The Toxicity of Sugar
http://time.com/4087775/sugar-is-definitely-toxic-a-new-study-says/
The past few decades has been about avoiding fat and how to keep it out of your diet. However, with obesity and heart disease still on the rise many experts believe sugar is truly to blame. Dr. Robert Lustig from the department of pediatrics at the University of California claims it is toxic. During most studies the doses of sugar scientists use are very high. When studies are then done it is hard to determine if health effects are from calories or sugar. Lustig believes he has hard evidence that sugar is toxic. Lustig did a study of 43 children aged 8-18. He recorded how many calories each child ate on average per day and made a detailed food plan for the children for 9 days. The menu consisted of the same amount of calories but replaced sugar with starch. After the 9 days some of the children that had been insulin resistant (Pre-cursor to diabetes) became insulin sensitive. Their fasting blood sugar levels dropped by 53%, and less fat in their liver. The diet Lustig provided still isn't viewed as ideal from a health perspective. Starches are still a considerable source of calories. However, even after giving the children processed, "crappy" food they still got better. A lot of people still believe that this study isn't accurate. Susan Roberts, professor of Nutrition, USDA Nutrition Center at Tufts University says that some of the childrens metabollic rates lowering are because of weight loss during the study. Also, since the children self-reported their average diet it could be inaccurate. Some scientists are worried for other reasons. They believe that this study may take away from the real issue, we're eating too many calories. Dr. Mark Corkins, professor of pediatrics at University of Tennessee Health Science Center says that the study involved children who were already obese and consuming too many calories. He still says it's a very important study because people need to look at sugar and the type of sugar, but he is worried people will only look at this when they should be cutting back on consumption.