Sugar; The Periculum to Human Health
Muhammad Usman Naeem, Abdul Ghani MD
The Sugar lobby
Around the 1960s-1970s, cholesterol was thought to be the factor that caused clogging of arteries, leading to heart attacks and strokes [2]. Cholesterol levels of up to 300 mg were considered normal at that time. However, patients were still experiencing heart attacks with normal cholesterol levels. This increased public awareness about the impact of fats, butter, red meat, and even milk, which were considered as dangerous. Around the same time sugar industry introduced candies, pastries, and cookies while fruit juices replaced milk. Sugar was added to these products because it causes cravings, leading people to consume more. People accepted these changes, thinking that at least these products were not high in fat. The credit goes to the sugar lobby behind it. In 1967, three scientists at Harvard published a research paper in The New England Journal of Medicine that concluded saturated fat was the main risk factor for heart disease. They suggested preventing fat consumption and replacing it with more carbohydrates while exonerating sugar as a contributor to heart disease [3]. The sugar industry handpicked the research used in reviews to be pro-sugar and anti-fat. The sugar industry not only funded pro- scientific research but also attacked scientists who exposed the effects of excessive sugar consumption. In 1972, John Yudkin a British nutritionist wrote the book “Pure, White, and Deadly,” presenting scientific evidence that sugar, not fat, was the main contributor to dietary health problems. Yudkin concluded: “If only a small fraction of what we know about the effects of sugar were to be revealed in relation to any other material used as a food additive, that material would promptly be banned” [2]. Today numerous studies have shown the role of sugar in chronic illness. Sugar is the number one dietary contributor to heart disease. But how does sugar do it?Glycation
Sugar is sticky, while proteins are slippery and smooth. The slipperiness of proteins allows them to move easily within cells and perform essential functions. However, sugar when in excess sticks to proteins, resulting in glycation. One example is HBA1C. It is a sugar cross-linked with hemoglobin (HB). That allows us to diagnose diabetes and then treat it. Cross-linking is not a simple process. It can make tissue dysfunctional. The sugar-linked proteins are toxic and disrupt cell’s efficiency, causing damage to the body and putting a strain on the immune system. Sugar also cross-links with collagen. Collagen is a protein in the vertebral disc. Discs are weakened and they fracture or collapse. Sugar eats ligaments. Tendon causes chronic pain in the neck and back due to a ruptured disc. Furthermore, glycated proteins become sticky and large, hindering their passage through capillaries. These sticky proteins are known as advanced glycation end products (AGES), due to their significant role in aging the body.The case against High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
HFCS was invented in Japan in the 1960s and entered the American food supply in the mid- 1970s. It was cheaper and sweeter compared to sugar, so the food industry started using it in many products. The result is skyrocketed fructose consumption. Today 25% of adolescents consume 15% of their calories from fructose alone [4]. Fructose is also found naturally in whole foods like fruits but that is different because it contains fiber, which slows carbohydrate absorption and reduces insulin response. HFCS is a completely different animal. HFCS plays a key role in fat accumulation in the liver, leading to hepatic steatosis, or fatty liver. And there is a direct link between insulin resistance and fatty liver. A recent study by Luc Tappy, M.D., concluded that feeding humans a daily dose of HFCS equal to the amount found in 8 to 10 soda cans elevated triglycerides and produced insulin resistance within a few days [5]. By 2000, when Americans were eating 90 pounds of sugar per year on average, 33% of them were obese and diabetics patient doubled in number [3]. Everyone blamed fat, but it was sugar. For years, the sugar lobby was able to convince everyone that sugar is just a convenient and tasty source of energy while portraying fat as the villain. However, we now understand that sugar is a “chronic toxin, and consuming in excess is just about the worst thing to a healthy diet.Sugar and its effects on body
We talked about how sugar does affect our body but now let’s talk about what it does to affect different parts of our body.- Sugar and Weight gain
Sugar adds empty calories to the diet which promotes fat accumulation and prevents fat burning. A combo that leads to weight gain. Sugar is a slow kill. It may not kill you today or tomorrow but it will in a few years. Sugar scrambles normal appetite controls and drives metabolism to convert it into visceral fat (belly fat). The visceral fat leads to low-grade chronic inflammation. Cutting sugar is one of the most effective and fastest ways to lose weight.
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Sugar and Aging
Remember glycation? Sugar adds wrinkles to your face and damages your skin via glycation. It cross-links with collagen and elastin. The AGES weaken the support structure of the skin and lead to wrinkles and lines.
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Sugar and bladder
Sugar crosslinks with elastin and weakens it. It is replaced by scar tissue so the gut instead of being elastic to milk down the food from the stomach to the colon becomes like a bag causing constipation. I have 40 years old patients taking laxatives.
Urinary bladder holds the urine by expanding itself at a certain level of pressure. It squeezes and passes out the urine but if sugar crosslinks in with elastin, the bladder has scar tissue. It can’t expand and leads to leaky urine. 40 year old patients are wearing diapers now due to leaky urine and the credit goes to sugar.
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Sugar and Teeth
Everyone knows that consuming sugar leads to tooth decay. The bacteria present in the mouth ferment the sugars in the diet, producing acids that attack the enamel on the teeth and demineralize it, eventually leading to cavities and tooth loss. What people overlook is that the bacteria that grow in the mouth also increase inflammation. This inflammation causes different chronic diseases including heart disease. It is right under your nose.
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Sugar and Heart
High sugary consumption leads to obesity and chronic inflammation. Inflammation leads to excess stress on blood vessels and the heart, which in turn, increases the risk of premature death and stroke. In 2014 researchers followed thousands of Americans for 15 years to study the relationship between added sugar intake and cardiovascular disease. They found that 72% of adults exceeded the recommended 10% daily calorie limit by the federal government for added sugar, and 10% of adults consumed at least 25% of their daily calories from added sugar. People who exceeded 10% of the daily-calorie limit on added sugars had a 30 % higher risk of dying from heart disease, while those who got 25% or more of their daily calories from added sugar had triple the risk of dying from heart disease [6].
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Sugar and cancer
We love sugar so does cancer. Cancer cells proliferate rapidly, multiplying at a fast rate, which requires a significant amount of energy. This means they need lots of sugar. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) a form of glucose that is radioactive is commonly utilized in positive emission tomography (PET) scans, which are used to detect cancer. During a PET scan, a small amount of radioactive glucose is injected into a vein, and a scanner creates an image showing where the glucose is being utilized in the body. Positive consumption of glucose is a sign of cancer.
Dyad
What’s the relationship between sugar and sapiens? why do we even add sugar to our diet when we know it’s bad for us? Well, the sugar addiction is real. It won’t be ludicrous to say sugar addiction is very similar to what happens in the brains of drug addicts. Patients who consume sugar in high amounts reduce activity in the dopamine system. This means that they experience less enjoyment from each sweet treat. Over time, patients need more sugar to get the same amount of pleasure. Consequently, they develop strong cravings and actively seek out increasingly sweet foods. Sugar like opioids is a tough drug to quit.The solution is simple to taper it off. Trick your brain and slowly reduce sugar consumption. For example, if you are drinking 3 cans of soda in a day go down to 2.5 for a few days and then to 2 until you completely quit it. This method is successful only if the patient is honest with himself and is determined to quit. I had patients who quit smoking or sodas by tapering it off slowly but then some patients just can’t because they are lukewarm. Generally, if the patient understands the consequences of consuming sugar, they show fervent commitment to quit it.
Cynical industry
Why is the food industry adding sugar to all their products and funding for pro-sugar research? One-word answer: money. If people started to acknowledge and adopt an anti-sugar diet, the sugar industry would suffer significant financial losses. HFCS is extremely lucrative, as it is derived from GMO corn heavily subsidized by the American government. The cynical sugar industry is aware that by influencing a few scientists to shift the blame away from sugar, people would instead focus on fat.How they sell sugar without calling it sugar
Below are different names of sugar sold in the market:
- High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
- Glucose
- Fructose
- Maltose
- Lactose
- Galactose
- Sucrose
- Sorbitol
- Barley malt
- Buttered syrup
- Golden syrup
- Ethyl maltol
- Maltodextrin
- Dextrose
- Molasses
- Dextrane
- Malt syrup
- Rice syrup
- Maple syrup
- Carob syrup
- Sorghum syrup
- Diastatic malt
- Treacle
Citation list
- Bowden, J., & Sinatra, S. T. (2020). The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol won’t prevent heart disease–and the statin-free plan that will. Fair Winds Press, an imprint of The Quarto Group.
- Harari, Y. N. (2016). Homo deus: A brief history of Tomorrow. Harvill Secker.
- Hari, V. (2019). Feeding you lies: How to unravel the food industry’s playbook and Reclaim Your Health. Hay House, Inc.
- Harrell, C. S., Burgado, J., Kelly, S. D., Johnson, Z. P., & Neigh, G. N. (2015). High-fructose diet during
periadolescent development increases depressive-like behavior and remodels the hypothalamic transcriptome in male rats. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 62, 252–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.08.025 - Tappy, L., & Mittendorfer, B. (2012). Fructose toxicity. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 15(4), 357–361. https://doi.org/10.1097/mco.0b013e328354727e
- Whyte, J. J., & McGraw, P. C. (2023). Take control of your heart disease risk. Harper Horizon, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.
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