4 ms·

It's absolutely mind blowing that this article doesn't mention diabetes as the main problem from eating too much sugar. It affects a third of Americans and is s

It's absolutely mind blowing that this article doesn't mention diabetes as the main problem from eating too much sugar. It affects a third of Americans and is spreading around the world at an alarming rate. Why is that? Why is it that my mother knew about sugar and diabetes, but it's almost as if we forgot and are painfully trying to prove the connection again.

notyme 8y ago
Just look at the advertising and lobbying spending of sugar industry to gauge their power over population's discretionary spending.Also, bulk of their marketing spend is during cartoon programming of kids, "catch'em young"! They successfully shifted blame from sugar to fat as cause of modern lifestyle diseases for last two decades. Would highly recommend the book "Case against Sugar" by Gary Taubes discussed amply here[0] and here[1]. Also recommend the documentary "Super Size Me"[2] a revealing take on workings of fast food industry. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12480733 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12480733 [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521882 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521882 [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgcc_ZZnAgM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgcc_ZZnAgM
- HedgeSparrow 8y ago
  I agree with you for the first two points, but Supersize Me is a sham of science.
philip1209 8y ago
America is in denial that their low-fat diet fails, and instead creates obesity, type two diabetes, and heart disease.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  Low-carb has replaced low-fat as the diet trend for the last couple decades; and most people that aren't on the popular trendy diet aren't eating low-fat, they are eating high-everytjin, especially both carbs and fat (they may consume some low fat products intermittently for the illusion of doing something, but the typical American diet isn't low in fat.)
consp 8y ago
Unfortunately diabetes is not <only> caused by sugar. If you are overweight you regular insulin uptake is lowered so your body needs to produce more. No matter what the cause is (hormonal, fat, sugar). Fat (not necessarily the stuff you consume but the build up in your body) has regulatory properties for your insulin uptake and thus levels which generally result in more fat == more production needed which will give a more quick rise to diabetes type 2 due to a runaway competition. In my experience, totally anecdotal, (I have type 1 diabetes since I was about 5): If I gain weight the amount of insulin required by injection is significantly more than what is to be expected by the simple weight gain (e.g. more stuff == more required to control it, you'd expect some linear correlation).
- croon 8y ago
  > Unfortunately diabetes is not <only> caused by sugar. If you are overweight you regular insulin uptake is lowered so your body needs to produce more. No matter what the cause is (hormonal, fat, sugar). While true; until I see studies showing otherwise, I'll assume that becoming overweight is overwhelmingly caused by sugar though, with few exceptions. And if that assumption holds, the cause is sugar regardless.
  - mnw21cam 8y ago
    It's kind of the other way round. Insulin is a hormone that is produced as a response to high sugar levels in the blood, but it is the insulin level that determines how much fat is stored, not the blood sugar level. Someone with insufficiently treated type 1 diabetes can have very low insulin levels, sky-high blood sugar levels, and be losing weight (and seriously unwell).
    - croon 8y ago
      > Insulin is a hormone that is produced as a response to high sugar levels in the blood, but it is the insulin level that determines how much fat is stored, not the blood sugar level. Sure, but that's like saying that it's not the size of the hole in the boat that is sinking the ship, but the capacity of the guy with a bucket shoving water out of the boat. If you can't produce enough insulin to lower your blood sugar to avoid glucose toxicity, you're already sick. So while the insulin is technically storing the fat, the sugar is directly/short term controlling the insulin response, and indirectly/long term your insulin resistance.

notyme 8y ago

Just look at the advertising and lobbying spending of sugar industry to gauge their power over population's discretionary spending.Also, bulk of their marketing spend is during cartoon programming of kids, "catch'em young"! They successfully shifted blame from sugar to fat as cause of modern lifestyle diseases for last two decades. Would highly recommend the book "Case against Sugar" by Gary Taubes discussed amply here[0] and here[1]. Also recommend the documentary "Super Size Me"[2] a revealing take on workings of fast food industry. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12480733 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12480733 [1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521882 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15521882 [2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgcc_ZZnAgM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgcc_ZZnAgM

HedgeSparrow 8y ago
I agree with you for the first two points, but Supersize Me is a sham of science.

philip1209 8y ago

America is in denial that their low-fat diet fails, and instead creates obesity, type two diabetes, and heart disease.

dragonwriter 8y ago
Low-carb has replaced low-fat as the diet trend for the last couple decades; and most people that aren't on the popular trendy diet aren't eating low-fat, they are eating high-everytjin, especially both carbs and fat (they may consume some low fat products intermittently for the illusion of doing something, but the typical American diet isn't low in fat.)

consp 8y ago

Unfortunately diabetes is not <only> caused by sugar. If you are overweight you regular insulin uptake is lowered so your body needs to produce more. No matter what the cause is (hormonal, fat, sugar). Fat (not necessarily the stuff you consume but the build up in your body) has regulatory properties for your insulin uptake and thus levels which generally result in more fat == more production needed which will give a more quick rise to diabetes type 2 due to a runaway competition. In my experience, totally anecdotal, (I have type 1 diabetes since I was about 5): If I gain weight the amount of insulin required by injection is significantly more than what is to be expected by the simple weight gain (e.g. more stuff == more required to control it, you'd expect some linear correlation).

croon 8y ago
> Unfortunately diabetes is not <only> caused by sugar. If you are overweight you regular insulin uptake is lowered so your body needs to produce more. No matter what the cause is (hormonal, fat, sugar). While true; until I see studies showing otherwise, I'll assume that becoming overweight is overwhelmingly caused by sugar though, with few exceptions. And if that assumption holds, the cause is sugar regardless.
- mnw21cam 8y ago
  It's kind of the other way round. Insulin is a hormone that is produced as a response to high sugar levels in the blood, but it is the insulin level that determines how much fat is stored, not the blood sugar level. Someone with insufficiently treated type 1 diabetes can have very low insulin levels, sky-high blood sugar levels, and be losing weight (and seriously unwell).
  - croon 8y ago
    > Insulin is a hormone that is produced as a response to high sugar levels in the blood, but it is the insulin level that determines how much fat is stored, not the blood sugar level. Sure, but that's like saying that it's not the size of the hole in the boat that is sinking the ship, but the capacity of the guy with a bucket shoving water out of the boat. If you can't produce enough insulin to lower your blood sugar to avoid glucose toxicity, you're already sick. So while the insulin is technically storing the fat, the sugar is directly/short term controlling the insulin response, and indirectly/long term your insulin resistance.