They Finally Get Around To It

Submitted by Dana on Mon, 2010-06-14 14:02

Well, it took long enough, but it finally happened: There's finally a medical study regarding the effect of sugar on heart disease risk factors. In the April 20th, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. And surprise, surprise, they've concluded that eating sugar worsens cardiovascular risk factors, including raising triglycerides, lowering HDL, and worsening the all-important HDL/triglyceride ratio.

I don't know that this is a particularly strong study. It's not like they put people in a ward and fed them differing amounts of sugar to see what happened to their blood work. They looked at existing government data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Data regarding over 6000 men and women, their sugar consumption habits, and their cardiovascular risk factors was analyzed. Mean sugar intake was 15% of calories, keeping in mind that this refers only to added sugars, not naturally occurring sugars in fruits and the like. Participants were divided into groups by sugar intake: less than 5% of calories from sugar, 5% to less than17.5%, 17.5% to less than 25%, and 25% or more of calories from added sugars. There was a straight-line progression: The more sugar a group ate, the lower their HDL, the higher their triglycerides, and, among women, the higher their LDL.

To say that this comes as no surprise to me would be a severe understatement. Heck, Thomas Cleave said as much in The Saccharine Disease ("saccharine" then signified sugar, not an artificial sweetener) in 1955, as did John Yudkin in Sweet and Dangerous in 1972.

But for a researcher to look at this in this era of lipo-phobia is a fine thing, and much overdue. Sadly, Dr. Miriam Vos, in speaking of a study that only implicated sugar in worsening cardiovascular risk factors, had to get in a dig at fat: "Just like eating a high-fat diet can increase your levels of triglycerides and high cholesterol, eating sugar can also affect those same lipids." Sigh. Still, it's a start. You can read the whole article and access a video clip of Dr. Vos at the Emory University website.

The really glaring thing about this study to me is that they looked only at added sugars, not at digestible carbohydrate across the board. These are scientists, and if you asked them if your cells could distinguish between a molecule of glucose derived from added sugar, and a molecule of glucose derived from, say, rice or bread, they would acknowledge that your cells cannot. Likewise, asked if the body can somehow tell the difference between a molecule of fructose from high fructose corn syrup and one from apple juice, they would immediately say "Of course not." So why the distinction between added sugars and the sugars bodies derive from a carb-heavy diet?

Still, it's a start, and I'm glad for it.

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Lowered sugar

Submitted by mhack4223 on Sun, 2010-06-27 12:11.

As a registered nurse it astounds me daily how medical professionals refuse to embrace the very principles they are taught regarding micro and macro nutrients. People with diabetes are so brainwashed and TERRIFIED of monitoring sugar intake convinced they would die of hypoglycemia without a snickers bar or pepsi ready at moments notice. Other medical professionals and I have frequently discussed the matters of sugar and fat, however they are convinced that fat is the worst substance ever and no matter how many times I point out vitamins adek or research such as this, many refuse to embrace carb counting and the limitation of dietary sugar. However, many medical professionals seem ok with it when I say my husband and I follow a limited processed food natural sugar free diet and don't mention carb counting. Thank you for yet another reference .

Diabetics and the fear of hypoglycemia

Submitted by Dana on Sun, 2010-06-27 12:24.

And of course, the drugs are the reason why diabetics live in fear of hypoglycemia. If you're going to take big doses of hypoglycemic drugs, or long-acting insulin, of course you're going to become hypoglycemic if you don't eat carbs. The doses are predicated on your eating those carbs.

Dr. Eric Westman, one of the country's leading researchers into low carbohydrate nutrition, routinely takes diabetics off of all hypoglycemic drugs and cuts their insulin in half the first day he puts them on a low carb diet. He then, of course, has them keep careful track of their sugar and adjusts accordingly. But he has to drastically cut their medication when he takes the carbs out of their diet. It is, indeed, dangerous to do otherwise.

Why this simple concept -- "If you don't eat the carbs, you don't need the drugs" -- is so horrifying to doctors, I'll never understand. I understand why Big Pharma hates it, of course. But the doctors should know better.

hypoglycemics

Submitted by mhack4223 on Mon, 2010-06-28 10:48.

It is one of those strange things where doctors are afraid to recommend anythig other than what the government tells them too. It is so innudated in the medical culture that low fat is the only way to eat . I have met one doctor diligent enough to recomment carb counting, but most truly believe that if they recomend people lower thier carbohydrate intake they would fry patient's kidneys, elevate triglycerides, and cause heart attacks, stroke, and lawsuits en mass. So they refer them to a surgeon for stomach stapling. They send them to a dietitian for more inapproprite food guide period teaching, usually including some variation of white rice and butter buds for dinner with maybe a deck of cards sized piece of meat.
People also do not like to hear that they can take control of thier own health issues. People go to the doctor and expect that a magic stethoscope be wave over them a prescription written and all will be well again.So that is what the doctor does. When the doctor tells them the truth like "You need to lose weight." they become angry and threaten to sue in fit of entitlement. People do not want to hear that they may actually have to do some work as they are pretty sluggish fom the steady diets of mountain dew and snicker's bars or even pbj on wheat.
After all doctoring really is a business in our country.As a big plus the doctor can then avoid confrontation and the time it takes to educate a person because the doctor is usually not getting reimbursed much anyway and he has to see a high volume of people in order for the doctor to eat that night.So the status quo is such and it is just easier to do what doctors have been doing. There is already a plan a good sounding script... it will fly. Keep the patients coming