The American Resurgence

Below is a paper that I wrote detailing how sugar (sucrose) is on of the largest contributors of Obesity and most Chronic Diseases in America today.  I hope you’ll read it, and that it teaches you something.  I know for a fact that this is true, because my father ate and drank enormous amounts of sugar everyday, and had almost every symptom listed below including diabetes, high blood pressure, gout, and obesity before he died of a heart attach from atherosclerosis this last December.  Sugar killed my dad.  Please read this and help to spread this information so that people can start getting better and stop dying.  These are our loved ones and this is our country.

Sugar, Premature Aging, and Chronic Disease

Today’s society in America can be characterized by a search for the cause of both aging and chronic diseases.  While there may be many causes of premature aging and chronic diseases, there is ample evidence to show that sugar is a major contributing factor.  Current statistics show that our consumption of sugar over the last few centuries has increased exponentially.  In 1700 roughly four pounds of sugar was consumed per person per year, which grew to 18 pounds in 1800, 90 in 1900, and most recently statistics show that 50% of Americans consume 180 pounds of sugar per year.¹ According to Dr. Robert H. Lustig, MD, a professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at University of California, San Francisco, the main culprit is fructose.  According to his research, presented in a lecture titled “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”, our consumption of fructose has increased almost five-fold since 1900 from 15 grams per day, to 72.8 grams per day in adolescents today.   And due to the fact that the human body processes fructose much differently than other sugars like glucose, Dr. Lustig attributes much of today’s difficulty with chronic diseases, obesity, and premature death to this over consumption of fructose, mostly in the form of sucrose (table sugar) or high fructose corn syrup.²

Sugar consumption is a major cause of premature aging.  According to an article in the Annals of the New York Academy of Science one of the major factors in the acceleration of aging is the secretion of insulin, which is triggered by consumption of sugar.³ Which means that over-consumption of sugar, and therefore increased secretion of insulin will cause the body to age prematurely.  In addition diets high in sugar increase free radicals, and therefore free radical damage, and oxidative stress on the body.  Free radicals and oxidative stress are both potential major causes of why the human body ages.  The theory being that as they increase, DNA damage also increases causing the human body to break down, and therefore age.⁴

Obesity has also been closely linked with consumption of sugar.  The definition of insulin in the Medical Dictionary is as follows,

“a protein hormone that is synthesized in the pancreas from proinsulin and secreted by the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans, that is essential for the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, that regulates blood sugar levels by facilitating the uptake of glucose into tissues, by promoting its conversion into glycogen, fatty acids, and triglycerides, and by reducing the release of glucose from the liver, and that when produced in insufficient quantities results in diabetes mellitus.”⁵

According to this definition, it is insulin that is responsible for the storage of fat.  Insulin is secreted most heavily in response to sugar.  Therefore sugar is one of the main culprits in the Obesity Epidemic.  This is confirmed in the British Medical Journal which clearly showed that sugar was a contributing factor in obesity.⁶ Additionally in the Nutrition Health Review it is reported that sugar is changed in to fat at a rate two to five times greater than starch.⁷ Therefore not only does sugar trigger the fat storing hormone, but it is also more easily transformed into fat by the body.

Sugar also contributes to a number of diseases as well.  Diets high in sugar have been found among populations with Parkinson’s Disease.⁸ Sugar has also been found to increase the risk of gout, a common source of joint pain in older populations, by increasing the production of Uric Acid, the causative agent of Gout^2,9.  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has reported that sugar intake can also suppress your immune system.¹⁰ As the immune system is suppressed you become more susceptible to diseases like colds and flu’s, and potentially more dangerous forms including pneumonia.  As we age our likelihood of dying from diseases like pneumonia increase, and if sugar is consumed the likelihood increases further, also increasing the chance of death from these diseases.

Sugar consumption has also been linked with a number of mineral deficiencies including chromium¹¹, copper¹², calcium and magnesium.¹³ These deficiencies can have a number of implications for the body, especially due to the fact that they are also correlated with a number of diseases like diabetes and osteoporosis.  This is confirmed for osteoporosis by the Journal of Nutrition that showed diets high in sucrose can contribute to osteoporosis.¹⁴ It is also confirmed for diabetes in the American Journal of Clinical nutrition, which showed there is a connection between sugar intake, and insulin resistance which leads to Type II Diabetes Mellitus.  According to Dr. Lustig the reason this happens is because when the liver metabolizes fructose it creates Free-Fatty Acids, which can increase insulin resistance in the body.  Additionally it creates another byproduct that prevents insulin from functioning fully in the liver, causing insulin resistance in the liver.  Eventually this results in increased consumption because the brain isn’t getting the Leptin that it needs to tell it to stop consuming, the insulin isn’t working as well, therefore more insulin is secreted, all of which contributes to more fat storage.² It essentially creates a positive feedback loop causing further consumption, further insulin resistance, and further fat gain.  This is confirmed in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition showing that sugar will decrease insulin sensitivity causing an increase in insulin, eventually culminating in Type II Diabetes.¹⁵

Heart Disease also increases with an increase in sugar consumption.  There are many ways that sugar causes Cardiovascular Disease, but it mostly has to do with the byproducts of the liver metabolizing the fructose.  When the liver metabolizes fructose one of the byproducts is Uric Acid, which we already established as the primary contributor to Gout.  When Uric Acid is produced it also blocks the enzyme that creates Nitric Oxide, which dilates the blood vessels, thus reducing blood pressure.  By blocking this enzyme, it creates Hypertension because the body’s mechanism for reducing it’s blood pressure has just been removed.² This is confirmed by the Annuls of Internal Medicine which showed that carbohydrate consumption increased systolic blood pressure.¹⁶ Additionally, metabolism of fructose in the liver has a byproduct called VLDL (Very Low Density Lipoprotein).  This is the culprit in Atherosclerosis.  According to Dr. Lustig, when glucose is ingested it also makes this VLDL, however at a far reduced rate than fructose, because glucose can be metabolized outside of the liver.  However fructose can only be metabolized in the liver.² This means that because a higher volume of fructose gets metabolized in the liver than glucose, the end result is a much higher amount of VLDL, and an greater likelihood of Atherosclerosis and Heart Disease.  Both the Postgraduate Medicine Journal and Nutritional Health have confirmed that diets high in sugar show an increase in VLDL production by the liver,^17,18 and the Medical Hypothesis confirms that sugar can increase the risk of Atherosclerosis.¹⁹

Cancer has been found to be fueled by a sugar-rich environment.  Cancer has been shown to thrive off of sugar, which can lead to further growth of these cancerous tumors.  Types of cancer that have been shown to thrive off of sugar include breast, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic, lung, gallbladder and stomach cancers.  The statistics also clearly show that these cancers have been increasing as sugar consumption has also increased.^20,21

All this research clearly shows that sugar, sucrose, is a major contributing factor in every major chronic disease that plagues American today.  This also implicates over-consumption of sugar with premature death and acceleration of the aging process in the American population.  This is further exacerbated by the increase in inactivity.  Exercise alone would likely be enough to counter these effects.  The New England Journal of Medicine reported a study that showed by burning 2000 calories per week in exercise the human life expectancy could be increased by 10 to 15 years.²² There are multiple possibilities why, however the regulation of blood sugar and insulin are likely near the top of the list of reasons.  When one exercises, the release of insulin is decreased, thus stalling fat storage at the same time as it is being burned.  Additionally, immediately following exercise insulin sensitivity increases, meaning the body will not require as much insulin to perform the function of restoring blood sugar.  This is a direct counter to the effect listed above of sugar and fructose on the body.  It is reasonable to assume, based on this evidence, that a diet lower in sugar, and a lifestyle characterized by frequent, intense exercise would be sufficient to counter many of the effects of sugar and fructose in the body, and therefore help people live a longer, disease free life.

Bibliography

1. Johnson RJ and Gower T. (2009) The Sugar Fix: The High-Fructose Fallout That is Making You Sick and Fat, Pocket, 416 pp
2. Lustig, MD, Robert H. “Sugar: The Bitter Truth.” Lecture. UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public. San Fransisco. 14 Apr. 2010. 30 July 2009. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM>.
3. Lee, A. T.and Cerami A. The Role of Glycation in Aging. Annals of the New York Academy of Science.1992; 663:63-70
4. Ceriello, A. Oxidative Stress and Glycemic Regulation. Metabolism. Feb 2000;49(2 Suppl 1):27­29
5. “insulin.” Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc. 28 Apr. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/insulin>.
6. Keen, H., et al. Nutrient Intake, Adiposity, and Diabetes. British Medical Journal. 1989; 1:00 655_658
7. Nutrition Health Review. Fall 85 changes sugar into fat faster than fat
8. Hellenbrand, W. Diet and Parkinson’s Disease. A Possible Role for the Past Intake of Specific Nutrients. Results from a Self-administered Food-frequency Questionnaire in a Case-control Study. Neurology. Sep 1996;47(3):644-650
9. Yudkin, J. Sweet and Dangerous.(New York:Bantam Books,1974) 129
10. Sanchez, A., et al. Role of Sugars in Human Neutrophilic Phagocytosis, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Nov 1973;261:1180_1184. Bernstein, J., al. Depression of Lymphocyte Transformation Following Oral Glucose Ingestion. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.1997;30:613
11. Kozlovsky, A., et al. Effects of Diets High in Simple Sugars on Urinary Chromium Losses. Metabolism. June 1986;35:515_518
12. Fields, M.., et al. Effect of Copper Deficiency on Metabolism and Mortality in Rats Fed Sucrose or Starch Diets, Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1983;113:1335_1345
13. Lemann, J. Evidence that Glucose Ingestion Inhibits Net Renal Tubular Reabsorption of Calcium and Magnesium. Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1976 ;70:236_245
14. Tjäderhane, L. and Larmas, M. A High Sucrose Diet Decreases the Mechanical Strength of Bones in Growing Rats. Journal of Nutrition. 1998:128:1807_1810
15. Reiser, S., et al. Effects of Sugars on Indices on Glucose Tolerance in Humans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1986;43:151-159
16. Hodges, R., and Rebello, T. Carbohydrates and Blood Pressure. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1983:98:838_841
17. Scanto, S. and Yudkin, J. The Effect of Dietary Sucrose on Blood Lipids, Serum Insulin, Platelet Adhesiveness and Body Weight in Human Volunteers, Postgraduate Medicine Journal. 1969;45:602_607
18. Reiser, S. Effects of Dietary Sugars on Metabolic Risk Factors Associated with Heart Disease. Nutritional Health. 1985;203_216
19. Pamplona, R., et al. Mechanisms of Glycation in Atherogenesis. Medical Hypotheses . 1990:00:00 174_181
20. Quillin, Patrick, Cancer’s Sweet Tooth, Nutrition Science News. Ap 2000 Rothkopf, M.. Nutrition. July/Aug 1990;6(4)
21. Moerman, C. J., et al. Dietary Sugar Intake in the Etiology of Biliary Tract Cancer. International Journal of Epidemiology. Ap 1993.2(2):207-214.
22. Paffenbarger, RS Jr. “Physical Activity, All-cause Mortality, and Longevity of College Alumni.” New England Journal of Medicine 314.10 (1986): 605-13. Pub Med. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3945246>.

Below are more resources you can use to learn about the dangers of sugar.  The first is a short video that is a summary of Sugar: The Bitter Truth and the second is the original 90 minute lecture.

You also will want to check out Gary Taubes book: Good Calories, Bad Calories

Please click the “Like” button and share this post with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.  Let’s change the world with the truth.  God bless.

Tags: aging, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, cause, chronic disease, death, diabetes, fructose, gout, heart disease, insulin, lustig, obesity, premature aging, robert lustig, sucrose, sugar, sugar the bitter truth, uric acid