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Good message: "don't over consume and stick to unprocessed sources". It bothers me though that the word sugar is in the title since they really mean sucrose. B

Good message: "don't over consume and stick to unprocessed sources". It bothers me though that the word sugar is in the title since they really mean sucrose. Both fructose and glucose occur naturally (fruit, veggies, starches) and are not harmful.

jrockway 15y ago
Sucrose occurs naturally too. So does cyanide. Natural != good to eat.
hristov 15y ago
Fructose is harmful, unfortunately. Sucrose gets split by the body into one fructose and one glucose molecule. And it is the fructose that is harmful because it cannot be properly processed by the liver in large quantities. Sucrose is only harmful in as much as it produces fructose. It is true that fructose appears naturally all over the place. And that is the tricky part. The liver can actually process fructose fine if it gets a little at a time and simultaneously receives fiber. Almost everywhere fructose occurs naturally it occurs with fiber. Thus, the human body is perfectly capable of processing fructose in its natural state, but once you start concentrating it and removing the fiber the problems come about. This is why fruits and veggies are perfectly healthy but refined sugars are bad for you.
- DanBC 15y ago
  > The liver can actually process fructose fine if it gets a little at a time and simultaneously receives fiber. Dietary fibre gets to the liver?
  - hristov 15y ago
    The liver gets nutrients from dietary fiber which help it process fructose. I believe the nutrient in question was phosphorus, but am not absolutely sure.
    - anthonyb 15y ago
      Fibre doesn't have any nutrients - it's essentially indigestible. The reason it helps with sugars is that it slows their absorption down and helps to reduce blood sugar spikes.
ams6110 15y ago
A lot of modern fruit has been cultivated to increase its sugar content. An apple 200 years ago was a lot less sweet than one today.
- ars 15y ago
  An apple 200 years ago was picked at the peak of ripeness - i.e. very sweet. Today they pick them early, so they try to get the sugars in there sooner.
frou_dh 15y ago
Speaking of words, it's weird to often see 'veggies' in writing because to me that is squarely baby-talk. No offence - I'm sure it's a regional thing.
revolvingiris 15y ago
Glucose + Fructose = Sucrose; which is why I don't like the title. Cyanide is not in context... A healthy liver can process roughly 50g fructose before fat storage begins to occur. This would be a tough number to hit since for every 100g of fruit you eat only 7g is fructose (on average). Please link baby saying "veggies", ty.
- nazgulnarsil 15y ago
  do you have a source on that claim? not that I don't believe you, I just haven't heard it before and it sounds pretty interesting.
espeed 15y ago
Fructose is the main problem, according to Lustig. Whole fruits aren't bad because they also contain fiber, which counteracts the fructose, but fruit juice is a problem because the fiber has been removed.
jhaglund 15y ago
I think his point is that sucrose is quickly transformed into fructose + glucose. And our bodies aren't equipped to process that much fructose. glucose is processed by cells all over. fructose in the liver, depleting phosphorus and making fat, when we chronically consume too much. We've eaten refined glucose for a larger chunk of human history. Until refined sugars were added to everything, we consumed a lot of fiber with our fructose sources, reducing the amount that was even absorbed. He goes into how much extra sugar we unwittingly consume from processed sources. Too bad he sounds so smug. But I'm pretty sure he will be proven correct.

jrockway 15y ago

Sucrose occurs naturally too. So does cyanide. Natural != good to eat.

hristov 15y ago

Fructose is harmful, unfortunately. Sucrose gets split by the body into one fructose and one glucose molecule. And it is the fructose that is harmful because it cannot be properly processed by the liver in large quantities. Sucrose is only harmful in as much as it produces fructose. It is true that fructose appears naturally all over the place. And that is the tricky part. The liver can actually process fructose fine if it gets a little at a time and simultaneously receives fiber. Almost everywhere fructose occurs naturally it occurs with fiber. Thus, the human body is perfectly capable of processing fructose in its natural state, but once you start concentrating it and removing the fiber the problems come about. This is why fruits and veggies are perfectly healthy but refined sugars are bad for you.

DanBC 15y ago
> The liver can actually process fructose fine if it gets a little at a time and simultaneously receives fiber. Dietary fibre gets to the liver?
- hristov 15y ago
  The liver gets nutrients from dietary fiber which help it process fructose. I believe the nutrient in question was phosphorus, but am not absolutely sure.
  - anthonyb 15y ago
    Fibre doesn't have any nutrients - it's essentially indigestible. The reason it helps with sugars is that it slows their absorption down and helps to reduce blood sugar spikes.

ams6110 15y ago

A lot of modern fruit has been cultivated to increase its sugar content. An apple 200 years ago was a lot less sweet than one today.

ars 15y ago
An apple 200 years ago was picked at the peak of ripeness - i.e. very sweet. Today they pick them early, so they try to get the sugars in there sooner.

frou_dh 15y ago

Speaking of words, it's weird to often see 'veggies' in writing because to me that is squarely baby-talk. No offence - I'm sure it's a regional thing.

revolvingiris 15y ago

Glucose + Fructose = Sucrose; which is why I don't like the title. Cyanide is not in context... A healthy liver can process roughly 50g fructose before fat storage begins to occur. This would be a tough number to hit since for every 100g of fruit you eat only 7g is fructose (on average). Please link baby saying "veggies", ty.

nazgulnarsil 15y ago
do you have a source on that claim? not that I don't believe you, I just haven't heard it before and it sounds pretty interesting.

espeed 15y ago

Fructose is the main problem, according to Lustig. Whole fruits aren't bad because they also contain fiber, which counteracts the fructose, but fruit juice is a problem because the fiber has been removed.

jhaglund 15y ago

I think his point is that sucrose is quickly transformed into fructose + glucose. And our bodies aren't equipped to process that much fructose. glucose is processed by cells all over. fructose in the liver, depleting phosphorus and making fat, when we chronically consume too much. We've eaten refined glucose for a larger chunk of human history. Until refined sugars were added to everything, we consumed a lot of fiber with our fructose sources, reducing the amount that was even absorbed. He goes into how much extra sugar we unwittingly consume from processed sources. Too bad he sounds so smug. But I'm pretty sure he will be proven correct.