sugar is toxic

sugar is toxicphoto:  www.SugarStacks.com a very cool site that shows how much sugar is in popular foods.

Robert Lustig, a specilist at UCSF (The Greatest Medical School on Earth), has a youtube video that is 90 minutes long and has over 1 million views.  The video is called Sugar:  The Bitter Truth.  Get it?  Sugar is sweet and bitter is the opposite of sweet…& that’s ironic…so that’s funny…

Why is this bad news for skiers & riders? Simple, we eat a ton of sugar (look at the first ingredient in those energy bars & drinks)!  Am I blowing smoke up your ass?  Yes, well, maybe…well, at least a little.  In general skiers and & riders are relatively fit individuals that exercise regularly and avoid issues like obesity with ease.  But, we aren’t easily going to be able to avoid the diabetes, heart disease, nor cancers “caused” by eating too much sugar. I also wonder about the effect of our sugar consumption habits later in life once we aren’t skiing/riding as much.  I know that when I’m no longer young, athletic, and exercising hard I’m going to have a hard time putting down the sugar.  I’ve created a strong habit that will potentially plague me later in life and perhaps even kill me…

Skiers and Riders eat a ton of sugar.  I know I do.  The energy food I eat everyday on the mountain is straight up sugar.  What about mountain climbers?  When I work on Mt. Rainier I eat at least one 640 calorie King Size Snickers bar every climb.  You have to, you need the energy.  But, where is that energy coming from?  It’s coming from refined sugar, Sucrose, or often times High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Is there a difference between the two?  Nope.  Not to your body.  They are both made of fructose and glucose and that’s what they are metabolized as.

Western Diet = High rates of sugar intake.  In the 2000’s we are eating 90 lbs sugar/person/year.

High Sugar Consumption Rates = High Rates of Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Cancer, Insulin Resistance.

Sugar Intake Going Up: 1980s = 1/7 Americans Obese, 6 million with diabetes

2000s = 1/3 Americans Obese, 14 million with diabetes

Insulin Resistance = Insulin Hormone becomes less effective at putting Sugar into body’s cells

More Sugar in body’s Blood and leads to more Insulin being produced

More Insulin in Blood is now being related to Tumor Growth (Cancer)

THUS: Western Diet = Hi Sugar Intake = You & Me = Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity, Heart Disease

Get much more information on this in this intense article in NY Times about Sugar being Toxic:  www.nytimes.com

Ok, now I’ll get a bit more technical for those of you who are still interested:

Normal Sugar = 50% glucose, 50% fructose.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) = 55% fructose, 45% glucose = cheaper than sugar

Sugar & HFCS = metabolized as Fructose & Glucose in our bodies = There is no difference between Sugar & HFCS

Fructose = Metabolized by Liver = Majority of Fructose converted to Fat by Liver

More Fructose = More work for Liver

Glucose = Metabolized by most every cell in body

There have been studies where lab rats were given human Western Diet amounts of Sugar (roughly 20% of their diet):

In animals, or at least in laboratory rats and mice, it’s clear that if the fructose hits the liver in sufficient quantity and with sufficient speed {HFCS in liquid form, soda/juice hits liver faster}, the liver will convert much of it to fat. This apparently induces a condition known as insulin resistance, which is now considered the fundamental problem in obesity, and the underlying defect in heart disease and in the type of diabetes, type 2, that is common to obese and overweight individuals. It might also be the underlying defect in many cancers.  www.nytimes.com

Cause of Insulin Resistance = Fat in the Liver

Cause of Fat in the Liver = Sugar…or at least that’s what Robert Lustig is saying

If you want to cause insulin resistance in laboratory rats, says Gerald Reaven, the Stanford University {The Lamest country club..I mean University on Earth} diabetologist who did much of the pioneering work on the subject, feeding them diets that are mostly fructose is an easy way to do it. It’s a “very obvious, very dramatic” effect, Reaven says.  www.nytimes.com

So now, you’re looking for the BOTTOM LINE of what Lustig is trying to tell us about Sugar.  Here it is:

Sugar = Fructose + Glucose

Fructose = Metabolized in Liver

Liver metabolization of Fructose = Fat in Liver

Fat in Liver = Insulin Resistance

Insulin Resistance = Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Obeseity


So, in order to keep doing the above, I guess we’ll have to cut down on the sugar intake?  Are you gonna do it?  I’m not.  At least not until I get older and I’m not working as hard.  As for right now: I feel like I need the sugar to keep me going.  I’m now just hoping that I’m not growing a fat liver as we speak that I’ll have to deal with later in life.


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8 replies on “Sugar = Toxic. Bad News for Skiers & Riders.”