Evaporated cane juice Cane juice crystals Blackstrap molasses
Buttered syrup Fruit juice Honey Carob syrup
Caramel Brown rice syrup Corn syrup solids Florida crystal
Golden syrup Maple syrup Molasses Refiner’s syrup
Sorghum syrup Sucanat Treacle Turbinado
Barley malt Corn syrup Dextrin Dextrose
Diastatic malt Ethyl maltol Glucose Glucose solids
Lactose Malt syrup Maltose D-ribose
Rice syrup Galactose Maltodextrin Castor

Mind Hack — How Corporations Took Over Our Bodies and Brains

(Dr. Mercola) The science is in: Processed food is addictive, can make you extremely unhappy and will prematurely kill you. How did this happen? And how have food manufacturers been able to deceive the world about these facts? Dr. Robert Lustig has written a new book, “The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains,” in which he explains how and why this occurred.

He is perhaps most well-known for his brilliant research into sugar and obesity, and his previous book, “Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity, and Disease,” was a New York Times Best Seller. Lustig is an emeritus professor of pediatrics in the division of endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies. Since the last time I interviewed him, he’s also completed a master’s in public health law.

Related Reading: Gluten, Candida, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and Autoimmune Diseases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRr0hrPr3xE

The Genesis of ‘Hacking of the American Mind’

The motivation for “The Hacking of the American Mind” began some 30 years ago, while still a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at Rockefeller University. There, he learned about the interaction between dopamine and serotonin in the brain. At the time, only basic correlational data existed, but there appeared to be a very specific interaction going on between these two neurochemicals.

“As I was researching the data for ‘Fat Chance,’ four years ago, it became very clear that the data had come in on the role of diet and behavioral health,” Lustig says. “In addition, we also now had neuroimaging studies. I realized everything was falling into place — that this issue, dopamine and serotonin, was actually at the core of what had now become our depression and opiate crises.

At the same time, I was giving Psychiatry Grand Rounds at a U.S. medical school in 2014. The woman who ran their outpatient treatment program took me on a tour of their facility. She was a recovered addict herself. She said something to me that was so jarring. She said, ‘When I was shooting up, I was happy. What my new life has brought me is pleasure.’

I thought to myself, ‘That’s wrong. That’s exactly turned around.’ But I didn’t say anything to her. I went home and talked to some psychiatry friends. They said, ‘Oh yeah, a lot of people seem to get addicted with this concept in mind.’ I said, ‘Well, there’s a book there.’ That was the genesis of this book.”

Related:

Why Processed Food Diets Fuel Depression

Download Interview Transcript

Tryptophan, which is the precursor for serotonin, is one of the rarest amino acids in our diet. But it’s a mistake to think the answer to depression is as simple as taking tryptophan to boost serotonin. The reason for this is because most of the tryptophan is converted to serotonin in your gut, and it does not freely travel into your brain. Lustig explains:

“Tryptophan is the only amino acid that can be converted into serotonin. Tryptophan is the rarest amino acid in our diet. Eggs have the most. Certain poultry and other avian species have some [tryptophan]. There’s very little in vegetables. Obviously, carbohydrates have virtually no tryptophan whatsoever.

It’s actually pretty hard to get tryptophan into your body to start with. Take processed food on top of that, then it’s even harder because it tends to be tryptophan-depleted. [Moreover], 99.9 percent of the tryptophan you ingest either gets turned into serotonin in the gut for your gut’s purposes, or it goes into your platelets to help your platelets help you clot. [So] very little tryptophan actually gets to the brain.

Top that off with the fact that tryptophan has to share an amino acid transporter with two relatively common amino acids: phenylalanine and tyrosine, which, by the way, are the precursors for dopamine. You can see that the more processed food you eat, the more dopamine you will make because you will have the precursors for that.

They will actually crowd out the ability to get tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier … Yet, serotonin is the nidus of contentment, of happiness. It explains why diet is so problematic … ”

Face-to-Face Interaction Has Neurochemical Effects

Many try to bolster their happiness through certain food choices, but this actually does not work, and Lustig provides compelling arguments that the foods you crave drive up dopamine and drive down serotonin. Rather, it’s experiences that make you happy. People can make you happy. You can make yourself happy. In his book, Lustig outlines a number of different strategies to become happier.

“Ultimately, the goal is [to increase] your serotonin,” he says. There are four ways to boost your serotonin, and they’re all free. They’re also things your grandmother likely told you to do. First and foremost is making human connections.

“Turns out that Facebook does not count as connection. When we’re talking about interpersonal connection, we’re talking about eye-to-eye,” Lustig says. “The facial emotions of the person you’re talking with activate a set of neurons in your brain called ‘mirror neurons,’ which are the drivers of empathy and specifically linked to serotonin.To be able to generate a feeling of empathy, which ultimately turns into contentment/happiness, you actually have to connect. You can’t do it over the internet. You can’t have a connection with ‘anonymous.’ It just doesn’t work.”

On the contrary, social media generate dopamine, associated with pleasure, and hence can drive addiction. The main problem is that when dopamine goes up, serotonin goes down. So, online communication is actually a major causative factor of unhappiness.

Lustig also elaborates on how companies — both food manufacturers and electronics companies — capitalize on the biology of dopamine versus serotonin to get us addicted to their products. There’s even a book on this topic written by Nir Eyal, called, “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.”

Dopamine Versus Serotonin

It’s important to realize that the dopamine (or reward-generating) pathway is the same no matter what your source of pleasure is. It can be a substance, such as nicotine, alcohol, heroin or junk food; or it can be behavior, such as internet surfing, shopping or pornography. The problem, in a nutshell, is that dopamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter, and in excess is neurotoxic.

When dopamine is released, and the neuron on the other side accepts the signal, it can damage that neuron.  Over time, excitatory neurotransmitters can cause cell death. To protect itself from damage, the postsynaptic neuron employs a self-protective mechanism — it downregulates its receptors.

By having fewer receptors, the dopamine cannot do as much damage. So, each time you get a “hit” or rush of dopamine, the number of receptors decrease. As a result, you need increasingly larger doses or “hits” to get the same rush. Eventually, you end up with tolerance, a state where even a large dose produces no effect. Once the neurons start to actually die off, you’re a full-blown addict.

“The point that you need to know is that it takes three weeks for the receptors to repopulate. The cravings can go on for upwards of a year when you’re addicted. This is a long-term process that sometimes requires medical intervention and medical management by physicians who understand addiction medicine,” Lustig says.

Serotonin, on the other hand, is not an excitatory neurotransmitter. When it acts on the serotonin-1a receptor (the “contentment” receptor), no damage occurs. Hence, happiness does not lead to addictive behavior. Keep in mind that dopamine downregulates serotonin, so it’s basically impossible to achieve happiness (related to serotonin) through pleasure-seeking behavior (related to dopamine).

One of the cheapest pleasures that stimulates dopamine is sugar. Many reach for sweet junk food when they feel down, thinking it’ll help them feel better, but neurochemical science reveals this simply cannot happen. Add the stress hormone cortisol to the mix, which downregulates the serotonin-1a receptor, and you have a recipe for both addiction and depression. “That’s what we’re seeing throughout all of civilized society, not just in America, but around the world,” Lustig says.

Other Serotonin Boosters

There are three other ways, besides connecting, that boost serotonin and happiness. The remaining three of the four C’s are:

1.Contribute: Meaning the act of contributing to something greater than yourself; making a contribution to society. “You can get happiness and contentment from your job, but there are certain criteria that have to be met,” Lustig says. “Most people, unfortunately, have a boss who is not contributing to their happiness. The workplace is not usually the best place to achieve meaningful contentment.”

2.Cope: Lack of sleep, insufficient exercise and multitasking are all causes of unhappiness. Sleep is extremely important for healthy serotonin production. Here, avoiding exposure to electronic screens is important, as blue light inhibits melatonin production, thereby making sleep more elusive. Electronics will also disrupt your sleep and deteriorate your health by exposing you to unnecessary microwaves, discussed in this recent article on depression.

3.Cook: If you cook, you’re likely going to increase your tryptophan, reduce your refined sugar intake, and increase your omega-3 fats (anti-inflammatory) and fiber. Overall, this will result in improved gut health, which has tremendous impact on your mood and mental health.

“Numerous investigators … have shown that your gastrointestinal flora tell your brain what they want through signals that go through the bloodstream, and potentially even neural ones as well. If you do not feed your bacteria, you cannot get happy. Eating real food you prepare yourself is super important,” Lustig says.

Eating Real Food Helps Optimize Tryptophan and Other Vital Brain Nutrients

As mentioned, a big part of the happiness equation is to increase serotonin by optimizing tryptophan. However, the dilemma is that most of the serotonin produced in the gut is used there locally. It does not enter your brain. Lustig explains:

“There are many diversions for tryptophan away from the brain. It can be metabolized in the intestine itself. It can be metabolized in the platelets. It can be turned into kynurenine, which is a secondary metabolite in the liver. It may not be transported across the blood-brain barrier because of phenylalanine and tyrosine taking up the aromatic amino acid transporter.

In addition, of course, your serotonin neurons must be functional. There are things that will kill off serotonin neurons, including party drugs. For instance, MDMA, or Ecstasy, is a famous dopamine and serotonin killer … Once you’ve lost those serotonin neurons, it’s pretty hard to get any sort of happiness signal.”

So, how do you boost systemic tryptophan? One of the keys is to eat real food, and to make sure you include high-tryptophan foods, the highest of which is egg whites. You also need omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, which is a component of every cell in your body. More than 90 percent of the omega-3 fat found in brain tissue is DHA.

“Omega-3s are probably the single most beneficial thing you can put in your body. They are anti-inflammatory. They are anti-Alzheimer’s. They increase membrane fluidity. Therefore, they increase neuronal distensibility, which means it’s less likely that any given neuron will die,” Lustig says.

“The problem, of course, is that when we took the fat out of the food, we took ALL the fat out of the food. It’s been a real chore to get the medical cognoscenti to turn around on this. I do want to do a shoutout to the American Heart Association, because they have now debunked their long-standing cholesterol-fat hypothesis.

They now recognize that saturated fat was not the demon they made it out to be, and that there are seven classes of fats, and that you actually have to consume omega-3s. You have to consume monounsaturated fats. In fact, you do have to consume some saturated fat because it’s a major component of membranes.”

The Corporate Takeover

So, how have food companies contributed to the problems of food and drug addiction? According to Lustig, “If you look at the Supreme Court decisions that took place between the mid-‘70s and mid-‘80s, they took away individual rights and loaded up corporate rights in a very distinct fashion.” In his book, he describes four specific Supreme Court decisions, one of which basically deregulated corporate speech.

Corporations can say anything they want, whenever they want, regardless of whether it’s actually true. Our current epidemics of opioid and food addiction are outgrowths of corporate dishonesty.

“We are now seeing the advent of the post-truth society because of how the Supreme Court chipped away at our own individual rights,” Lustig says. “By doing so, corporations have affected our ability to experience pleasure and happiness. They’ve actually inserted propaganda into our limbic system, our reward generating system, so that we constantly seek reward at the expense of our own happiness.

This is why we currently live in the world we live in. The late political philosopher from Princeton, Sheldon Wolin, wrote a poignant book called ‘Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism,’ [in which] he envisioned that corporations and government … would become one and the same.

If you look at what’s going on in the White House today, you can see that Wolin’s nightmare scenario has been realized. It’s fascism in the sense that we don’t seem to have a voice of our own. It’s not fascism in the sense that it’s corporations that’s told us what to do. It’s that we’ve basically abdicated our own responsibility for our own health and safety.”

The EatREAL Trust Mark

Speaking of living in a post-truth society, you might not realize there’s no regulation against restaurants blatantly lying about what they’re serving you. Larry Olmsted, in his book “Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating and What You Can Do About It,” addresses this. There are no consequences, no regulatory action, for lying to customers. The deception will only enrich them — until or unless they’re publicly outed and perhaps boycotted.

One way to protect your interests when eating out is to make sure the restaurant is affiliated with Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership, better known as EatREAL, a nonprofit Lustig helped create. It teaches restaurants what they “should be doing,” and provides a trust mark to the public — a green fork.

The High Cost of Added Sugar

Processed fructose, mostly in the form of corn syrup, has become a major contributor to the $3 trillion health care budget in the United States, and there’s clear data linking sugar consumption to de novo lipogenesis — a disease process associated with fat accumulation in the liver, causing insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, metabolic syndrome and associated diseases. That includes Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid problems, cardiovascular disease, cancer and dementia.

“We have the mechanism by which this occurs. In fact, our paper in Gastroenterology1 demonstrates that if you take sugar out of the diet of children with metabolic syndrome and substitute starch — calorie for calorie exchange, glucose for fructose exchange with no change in calories … — in 10 days, you can reverse metabolic syndrome.

You can reverse the insulin resistance. You can reverse the liver fat. You can reverse the burden on the pancreas. Basically, all of the metabolic perturbations go away. This is the smoking gun,” Lustig says. “In addition, we have a paper in BMJ Open2 which models what could happen in terms of health care expenditures and disease rates if we reduced our sugar consumption by 20 percent, which is what taxes would do.

Or if we reduce sugar consumption by 50 percent (which is what the United States Department of Agriculture suggested we do), for nonalcoholic fatty liver disease alone … the United States, over the next 20 years, could save $103 billion, just on that disease alone. Ultimately, this is where the money goes. This is why health care will be defunct. This is why Medicare will be broke by the year 2026 …

We have to deal with health. Health is going down the tubes. There’s no amount of health care that can fix what’s wrong with our diet, unless we fix the diet first … The bottom line is we are in trouble. But you can’t fix a problem until you recognize what the problem is. This book, ‘The Hacking of the American Mind,’ demonstrates how the science, how the biology, ultimately has influenced not just our health, but in fact, our policy.”

More Information

In the past, people had a much better understanding of happiness and pleasure. Lustig’s book describes how these terms have been purposely conflated and confused by businesses and governments because it helped sales. To turn the trends of addiction around, you have to understand the difference between the two.

“So, what’s the difference between pleasure and happiness? There are seven differences: Pleasure is visceral; happiness is ethereal. Pleasure is short-term; happiness is long-term. Pleasure is usually achieved alone; happiness is usually achieved in social groupings. Pleasure is taking; happiness is giving. Pleasure can be achieved with substances; happiness cannot be achieved with substances.

The extremes of pleasure all lead to addiction, whereas there is no such thing as being addicted to happiness. Finally, pleasure is dopamine and happiness is serotonin.

Understanding the difference between the two is something, for some reason, that the American public just never got. We have to make them get it in order to turn this problem around. Academics don’t get it. Businesses don’t get it. The federal government certainly doesn’t get it. We have to make them get it. That’s why this book is so crucial.”

I couldn’t agree more, and “The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains” will certainly help you understand the distinction between dopamine, serotonin and the variables that help optimize these neurotransmitters. Most importantly, the way he explains it all has the power motivate healthy behavior.

“The bottom line is it’s about the science,” Lustig says. “There will be detractors who will say this is garbage. But the bottom line is there are 600 references to the primary literature to demonstrate that this is not gobbledygook. The science actually predicts the phenomena that we see and the society we’ve become.”

Sugar During Pregnancy Linked to Allergies

(Mercola) Allergies are your body’s reaction to a protein (allergen) and are a sign your immune system is working overtime. According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America,1 nasal allergies affect nearly 50 million people in the U.S., and that number is growing. As many as 30 percent of adults and 40 percent of children suffer from allergic diseases, including asthma.

These conditions are the fifth leading chronic disease in the U.S. and the third chronic disease in children under 18. In 2010, Americans with allergic rhinitis spent nearly $17.5 billion on health care related to the condition, lost more than 6 million work and school days and had nearly 16 million doctor visits.2

During the second encounter with an allergen, your body is ready to react, sending a powerful cocktail of histamine, leukotrienes and prostaglandins to protect your body. They trigger a cascade of symptoms associated with allergies, such as sneezing, sore throat, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes. Histamine may also cause your airways to constrict, triggering an asthma response or hives.

Pollen is one common allergen that triggers this reaction, but other protein molecules may as well, including mold spores, dust mites, pet dander, cockroaches, and cleaning and personal care products. The activation of this allergic response may be related to your dietary intake and your gut microbiome. Recent research has identified a higher risk of allergies and asthma in children born to mothers who ate high amounts of sugar during their pregnancy.3

Related: Candida, Gut Flora, Allergies, and Disease

Sugar During Pregnancy Increases Your Child’s Risk of Allergies

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London evaluated survey data from nearly 9,000 mother-child pairs in the ongoing Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, tracking the health of families with children born between April 1, 1991, and December 31, 1992.4 Lead author Annabelle Bedard, Ph.D., commented on what triggered the researchers to evaluate the association between sugar and allergies:5

“The dramatic ‘epidemic’ of asthma and allergies in the West in the last 50 years is still largely unexplained — one potential culprit is a change in diet. Intake of free sugar and high fructose corn syrup has increased substantially over this period. We know that the prenatal period may be crucial for determining risk of asthma and allergies in childhood and recent trials have confirmed that maternal diet in pregnancy is important.”

Using self-reported estimates of sugar intake from questionnaires, the researchers calculated the amount of sugar the mothers ate during their pregnancy and compared this against the number of children diagnosed with allergies or asthma by age 7. Sixty-two percent of the children did not have allergic reactions, 22 percent had common allergies and 12 percent had asthma.

As a comparison, 10 percent of children in the U.S. were diagnosed with asthma in 2010, six years prior to this analysis.6 When the children were grouped into those with the lowest sugar intake during pregnancy (less than 34 grams or 7 teaspoons) and those with the greatest (over 82 grams or 16 teaspoons) the researchers discovered that children whose mothers ate the highest amounts had a 38 percent increased risk of allergies and a 73 percent higher risk of becoming allergic to two or more allergens.7

Related: Allergy Free in Five Days (foods, dander, dust, seasonal, etc.)

Women who ate high amounts of sugar were also twice as likely to have children who developed allergic asthma.8 Co-author Seif Shaheen, Ph.D., said:9

“We cannot say on the basis of these observations that high intake of sugar by mothers in pregnancy is definitely causing allergy and allergic asthma in their offspring. However, given the extremely high consumption of sugar in the West, we will certainly be investigating this hypothesis further with some urgency.”

Impact of Asthma on Your Community

Asthma is a chronic lung disease that inflames the lining of your lung tissue and narrows the airways. The inflammation in your lung tissue is sensitive to environmental stimuli, also called triggers, which differ from person to person.10 Allergy triggers include dust mites, cockroaches, mold, pet dander and pollen.11

However, you may develop an asthma exacerbation from triggers other than allergic proteins. For instance, strong irritants, such as chemical sprays, perfumes and tobacco smoke or scented products may irritate your lung tissue and narrow your airways. Other triggers include cold weather, exercise, upper respiratory infections, food sensitivities and stress.

In the featured study, researchers found children whose mothers ate high amounts of sugar while pregnant developed asthma triggered by allergens and not by fragrances, cold weather, exercise, infections or food sensitivities. In the past 30 years, the incidence of asthma has increased worldwide. While the condition is generally accepted as costly, some countries do not consider it a health care priority.12

The total cost of treatment and lost work and school to society is difficult to estimate, due in part to different definitions and characterizations of the conditions and different assessments of the socioeconomic impact on society. Although variable from country to country, an average cost per patient in Europe is $1,900, while in the U.S. the cost hovers near $3,100.13

Vitamin D During Pregnancy Helps Reduce Asthma Risk

Low vitamin D levels in children who have asthma may increase the number of severe exacerbations they suffer, including the need for a trip to the hospital.14 A previous study, which followed over 1,000 children for nearly four years, found vitamin D insufficiency was linked to a 50 percent increased risk of a severe asthmatic attack necessitating a visit to the emergency room or hospitalization.

Related: Vitamin D and Sunlight

A more recent study15 published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology also links low vitamin D levels in pregnant women to a higher risk of asthma in their children.16 This study supports similar findings from Harvard Medical School,17 in which vitamin D intake in over 1,100 mothers from the Northeastern U.S. was assessed. Children from mothers whose intake was higher during pregnancy had a decreased risk of recurrent wheezing by age 3, whether the vitamin D was from diet or a supplement.

The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology study evaluated the effect of using an oral supplement of vitamin D-3 during the second and third trimester of pregnancy at nearly 4,000 IUs higher than the recommended daily intake of 400 IUs.18 After birth, researchers took a sample of the cord blood, testing the newborn’s innate immune system response known to provide the baby with long-term protection against environmental pathogens.

The samples from babies whose mothers had taken the higher supplemental dose of 4,400 IUs of vitamin D-3 responded with a healthier innate cytokine response and greater IL-17A production after T lymphocyte stimulation. The researchers believe this would likely lead to improved respiratory health as the child grows, since past research has linked a strong immune response with a reduction in asthma.

The lead researcher, Catherine Hawrylowicz, Ph.D., professor of immune regulation in allergic disease at King’s College London, commented on the importance of the results as it relates to both the health of future children and the importance of investigating further links between vitamin D and immunity:19

“The majority of all asthma cases are diagnosed in early childhood implying that the origin of the disease stems in fetal and early life. Studies to date that have investigated links between vitamin D and immunity in the baby have been observational.

For the first time, we have shown that higher vitamin D levels in pregnancy can effectively alter the immune response of the newborn baby, which could help to protect the child from developing asthma. Future studies should look at the long-term impact on the immunity of the infant.”

Impact of Sugar on Your Body

Sugar is 50 times more potent than total calories in explaining the rising rates of diabetes worldwide, explains Dr. Robert Lustig in this short video. While both glucose and fructose are sweet, they are two different molecules.

Research demonstrates not only the detrimental effect sugar has on your developing baby and their future health, but also on your own health. Despite the American Heart Association’s seal of approval on products that meet or exceed their own recommended daily limit on sugar, there is no nutritional reason to eat foods with added sugar.

In fact, the opposite is true. Diets high in net carbohydrates and added sweeteners may do far more than spike your blood glucose and insulin levels. Sugar will overload and damage your liver. High levels of sugar in your body will also trigger metabolic syndrome, a combination of weight gain, abdominal obesity, rising cholesterol levels and elevated triglycerides.

Eating a diet rich in net carbohydrates and excess sugars has also been linked to hypertension. As your insulin and leptin levels rise in response to sugars, your blood pressure also rises. Your body uses magnesium to fully relax your blood vessels, but your body is unable to store magnesium as you become resistant to insulin from a diet rich in sugar. When your body doesn’t have enough magnesium to relax your blood vessels, your blood pressure also rises.

Eating high amounts of sugar is also linked to brain-related health issues, such as depression, learning disorders, memory problems and food addiction. Sugars trigger the reward center in your brain, leading to cravings that may rival cocaine addiction in some individuals.20 However, not all sugars have identical effects. For instance, fructose may activate your brain to increase your interest in food, while glucose triggers your brain’s satiation signal.

Your Gut Microbiome and Allergies

High sugar intake also affects the growth of bacteria in your gut. In an evaluation of data from market research firm Euromonitor, researchers found people in the U.S. ate more sugar per person than any other country evaluated.21 The average person in the U.S. consumes more than 126 grams of sugar each day, nearly twice the amount consumed by 54 monitored countries and twice the amount recommended by the World Health Organization.

Related: Healthy Sugar Alternatives & More

Researchers have demonstrated that diets rich in sugar will alter your gut microbiome,22,23 likely since your beneficial bacteria thrive on fiber and pathogenic bacteria thrive on sugar. Increasing the amount of sugar to the diet of mice transplanted with human fecal material demonstrated the gut microbiome would change dramatically within 24 hours of adding sugar to their diet.24

Scientists have found infants who go on to develop allergies start with early-life abnormalities in their gut microbiome and microbial function.25 While research continues to find links between healthy gut microbiota and a reduction in allergic response in adults and children, the evidence to date suggests that your gut microbiome is a significant target in the prevention and management of allergic asthma.26

In a recent scientific review, scientists found an association between immune-regulated epigenetic imprinting from mother to child during pregnancy that may support the immune system of the growing child after birth.27

However, if your gut microbiome is altered from high intake of sugar and net carbohydrates, this may alter your body’s ability to support the growing immune system of your child. In yet another study, doctors were able to associate altered intestinal microbiota with the development of asthma and allergies in children, suggesting the mother’s immune system may also play a role.28

Break Free From Sugar

Research supports making a break from processed foods and added sugars in your diet to optimize your health and the health of your children. While sugar is an additive that can be challenging to reduce or eliminate from your diet, the benefits to your overall health, energy level and brain function may become rapidly evident, helping to motivate your efforts.

If you currently eat a lot of sugar, there’s a good chance you’re struggling with sugar addiction. If so, I highly recommend trying an energy psychology technique called Turbo Tapping. It has helped many “soda addicts” kick their sweet habit, and it should work for any type of sweet craving you may have.

As you begin eliminating sugar from your diet, be sure to avoid most processed foods, as added sugar can be found in nearly 74 percent of processed foods under more than 60 different names.29 If you’re already fighting diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure or are overweight, you would be wise to limit your total fructose and sugar intake to 15 grams per day until your condition has normalized.

For all others, I recommend limiting your total fructose to 25 grams or less per day. As you move toward limiting your sugar intake, here are several tips to help reduce cravings and help you on your journey to good health:

Exercise: Anyone who exercises intensely on a regular basis will know a significant amount of cardiovascular exercise is one of the best “cures” for food cravings. It always amazes me how my appetite, especially for sweets, dramatically decreases after a good workout. I believe the mechanism is related to the dramatic reduction in insulin levels that occurs after exercise.

Organic, black coffee: Coffee is a potent opioid receptor antagonist, and contains compounds such as cafestol — found plentifully in both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee — which can bind to your opioid receptors, occupy them and essentially block your addiction to other opioid-releasing food.30,31 This may profoundly reduce the addictive power of other substances, such as sugar.

Sour taste:  Simply tasting something sour, such as cultured vegetables, helps reduce sweet cravings, too. This is doubly beneficial, as fermented vegetables also promote gut health. You can also try adding lemon or lime juice to your water.

Related: Galactagogues Foods, Herbs, and other Ways to Increase Breast Milk Production

Top baby food brand found LOADED with sugar

(Natural News) An investigation carried out by Channel 4’s Supershoppers program in the U.K. revealed that the country’s top selling baby food brand Ella’s Kitchen manufactures products that may contain up to five teaspoons of sugar per packet. Ella’s Kitchen has been the number one choice for middle-class mothers who want to wean their babies in a “nutritious” way.

The investigation noted that while the company’s red pepper, sweet potato, and apple pouch seemed to be a healthy vegetable product, it was in fact 78 percent apple puree. According to the investigation, Ella’s Purple One smoothie contained more than three teaspoons of sugar. In addition, Ella’s Banana and Apricot baby rice was found to contain nearly five teaspoons of naturally occurring sugar.

Related: Galactagogues Foods, Herbs, and other Ways to Increase Breast Milk Production

Experts have previously cautioned that while natural sugar is healthier than white sugar when eaten as fruit, processing the natural sugar makes it just as unhealthy. Dietician Anna Daniels quipped that once natural sugar is processed, blended, or made into smoothie, it is no longer encapsulated within the plant cell wall. This meant that processed natural sugar could be easily broken down and released into the bloodstream quicker. According to Daniels, processing natural sugars converts them into free sugars, which have a detrimental effect on the body once taken in excess.

However, Ella’s Kitchen dismissed the results of the television investigation and maintained that their products do not contain added sugars. The company also maintained that their products were made from 100 percent whole fruit or vegetable. In addition, Ella’s Kitchen stressed that it never uses fruit juice or concentrates. Moreover, the company questioned the investigation’s use of teaspoon value to measure their products’ sugar content.

Related: 10 Circumcision Myths – Let’s Get the Facts Straight

“Expressing the sugar content in terms of teaspoons is misleading. Using this rationale, 100 ml of breast milk would contain nearly two teaspoons of sugar. The Purple One Smoothie Fruit pouch is a blend of 100 percent fruit and contains the same amount of sugar as if you’d made it at home using fruit from the fruit bowl. Likewise, Banana and Apricot Baby Rice is made from only organic bananas, apricots and rice with a squeeze of lemon juice. A banana from the fruit bowl contains 20 g sugar per 100 g, so again, the sugar content would be similar if you made the product at home,” the company said on The Daily Mail.

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

Previous study finds baby food products questionable

The recent investigation was not the first one to question the nutritional value of Ella’s Kitchen’s products. In fact, a 2013 study carried out by a team of researchers University of Glasgow revealed that commercial baby foods produced by Ella’s Kitchen, Cow and Gate and Heinz were significantly less nutritious than home-made meals. The study also revealed that many commercial baby food products contain high levels of sugar. (Related: Babies that eat fresh foods instead of processed foods have fewer allergies)

Likewise, the research team found that the products were typically promoted for use from four months of age, a time when babies’ diets should be primarily based on breast or formula milk. In addition, the study revealed that babies should eat twice as many commercial baby foods in order to get the same energy and protein levels found in home-made meals. Moreover, the study showed that commercial baby foods have significantly lower levels of essential minerals such as iron.

Related: Common Bad Parenting Advice You Should Know

“Manufacturers have been dragging their feet, lagging behind current thinking and research evidence that babies don’t generally need solid foods before about six months. It’s time they stopped labelling foods ‘from 4 months. If babies are spoon-fed pureed fruit and vegetables before this time, it can replace the nutrients from milk. Many parents do find jars of food convenient when they are out and about, but babies can eat family foods most of the time. Buying commercial baby foods is also much more expensive than using family foods,” said Rosemary Dodds, senior policy adviser at the National Childbirth Trust.

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Not All Sugars Are the Same

Young beautiful woman choose between sweet cake and green apple - in the kitchen
Sugar, sugar everywhere, but what kind to eat? Head into the grocery store after a long day at the office (when you are ravenous and ready for dinner) and you’re bound to be tempted by the vast array of sweets stocking the shelves and aisles. Between all of the juice selections, smoothie flavors, fruit pyramids, dessert trays, and cereal choices, shopping for foods that not only support cleaner eating, while also allowing wiggle room for satisfaction, can be tricky. The good news is that with a little knowledge in your back pocket, you can easily choose sugar options that will not only boost your health but also provide you with a satiating sweet treat.

The Basics: How Much Sugar Should One Consume Daily?

According to the American Heart Association, women should consume no more than about six teaspoons or 100 calories of added sugar per day. Men, on the other hand, should limit their intake to no more than about nine teaspoons or 150 calories of added sugar a day. Six to nine teaspoons of sugar might not seem like a lot, especially when you consider how much some people consume on a regular basis. But what is key in this guideline is that it points out the restrictions on added sugars. Our diets include both naturally occurring and added sugars. Examples of naturally occurring sugars would be lactose found in unsweetened yogurt or milk and fructose found in whole foods such as fruit. Added sugars, however, are placed in foods to create a larger “wow” factor (or improved taste). Examples of foods that contain added sugars are usually sweetened yogurts, ice cream, candy, a large number of boxed cookies, and cheaply made “baked goods.” The question remains, though: if someone were to adjust the amount of added sugar they consumed to the amount suggested by the American Heart Association, how much naturally occurring sugar is allowed daily? “As long as the sugar is naturally found in food, such a dairy and grain products, there is not a limit,” explains Annie Tsang, Registered Dietitian at Elements Wellness Centre in Vancouver, BC. Of course, this is taking into account someone who is otherwise healthy and who has consulted a trusted health practitioner. With this in mind, when a person hits the aisles to grocery shop with the intention of buying healthier sources of sugar, knowledge is power. And it all begins with the basics.

Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose

Fructose, glucose, and sucrose are all important carbohydrate sources for our bodies, but they work differently, notes Tsang. Glucose: It plays a large role in our body’s functions because it is used as a main source of fuel. Tsang mentions that foods such as whole grains and starches contain long chains of glucose. “When consuming whole grains and starches, you are also ingesting a wide spectrum of nutrients, such as B vitamins and fibre,” Tsang says. Fructose: Generally speaking, fructose is found in fruits. “Unlike glucose, fructose does not have a direct effect to our blood sugar in response to insulin,” notes Tsang. In addition, she explains that when you eat whole foods containing fructose, such as fruits, you’re also consuming great nutrients, like fibre and antioxidants. Sucrose: Refined sugars contain sucrose. Sucrose is commonly referred to as table sugar. As our bodies metabolize foods, sucrose is broken down into both fructose and glucose molecules, which provides fuel for our body, explains Tsang. Between the fraternal triplets (fructose, glucose, and sucrose) which one should be avoided or more closely monitored? “Sucrose may be considered worse because foods containing added sucrose (i.e. candies, ice cream, and other sweets) are usually of no nutritional value,” says Tsang. Moreover, consuming too much refined sugar can increase the chance of dental cavities, obesity, and of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, notes Tsang.

Added Sugars Can Wreak Havoc on Our Bodies

Fructose is metabolized by our livers, while glucose can be metabolized by every cell in our body, states Chris Gunnars BSC of Authority Nutrition (a website dedicated to sharing nutrition information that is scientifically backed). Excessive amounts of processed fructose, which can be found in items such as syrupy drinks, has been shown to create something called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Not only is the liver at risk from too much refined fructose, but fructose can also cause us to feel less full, states Gunnars. The problem with feeling less satiated after we consume added fructose is that, shortly after, we want more calories. This strong desire for more calories (even after a substantial amount of non-nutritive, high caloric foods/drinks) can easily snowball into weight gain and health problems related to weight gain. Again, it’s worth noting that the harmful effects being discussed relate largely to added sugars, not the fructose found in fruits, which are real foods that make up a comparatively smaller foundation of fructose in our diet, states Gunnars. However, if one is diabetic or carb sensitive, caution should be given to all sugars (including fruits), and consulting with a health practitioner should be a priority, notes Gunnars. While consuming excess amounts of refined sugars can have a negative effect on your health, eating it in moderation is fine, unless you’ve been told otherwise by a health practitioner. “If consumed in moderation, all sugar forms help regulate our blood sugar and fuel our body”, Tsang explains.

But What About Sugar Addiction?

Many people love sugary treats, and physiologically, there is a reason behind the lust for sweets. “Our brain releases the ‘happy’ hormones when we consume sugar or new foods,” says Tsang. Many view their sugar cravings as an addiction. However, sugar addiction is not a formal term that a registered dietitian would use, explains Tsang. So if someone is feeling extremely drawn to sugary food more than anything else, what could be going on? Our brain and hormone function are extremely complex, but they always attempt to find balance and equilibrium. In a general sense, the more out of balance one is in terms of eating, the more he or she will crave sugar, says Tsang. “When we consume an excessive amount of sugar over a prolonged period of time, our brain asks for even more sugar to help give us that satisfied feeling because our body is already used to the new baseline of sugar consumption,” notes Tsang. At the end of the day, knowing what types of sugars to allow and what kinds to avoid can help you make decisions based from a logical standpoint. Even with all of this knowledge, it might not always be easy to steer clear of unwanted refined sucrose. If someone is feeling out of balance and has intense or strong urges for sugary food, the answer may not be as simple as a one stop shop solution, or “five flawless tips to quit sugar”. In reality, we humans are very layered and complex. Therefore, the methods that Tsang would use to help someone manage their sugar cravings are individualized. “There are many factors to consider before we, as registered dietitians, recommend individualized goals for clients to help manage sugar cravings,” she states. What are some of the factors that are assessed by Tsang in determining the best plan or solution for her client? The “…client’s overall mental health, status (stress, anxiety, depression) eating habits, level of physical activity, eating environment, and comorbidities,” are all factors that need to be taken into account when dealing with a client in a holistic manner, according to Tsang. Tsang recommends the following tactics to reduce sugar consumption:
  1. Mindful Eating: “Mindful eating has been the primary strategy used to help these clients but each client’s goals can differ greatly depending on how ready the client is and what method of mindful eating is more suitable for the specific client.” It is of course, always imperative to speak with a professional in regards to any eating plan.
  2. Drinking Black Coffee or Tea: Enjoying these beverages black is a simple way to avoid added sugar and calories if that is what your aim is. However, a little sugar “…does not hurt if the person’s diet is healthy otherwise.”
With a clearer understanding of sugar, healthier choices become a whole lot easier. Next time your sweet tooth kicks in, reach for a juicy mango or bowl of plump cherries, and enjoy.
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