You may have had a craving for sugar before you were even born. You may have heard of fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). Fructose can be extracted from naturally occurring sources. It is always embedded in a lot fiber and becomes very similar to ethanol. The only difference between them in nutrition is that some of the ethanol gets metabolized in brains, making people feel a little nauseous. Isolated fructose, on the other hand, is processed in liver without any apparent toxic effects. They are not acute but rather chronic. The same way that an expectant mother who drinks alcohol can expose her baby to FAS, a mother who drinks fruit juices or sweetened beverages can also expose her baby to fetal fructose syndrome (FFS).
Let’s see…
This is partly why we have an epidemic of obese babies 6 months old. This is combined with the fact that many mothers are giving their babies commercial formula, and you will see the solution. More than half of formulas contain corn syrup solids and sugar. If you are told that obesity is caused by eating too much or not exercising enough, ask them to explain how obese 6 month-olds got their weight! Research on laboratory rats has shown that babies born to mothers who consume 20% of their daily caloric intake from fructose have hypoinsulinemic parents. This means that they are born with low levels of insulin. Leptin and insulin are hormone proteins that regulate our energy intake. They signal our brains to our bodies that we have enough energy and make us feel satisfied.
Fructose can also cause a decrease in leptin production. It gets worse! Hyperinsulinemia causes a reward signal in the Nucleus Accumbens, a part the pleasure center. This is a sure way to become obese. In effect, we starve our brains and overeat. Sugar, especially refined sugar, is a great source of energy that our brains believe our bodies need. Our bodies are wired to crave sugar. Researchers are now proving that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, so I’m not talking about a minor craving. Fructose intake is a cause of obesity. It is not only empty calories, but also because it has chronic toxic effects.
Toxic Effect
Chronic toxic effects refers to the fact that fructose does not get metabolized in our digestive tract. All of it must be metabolized by liver. One byproduct is uric acid, which can cause hypertension and gout. This is illustrated by comparing the 120 calories found in a few slices of bread to the 120 calories found in an orange juice. 24 calories end up in your liver after the glucose in bread has been broken down and eaten. The liver must metabolize 72 calories for orange juice, which is almost three times the amount. Let’s look at the 150 calories in a can coke and a beer for an example. The coke contains 10.5% carbohydrate in form of sucrose, which has 75 calories each of fructose or glucose. The beer contains 3.6% carbohydrate as ethanol. OH is a carbohydrate by definition.
The beer contains 60 calories of maltose, and 90 calories of alcohol. The coke does not digest any fructose in the stomach. It all ends up in your liver. Only 10% of the beer is digested, and the rest end up in the liver. The liver receives 90 calories from the fructose and 92 calories from the beer. Both cases leave the liver to deal with these unabsorbed toxins. Herein lies the problem. Both cases result in a fatty liver, commonly known as Cirrhosis. This is not as immediate as an acute toxin such arsenic, but it can develop over time. It is similar to an alcoholic’s craving for booze, but your sugar craving is not that different. This is evident in the dramatic rise of sugar consumption since prohibition. The fermentation of alcohol from sugar in a brewery is not much different from the fermentation that takes place inside the body.
Be aware
Recognizing the harmful effects of ethanol, governments around the world have taken steps to limit its consumption, including taxation and government-controlled outlets. Unfortunately, little has been done to reduce fructose intake. This has led to a crisis in health issues such as obesity. In an article about detox, I explained that the liver is an essential organ and has amazing self-restorative capabilities. This can lead to serious health problems, as is often the case. Metabolic syndrome can be described as a collection of medical conditions that increase the risk of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. All of these are caused by metabolic fructose in liver. These include hypertension, inflammation and insulin resistance in liver.
De novo lipogenesis, which refers to the body’s ability to convert carbohydrates into fat, is one of the most serious disorders. This is because our bodies have short term energy reserves called glycogen. Once they realize they have enough, they convert the carbohydrates into fat for long-term storage. For athletes, for example, it is possible to consume large amounts of carbohydrate even if they are fructose-rich because their glycogen levels have been depleted by strenuous exercise. In an article about the cholesterol myth, I mentioned Ancel Keys’ studies.
Conclusion
His controversial Seven Countries Study, which was heatedly debated in 1950, was largely responsible to the huge shift away from fat in our diet. It was replaced, to a large extent, by carbohydrates, with the bulk of it in sugar. Although it was supposed to lower the risk of heart disease, it has led to epidemic levels. His hypothesis had a fatal flaw. Fat is not the cause of heart disease. The alternative solution would have been more successful. Sugar is the culprit. Its consumption has risen 6 fold since his study, which is in line with the statistics on coronary disease. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is cheaply produced from GMO corn and has an addictive nature, has found its way into almost every processed food you can think of. It is difficult to find any food, from bread in the supermarket to packaged convenience foods to condiments like ketchup or BBQ sauce, without HFCS.