We live in a world rife with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. We are constantly getting told it is because we eat too much and exercise too little. But is it as simple as that? This is what Dr Robert Lustig asks, paediatric endocrinologist and New York Times bestseller of Fat Chance – Beating The Odds Against Sugar, Processed Foods, Obesity and Disease. 

Sugar has been in the media quite excessively recently for the latest consumption guidelines being halved by the World Health Organisation and UK government scientists. It is now recommended that only 5% of calories per day should come from added sugar, which is approximately 6 teaspoons. This is the highly refined sugar found in processed foods, confectionery, soft drinks, etc, also known as high fructose corn syrup, fructose, and sucrose. Latest research is showing that this sugar, has staggering harmful effects on the body, not just adding calories to our foods.

Obesity and therefore, diabetes is rising every year, and in the UK, it is rising at an alarming rate. But it is down to the fat in our diets, or the sugar? The way the body metabolises fats and carbohydrates is completely different. There are good fats (omega 3’s, monounsaturated) and bad fats (saturated, trans fatty acids) which have different effects on the body, hence their category “good and bad.” The same goes for carbohydrates. The “good” carbs we have in our diet are wholegrains that are high in fibre, sugar from fruit and the fibre from veg. The “bad” part of this food group is the added/processed sugar. This is not to be confused with glucose. Glucose is what starchy carbohydrates are broken down too when in the body and it is our life fuel. It feeds our brain and every other organ, muscle, cell and tissue to keep us alive. Unfortunately, many, many people do confused the two and therefore stay away from carbs. Do not be in the confused group, readers! You want to say away from sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, and fructose – not glucose. Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to avoid. It is found in a colossal amount of our food products, from white burger buns to breakfast cereal bars to ready meals to salad dressings. It has been directly linked to metabolic syndrome, which leads to diseases like diabetes and heart disease. In many of his lectures and seminars, Dr Lustig cited a study that showed while eating an extra 150 calories per day did not increase diabetes prevalence worldwide, but if those calories came from soda, diabetes prevalence went up 11-fold for the same number of calories.

As quoted above, sugar has an astounding detrimental effect on the body. Sugar is a very, very addictive poison. It alters our hormones so we don’t register hunger the way we normally would, making us eat more. It spikes our dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter in the brain which plays a major role in reward-motivated behaviour. This makes us crave more sugar, and thus again eating more sugar. It also affects our liver in the same way that alcohol does. Yes you read that right, ALCOHOL. Not only does the sugar damage the liver when metabolised, it encourages the body to store more fat. Especially around the abdomen (visceral fat). This visceral fat is like a chemical factory churning out more nasty hormones that then increase our likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. So in short, sugar can cause obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and liver disease. More and more research is also showing links with cancers and dementia. Wow.

So when you pick up that ready-made sandwich, “health” juice and “diet” chocolate bar, thinking “oh this doesn’t have too many calories”, remember, a calorie is not a calorie. What are you putting inside your body? Health juices will more than likely have added sugar to increase the taste. A bottle of fizzy juice has upto 9 teaspoons of sugar, that’s 3 more than is what recommended in a day! Ready-made sandwich will have sugar in the white bread, sugar in the mayonnaise (even if it says its light) and that chocolate bar…. Well even my dog knows that it will have a huge amount just waiting to cause trouble.

The best way to get around this added sugar catastrophe…. EAT REAL FOOD. Go for wholegrains with lots of fibre, make your meals, drink water not juice, have a bowl of vegetable soup instead of a shop-baked sandwich for lunch, try not to gorge on junk and confectionary. Obviously, we are not saying never to have chocolate and doughnuts again, but keep it for every now and then.  Treat your body, feed it a poison free life and in turn, it will look after you.