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No, the reason sugar gets a bad rep is because of what it does to your body. The insulin response to sugar is the primary way your body stores fat and sugar its

by eclipxe 13y ago

No, the reason sugar gets a bad rep is because of what it does to your body. The insulin response to sugar is the primary way your body stores fat and sugar itself is readily converted to fat. The glucose & fructose spikes are also source of inflammation. It is believed that this inflammation is the cause of some of the damage related to heart disease, etc.

CEyzaguirre 13y ago
Heart disease etc, including[1]: "This is why hemoglobin A1C is frequently used in studies that try to correlate blood sugar control to various disease processes like Alzheimer’s, mild cognitive impairment, and coronary artery disease. It’s well documented that glycated hemoglobin is a powerful risk factor for diabetes, but it’s also been correlated with risk for stroke, coronary heart disease, and death from other illnesses. These correlations have been shown to be strongest with any measurement of hemoglobin A1C above 6.0 percent. We now have evidence to show that elevated hemoglobin A1C is associated with changes in brain size. In one particularly profound study, published in the journal Neurology, researchers looking at MRIs to determine which lab test correlated best with brain atrophy found that the hemoglobin A1C demonstrated the most powerful relationship.[2]” [1] Perlmutter, David. “Grain Brain.” [2] “C. Enzinger, et al., “Risk Factors for Progression of Brain Atrophy in Aging: Six-year Follow-up of Normal Subjects,” Neurology 64, no. 10 (May 24, 2005): 1704–11.”
- carbocation 13y ago
  Nondiabetics have normal A1c because they do not exhibit wild blood glucose swings, even postprandially.
- snowwrestler 13y ago
  Blood sugar levels are not a reliable proxy for dietary sugar intake.
  - eclipxe 13y ago
    Tell that to diabetics
    - snowwrestler 13y ago
      Diabetics know better than anyone that dietary sugar is not the only food that can increase blood sugar. Rice cakes have no sugar in them at all, for instance, but have a higher glycemic index than chocolate cake.
      - eclipxe 13y ago
        Dietary sugar intact/dietary carb intake - at the end of the day, it turns into sugar
        snowwrestler 13y ago
        But that's not what the article is about. It a about dietary sugar--sucrose and fructose specifically.
- mamoswined 13y ago
  Perlmutter's stuff is way out of the left field. If you read the actual study, it does not support his conclusions. Interestingly, there are studies that show that a vegan grain-rich diet lowers hemoglobin A1C. So much for his made-up "grain brain" condition. Of course most diets studied lower it, because they are much healthier than the standard american diet of overeating. And it's also perfectly possible to be a moderate consumer of sugar and have low hemoglobin A1C depending on other lifestyle factors.
pvnick 13y ago
>The insulin response to sugar is the primary way your body stores fat and sugar itself is readily converted to fat This is a common myth, but it's wrong. Dietary fat is what is primarily stored and leads to weight gain during caloric excess; dietary carbs just decrease the amount of fat being used for energy, but can also get stored as fat tissue during overfeeding in a process called de novo lipogenesis (which is what you're describing) [1] [4]. Would you believe protein also elicits an insulin response? [2] So why not just eat butter? Well, it turns out fat can get stored without insulin at all, with the help of a little molecule called acylation stimulation protein [3]. Nutrition is harder than it seems. Again, it all comes back to calories in vs calories out. [1] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/707.full http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/707.full [2] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/5/1264.full.pdf http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/5/1264.full.pdf [3] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/insulin-levels-and-fat-loss-qa.html http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/insulin-levels-and... [4] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-nutrient-storage-and-nutrient-oxidation.html http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-n...
- eclipxe 13y ago
  We can go back and forth on this, but HN isn't the place. I've had this debate many times and it ends nowhere. Bottom line, calories-in vs calories-out is a fine and dandy statement, but tells us nothing of value about the cause of increased calorie consumption. I agree with you that for weight gain to occur, there must be a greater energy intake than burn, but what causes more caloric intake?
  - matwood 13y ago
    Eating? I'm only partially joking. Calories don't just magically appear.
    - Daniel_Newby 13y ago
      Eating is an effect, not a cause. Much of of the cause is subconscious regulatory systems in the brain, which function like magic to a person consciously trying to eat less.

by eclipxe 13y ago

CEyzaguirre 13y ago

Heart disease etc, including[1]: "This is why hemoglobin A1C is frequently used in studies that try to correlate blood sugar control to various disease processes like Alzheimer’s, mild cognitive impairment, and coronary artery disease. It’s well documented that glycated hemoglobin is a powerful risk factor for diabetes, but it’s also been correlated with risk for stroke, coronary heart disease, and death from other illnesses. These correlations have been shown to be strongest with any measurement of hemoglobin A1C above 6.0 percent. We now have evidence to show that elevated hemoglobin A1C is associated with changes in brain size. In one particularly profound study, published in the journal Neurology, researchers looking at MRIs to determine which lab test correlated best with brain atrophy found that the hemoglobin A1C demonstrated the most powerful relationship.[2]” [1] Perlmutter, David. “Grain Brain.” [2] “C. Enzinger, et al., “Risk Factors for Progression of Brain Atrophy in Aging: Six-year Follow-up of Normal Subjects,” Neurology 64, no. 10 (May 24, 2005): 1704–11.”

carbocation 13y ago
Nondiabetics have normal A1c because they do not exhibit wild blood glucose swings, even postprandially.
snowwrestler 13y ago
Blood sugar levels are not a reliable proxy for dietary sugar intake.
- eclipxe 13y ago
  Tell that to diabetics
  - snowwrestler 13y ago
    Diabetics know better than anyone that dietary sugar is not the only food that can increase blood sugar. Rice cakes have no sugar in them at all, for instance, but have a higher glycemic index than chocolate cake.
    - eclipxe 13y ago
      Dietary sugar intact/dietary carb intake - at the end of the day, it turns into sugar
      - snowwrestler 13y ago
        But that's not what the article is about. It a about dietary sugar--sucrose and fructose specifically.
mamoswined 13y ago
Perlmutter's stuff is way out of the left field. If you read the actual study, it does not support his conclusions. Interestingly, there are studies that show that a vegan grain-rich diet lowers hemoglobin A1C. So much for his made-up "grain brain" condition. Of course most diets studied lower it, because they are much healthier than the standard american diet of overeating. And it's also perfectly possible to be a moderate consumer of sugar and have low hemoglobin A1C depending on other lifestyle factors.

pvnick 13y ago

>The insulin response to sugar is the primary way your body stores fat and sugar itself is readily converted to fat This is a common myth, but it's wrong. Dietary fat is what is primarily stored and leads to weight gain during caloric excess; dietary carbs just decrease the amount of fat being used for energy, but can also get stored as fat tissue during overfeeding in a process called de novo lipogenesis (which is what you're describing) [1] [4]. Would you believe protein also elicits an insulin response? [2] So why not just eat butter? Well, it turns out fat can get stored without insulin at all, with the help of a little molecule called acylation stimulation protein [3]. Nutrition is harder than it seems. Again, it all comes back to calories in vs calories out. [1] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/707.full http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/74/6/707.full [2] http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/5/1264.full.pdf http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/66/5/1264.full.pdf [3] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/insulin-levels-and-fat-loss-qa.html http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/insulin-levels-and... [4] http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-nutrient-storage-and-nutrient-oxidation.html http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/nutrition/nutrient-intake-n...

eclipxe 13y ago
We can go back and forth on this, but HN isn't the place. I've had this debate many times and it ends nowhere. Bottom line, calories-in vs calories-out is a fine and dandy statement, but tells us nothing of value about the cause of increased calorie consumption. I agree with you that for weight gain to occur, there must be a greater energy intake than burn, but what causes more caloric intake?
- matwood 13y ago
  Eating? I'm only partially joking. Calories don't just magically appear.
  - Daniel_Newby 13y ago
    Eating is an effect, not a cause. Much of of the cause is subconscious regulatory systems in the brain, which function like magic to a person consciously trying to eat less.