4 ms·
Pepsi, Tropicana and the like, and their parent companies, are a direct cause of the Metabolic Syndrome epidemic in (particularly) the US, other former UK colon
by ncmncm 4y ago
Pepsi, Tropicana and the like, and their parent companies, are a direct cause of the Metabolic Syndrome epidemic in (particularly) the US, other former UK colonies, and UK, causing many times the preventable deaths from COVID, year in and year out.
The "cause of death" noted for these cases never mentions metabolic syndrome (variously, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, processed-food disease), but rather secondary illnesses it drives, most notably high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and circulatory illness. Most of these are products of high uric acid level, itself a byproduct of fructose processing in the liver. Fructose is processed only in the liver, like other toxins, and most similarly to alcohol.
The standard to diagnose high uric acid has risen sharply in recent decades as levels themselves have risen with sugar intake, so people with a deadly uric acid level do not learn of the core problem. They instead are told of the high blood pressure and diabetes, and get medication for that, masking it but not its harms.
We should not be allowing sale of these products; or at least, labels should warn of their fructose content. We could start seeing "contains no fructose!" on packaging, instead of "non-fat". (Because fat, even saturated fat, it now turns out, is harmless.)
(Fructose in normal food, particularly fruit, comes with enough fiber to divert most of the fructose to your gut bacteria. Juice and soda strip away this protection.)
- rootsudo 4y agoThis is interesting, would you say the same for other cola and juice manufacturers? E.g. Coca Cola, Snapple, Bolthouse, etc?
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- ncmncm 4y agoYes, all.
- adrian_b 4y agoDuring many years, I have been very fat and all attempts of losing weight have failed. Eventually, I made great changes to what I was eating and I began to weigh everything that I ate, to ensure that I eat no more than planned, and in somewhat less than a year I have lost one third of my previous weight, reaching a normal value. Previously, I have not been drinking much Pepsi Cola or Coca Cola, but I have been drinking a lot of various fruit juices, all of which contain excessive amounts of sugar. By far the most effective change in my eating habits, leading to weight loss and better health, has been to stop drinking any other kind of beverage except water and herbal teas without sugar.
- eVeechu7 4y agoThere is plenty of diabetes and obesity in Australia and we don't use fructose as a sweetener. I'm not sure fructose is necessary.
- ncmncm 4y agoTable sugar is half fructose. Likewise honey. Agave syrup is much worse, 85%. Mango and pear juice, almost as much. Grapes, almost uniquely among fruits, have practically no fiber, so are as bad as juice. The glucose part of sugar is mostly harmless. So we focus on the fructose.
- danachow 4y ago> Most of these are products of high uric acid level That's a very unsubstantiated claim. I'm not debating the association of hyperuricemia with metabolic syndrome or cardiovascular risk factors, but I don't think we have much evidence to establish a causal link between hyperuricemia and all the morbidities listed.
- ncmncm 4y agoYou will have to take up your objections with the endocrinologists. Good luck, though, 'cause endocrinologists are the smartest of all medical doctors. Have to be, to do it at all.
- danachow 4y agoThis is a non-response - or do you have a specific cite linking uric acid as causative of diabetes or cardiovascular disease? It can be in a colorectal journal for all I care. > Have to be, to do it at all. Lol. Yeah bud, I have a ton of friends that are endocrinologists, all mostly great and intelligent folks, but I’m not letting them touch me with a colonoscope - or pretty much any implement. It’s not exactly a field for the procedurally inclined.
- ncmncm 4y agoSo, ask them. It is their job to know. You have already said you don't trust me. Be sure to report back what they tell you.
- willbw 4y agoIgnoring who is wrong or right here - you made the claim, it's not very helpful if you refuse to substantiate it or suggest someone else needs to substantiate it for you.
- ncmncm 4y agoNotably, this person has not reported any results. Most likely they don't actually know any endocrinologists, or were told that in fact uric acid is known to be the connection between fructose metabolism / fatty liver and metabolic syndrome illnesses. Some people just feel compelled to jump up and defend sugar anytime it is blamed for illness.
- xdfgh1112 4y agoThe UK uses sucrose, not fructose though?
- danachow 4y agoSucrose is hydrolyzed in the gut by the enzyme α-glucosidase into glucose and fructose. Without any other absorptive buffer, it's basically the same.
- supermatt 4y ago> it's basically the same Not really. Fructose is JUST fructose, sucrose is half fructose.
- wahern 4y ago"high fructose" corn syrup--what's typically used to replace sucrose--is 55% fructose, not 100% fructose. IOW, only 5% more fructose. (It can even be less than sucrose, as low as 42%, but for sake of argument 55% seems fair.)
- awestroke 4y ago~55%, plus another 50% of the sucrose content once its broken down in the gut, which means it's effectively somewhere around 75% sucrose for the body to break down~ EDIT: nevermind, assumed the rest was sucrose rather than glucose
- wahern 4y agoI'm not following. HFCS is 55% fructose and 45% glucose, not 45% sucrose.
- supermatt 4y agoFair point. I incorrectly assumed the parent was comparing fructose to sucrose directly.
- 4y ago
- alexb_ 4y ago
- ncmncm 4y agoI.e., dying from liver disease is your God-given Right as An American. Like drunk driving without a seatbelt. (But you could die in a gun accident first, so why worry?)
- dm319 4y agoSure metabolic syndrome is a thing, but can you point to me evidence it is caused by these drinks? I agree re: the metabolic pathways, but yet to be convinced that most of these issues are not primarily caused by obesity. And sure, drinking enough sugar will result in obesity, but so will eating too much carbs or fat.
- ncmncm 4y agoObesity is a separate morbidity. 30% of obese Americans are not actually ill. But 40% of non-obese Americans are sick with metabolic syndrome. So, more than are obese and sick, by the raw numbers. Obesity is a big problem in the US, but metabolic syndrome is a bigger problem, and suffering both is worse than either alone. Pakistan has as much metabolic syndrome as other former UK colonies, but remarkably little obesity. Metabolic syndrome is a product of excess fructose in the bloodstream, itself a product of sugar consumed without enough accompanying fiber. Beverages are a particularly concentrated source, but other stuff packaged as food can be as bad.
- danachow 4y ago> But 40% of non-obese Americans are sick with metabolic syndrome. 40% of the non obese adult population in the US? More BS dude. It should be easy to point to some relatively reputable public health agency or peer reviewed publication where this is substantiated. Among non overweight individuals I’m going to peg it more around 5%.
- dharmatech 4y agoVideo that covers fructose and uric acid: https://youtu.be/BzwH-94vMis https://youtu.be/BzwH-94vMis
- spaceman_2020 4y agoWhat about diet sodas? Are they equally risky as well? Does the aspartme trigger similar reactions from the body as sugar?
- ncmncm 4y agoNo. Some people say artificial sweeteners have bad effects on your insulin metabolism because your body reacts to the taste as if a slug of sugar is on its way. But it must be complicated by conditioning; seems like after years of drinking it, the association would weaken. I don't know of any reliable results on that.
- WheatM 4y ago
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]