Fructose is Poison

My friend Karen works in the food industry.  She is often sharing articles and videos she finds that speak to our common interest in food.  Last week she sent me a 90-minute Youtube video called, Sugar: The Bitter Truth.  Its a very long video with a 20 minute dive into biological chemistry that was tough the follow.  But when making more easily understood observations the presenter enlightened me.

Here are some of his observations:

• Fructose is a poison, literally.  It so specifically generates harmful effects in the liver that it qualifies as a poison.
• Fructose consumption has increased in the past 30 years in the United States as a result of a misguided war on fat.  The fructose increase coincides with the American obesity epidemic, which is now taking root in Asia.
• There is no difference between sugar (sucrose), high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and ethanol (such as that in beer) from a metabolic perspective.  All result in equal amounts of calories for our bodies.
• Because fructose (produced by both HFCS and sucrose) so readily produces fat, “a high fructose diet is a high fat diet.”
• The caloric burn from exercise barely contributes to weight control.  But through exercise there are many other processes that improve that will help control weight.  Exercise improves insulin sensitivity, reduces stress which controls appetite, and improves metabolism of fructose that inhibits the generation of fat.
• Nature’s antidote to fructose is fiber.  This is why fruits, which contain fructose, are not a problem.  Carbohydrates with fiber are fine.  Fiber is uncommon in American foods because it limits shelf life and therefore transportability.

For years now I have been a fan of Michael Pollan’s work. In In Defense of Food he offers a few rules for eating that closely map to the guidance in the above video. Here is my recollection of Pollan’s recommendations, tied to observations from Sugar: The Bitter Truth.

• “Shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle.”  At the edges are more fiber, less refined carbohydrates and sugar.
• “Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.”  Again, fiber.
• “Stop eating when you are 80% full.”  The video says “wait 20 minutes before having your next helping” to allow your body time to tell itself it is full.