Ask Dr. Z

"The Doctor of the Future will give No Medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the Human Frame, in Diet, and in the Cause and Prevention of Disease."

Thomas A. Edison

Today's Topic:

The Trouble with Fructose

The Bitter Truth?

 

Watch this Video

and

Read Dr. Mercola's Article

 

You'll think twice about

Putting Fructose in Your Mouth

 

Content:

1. Watch

Sugar - The Bitter Truth

Watch this video by

Dr. Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco

2. Read Dr. Mercola's

Sugar May Be Bad, But This Sweetener Called Fructose Is Far More Deadly

Story at-a-glance

• A 2009 study from the University of California, Davis shows how a high-fructose diet can cause you to build new fat cells around your heart, liver, and digestive organs in just 10 weeks, plunging you into the early stages of diabetes and heart disease (whereas a high glucose diet did not have the same effects)
• Excess fructose consumption is a major contributor to insulin resistance and obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis, and other diseases
• Fructose is metabolized very differently in your body from glucose; all of the metabolic burden falls on your liver, in much the same way as for alcohol, and your body becomes a sea of toxic byproducts
• Glucose, on the other hand, is your body’s nearly ideal source of fuel, meaning it has none of the damaging metabolic effects of fructose; glucose also suppresses your appetite, unlike fructose, which stimulates your appetite and encourages overeating and the accumulation of excess body fat

Introduction

A Calorie Is Not a Calorie

Fructose Metabolism Basics

Panic in the Corn Fields

What's a Sugarholic to Do?

Did You Know?

What Else Does the Science Say About the Health Impact of Fructose?

Sources and References

 

Introduction

A 2009 study from University of California, Davis takes its place in a growing lineup of scientific studies demonstrating that consuming high-fructose corn syrup is the fastest way to trash your health. It is now known without a doubt that sugar in your food, in all its myriad of forms, is taking a devastating toll.

And fructose in any form -- including high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and crystalline fructose -- is the worst of the worst! Fructose, a cheap sweetener usually derived from corn, is used in thousands of food products and soft drinks. Excessive fructose consumption can cause metabolic damage and triggers the early stages of diabetes and heart disease, which is what the Davis study showed.

Dr. Richard Johnson also does a fabulous job of comprehensively reviewing this important topic in his new book The Fat Switch. In the study, over the course of 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a controlled diet including high levels of fructose produced new fat cells around their heart, liver, and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems. Fructose is a major contributor to:

• Insulin resistance and obesity
• Elevated blood pressure
• Elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL
• Depletion of vitamins and minerals
• Cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer, arthritis, and even gout

Read Dr. Mercola's complete article....

My Best for the New Year

Dr. Z