Sugar

There is no secret that we get fat and sugar destroys our teeth. Recently, however, many health professionals have sounded the alarm, saying that this sweet pleasure is more than "empty calories" is actually a true toxin and the leading cause of serious diseases in the industrialized world. "Sugar kills" is the message experts.

Sugar is consumed in quantities that today in industrialized countries, is the toxin that underlies many diseases, from heart problems to cancer, which kill large numbers of people. This is the conclusion reached from numerous studies in recent years Dr. Robert Lustig, a specialist in endocrinology and child obesity. Lustig is professor in the School of Medicine, University of California, one of the most prestigious U.S. medical schools.

Obesity, hypertension, type II diabetes and heart problems are some of diseases caused by consumption of sugar, says Professor Lustig. Therefore, he started an information campaign supported on sugar is danger to the health of us. His message reached the world's major media outlets, including New York Times, CBS News and NewScientist, and lecture on the subject, entitled "Sugar: The Bitter Truth", recorded over two million views on YouTube.

Obesity, hypertension, type II diabetes and heart problems are some of diseases caused by consumption of sugar, says Professor Lustig. Therefore, he started an information campaign supported on sugar is danger to the health of us. His message reached the world's major media outlets, including New York Times, CBS News and NewScientist, and lecture on the subject, entitled "Sugar: The Bitter Truth", recorded over two million views on YouTube.

What is sugar and why is it a toxin?

Lustig says that sugar is a "chronic toxin". "There are three types of toxins. The first is given by substances such as cyanide, which are lethal to humans in a concentration of one part per million. Arsenic and lead are the second type and kill when you are 30-50 parts per million. The third type, namely chronic toxins, is represented by those substances that are lethal at concentrations of several thousand parts per million. These include vitamin A, vitamin D, iron and fructose, "he explains.

Another important thing Lustig wants to clarify is that the "sugar" refers to both sucrose (ie white and brown sugar made from cane and beet sugar) and fructose syrup made from corn. "Fructose corn syrup, sugar, is not no difference. Both are just as harmful as poison, "says Lustig.

Refined sugar (sucrose) is made up of one molecule of glucose and fructose molecule, thus mixing 50% -50%. If fructose corn syrup, fructose is 55% of the mixture, and 45% glucose. Fructose is almost twice as sweet as sugar, sugar is what differentiates from other foods rich in carbohydrates, like bread or potatoes. The substance contains more fructose is much sweeter.

Lustig explains that the two substances in our body are metabolized differently, with different effects. The first thing I want to clarify regarding sugar is that it does not matter that sugar is "empty calories". "It has nothing to do with calories. Sugar is a poison in itself, "he says.

In addition to promoting obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, while sugar consumption increases the risk of developing cancer. This is the conclusion reached by Lewis Cantley, a professor at Harvard University and also director of Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center.

"A third of the most common cancers, including breast and colon cancer, have insulin receptors on their surface. Insulin attaches to these receptors send a signal to the tumor for it to consume glucose, "explains Cantley. When you eat or drink sugar, it causes a sharp increase in insulin levels in the body, which can serve as a catalyst for cancer.

"If you happen to have a tumor in the body to insulin receptors, it will be encouraged to consume glucose in the blood, so that the tumor will grow," explains Cantley.

Professor Cantley leading a scientific effort to design a drug to cancer cells restrict blood glucose. Until then, Cantley has a piece of advice: "Do not eat sugar. If you must, try to keep to a minimum. " Professor Cantley added: "I, for one, so live my life: I stay away from sugar."

What is the solution?

According to the United Nations for the first time in human history, chronic diseases caused by diet (such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer) kill more people than infectious diseases. The latest data show that 35 million people die annually from these diseases. Also, the number of obese people worldwide is far greater than the number of undernourished people. These alarming statistics can be explained by the fact that in the last 50 years global sugar consumption has tripled.

Dr. Lustig says that the harmful effects of sugar is a public health crisis. "When it comes to public health crises is a need for large. Tobacco and alcohol provides an excellent example. I made a conscious choice that we can not give them up, but I decided to limit their consumption. I think sugar should be treated exactly the same, "says Lustig.

"From my point of view, we come to have these problems because people believe that all calories are equal. If all the calories have the same effect, then the solution is to eat less and do more sports. Only that it does not work. And why does not work is that fructose is more toxic than its heat. If you eat 100 calories of fructose, the effect will be more harmful than if you use the same 100 calories from glucose, "says Lustig.

Therefore, the effect of 100 calories of glucose is not the same as that produced by 100 calories of sugar. Glucose is metabolized by every cell in our body, whereas fructose is metabolized in the liver. Another important aspect is the rate at which the calories consumed. For example, if the sugar is consumed in liquid form in the liver reaches a higher amount of fructose in a short period of time, which will influence how it is metabolized.

Experiments in animals have shown that when they consume a large amount of fructose in a very short time (easy to do with liquids), the liver will convert fructose into fat. This facilitates resistance to insulin, known today as the main cause of obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Throughout human history, fructose was a healthy and safe food. "So far, eat fructose in small quantities of fruit, which contain fiber which slows absorption and consumed more slowly because of texture. Now, we can produce cheaper sugar and fructose syrup, so we can eat huge amounts, "said Lustig. And it kills us.

One of the first people who noticed the harmful effects of sugar was Frederick Banting, the Nobel Prize awarded in 1923 for discovering insulin. Banting suspect that sugar causes diabetes because the disease was extremely rare in the population who did not very common in those sugar and the sugar was part of daily diet.