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I don't think sugar is bad for you. Excess sugar certainly is, but then excess anything usually is.

by dalore 16y ago

tptacek 16y ago
Take the spreadsheet 'carbocation posted, sort it by "glycemic index", skip past all the nulls, and you have a list from "foods this SciAm article suggests are unhealthful" to "foods this SciAm article suggests aren't unhealthful". You'll find sugar, flour, potatoes, and white rice at the top of the list, and fats and oils near the bottom.
- pmccool 16y ago
  There are some interesting counterexamples; it's possible to make white bread with a GI of 40 or so. Flour doesn't necessarily mean high GI, nor are ingredients the sole determinant of GI. There's a paper kicking round where the authors baked white bread with GIs between 40 and 100 (from memory). The _only difference was proving time...
  - bbatsell 16y ago
    That's because the longer a dough is proofed, the less white flour remains in its refined state — the yeast has had its way with as many sugar molecules as it could belch. The flour is still the GI determinant, it's just not refined white flour anymore.
    - pmccool 16y ago
      Longer proving time gave a higher GI. That seems at odds with your explanation. Have I misunderstood?
      - bbatsell 16y ago
        Could you rustle up a link? That makes little to no sense to me.
        pmccool 16y ago
        http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=932472&jid=BJN&volumeId=96&issueId=05&aid=932460 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&... Tables 1 and 2 will give you a quick summary.
        bbatsell 16y ago
        Ah. First of all, those proofing times are not nearly long enough for the effect I was referring to to come into play. Secondly, each Bread sample is not at all controlled for its proof time, they are explicitly varying the volume of each bread (more volume = more proofing time, which is required in bread-making). Since the entire point of the study is that volume is correlated with GI, the results make sense.
donaldc 16y ago
Perhaps you are right, but the studies seem to indicate that the level at which sugar becomes "excess" is very low, especially if the sugar does not contain fiber (i.e. apple juice rather than apples). Even a single soda is in excess of the amount of sugar that your body can safely handle hitting your bloodstream all at once.

I don't think sugar is bad for you. Excess sugar certainly is, but then excess anything usually is.

by dalore 16y ago

I don't think sugar is bad for you. Excess sugar certainly is, but then excess anything usually is.

Take the spreadsheet 'carbocation posted, sort it by "glycemic index", skip past all the nulls, and you have a list from "foods this SciAm article suggests are unhealthful" to "foods this SciAm article suggests aren't unhealthful". You'll find sugar, flour, potatoes, and white rice at the top of the list, and fats and oils near the bottom.

pmccool 16y ago
There are some interesting counterexamples; it's possible to make white bread with a GI of 40 or so. Flour doesn't necessarily mean high GI, nor are ingredients the sole determinant of GI. There's a paper kicking round where the authors baked white bread with GIs between 40 and 100 (from memory). The _only difference was proving time...
- bbatsell 16y ago
  That's because the longer a dough is proofed, the less white flour remains in its refined state — the yeast has had its way with as many sugar molecules as it could belch. The flour is still the GI determinant, it's just not refined white flour anymore.
  - pmccool 16y ago
    Longer proving time gave a higher GI. That seems at odds with your explanation. Have I misunderstood?
    - bbatsell 16y ago
      Could you rustle up a link? That makes little to no sense to me.
      - pmccool 16y ago
        http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=932472&jid=BJN&volumeId=96&issueId=05&aid=932460 http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=1&... Tables 1 and 2 will give you a quick summary.
        bbatsell 16y ago
        Ah. First of all, those proofing times are not nearly long enough for the effect I was referring to to come into play. Secondly, each Bread sample is not at all controlled for its proof time, they are explicitly varying the volume of each bread (more volume = more proofing time, which is required in bread-making). Since the entire point of the study is that volume is correlated with GI, the results make sense.

donaldc 16y ago

Perhaps you are right, but the studies seem to indicate that the level at which sugar becomes "excess" is very low, especially if the sugar does not contain fiber (i.e. apple juice rather than apples). Even a single soda is in excess of the amount of sugar that your body can safely handle hitting your bloodstream all at once.