Sugar is Toxic

When I was a kid, back in the dark ages of diet books I remember one book that say on my parents living room shelf entitled “A calorie is just a calorie.”  But that 1960’s way of looking at calories has changed dramatically and the whole premise of that book is wrong.

Today New York Times Food columnist Mark Bittman finally reported the proof exists of what he has been preaching for years; Sugar is toxic.  At last a big overwhelming conclusive study was done that confirms that “increased sugar in a population’s food supply was linked to higher diabetes rates independent of rates of obesity.”

Bittman goes on to write that this study published in the journal of PLosOne likens the connection of sugar to diabetes is as big a smoking gun as tobacco is to cancers. “Perhaps most important, as a number of scientists have been insisting in recent years, all calories are not created equal. By definition, all calories give off the same amount of energy when burned, but your body treats sugar calories differently, and that difference is damaging.”

So sugar is not just fattening, but bad for you in a killer type of way.  No kidding.  I wonder if now there is going to be some distinction made between fat people, those who are just fat and those who are fat due to eating sugar.  According to this study, skinny people can also have metabolic syndrome, which is a cluster of conditions – increased blood pressure, high blood sugar levels, excessive body fat around the waist or abnormal cholesterol levels — that occur together increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.  “Metabolic syndrome is a result of insulin resistance, which appears to be a direct result of consumption of added sugars,” writes endocrinologist Rob Lustig, one of the authors of this study.

Since cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) cause 30% of all deaths and sugar consumption is a strong tie to CVDs do yourself a favor and try and cut down on your sugar consumption no matter how skinny you are.  Apparently “Death by Chocolate” could actually be on your death certificate if you are not careful.