Sugar, By Any Other Name

     One of the biggest nutrition stories of late is the singling out of sugar as a “horror” food, detrimental to our health on many levels. Upon closer examination, sugar does indeed deserve the bad rap it’s getting: It’s over-eaten, addicting, and toxic at high levels in the bloodstream. But is all sugar the same? And if not, which sugar poses the most danger? Does the body perceive and metabolize them all similarly? A lot has been written about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), but is this the only form of sugar we should be concerned about? What do we consume? What do we avoid?

     A simple sugar is comprised of 24 bonds between 6 hydrogen, 12 carbon, and 6 oxygen molecules. When these bonds are broken, via digestion, energy is released becoming available for the body to use. There are many forms of sugar: Glucose, sucrose, fructose, lactose, galactose, and complex carbohydrates made of long chains of simple sugars strung together. Any sugar that is processed is called sucrose, including table sugar and HFCS. These refined, or processed sugars, are made up of a fructose molecule and a glucose molecule. Sucrose (table sugar) is a 50-50 mix of the two and high fructose corn syrup is 55% fructose, 45% glucose.

     What does all of this mean and why should we care? Physiologically, the body reacts the same way to table sugar as it does to HFCS. You may have seen the recent commercials put out by the corn industry saying, “Don’t worry, it’s all the same to your body.” Not true. The big difference lies in how the body metabolizes these two sugars as compared to other sugar, like fructose from fruits and lactose from milk. It is this difference that is the pre-determinant for the development of disease or not.

     Several years ago, the New York Times published an article on scientist Robert Lustig’s research on sugar. From his findings Lustig concluded that when digested the combination of fructose/glucose—found in table sugar and HFCS—caused the biggest harm to our bodies. And it is specifically the fructose, Lustig claims, when metabolized by the liver, creates a burden on the liver causing it to react by turning the fructose into an unhealthy fat. Glucose, when metabolized, did not have the same deleterious effect since it is metabolized by all the cells of the body. These findings only held true when the fructose molecule was in combination with glucose, as in table sugar and HFCS. It did not hold true for fructose when by itself, as in fruits and 100% fruit juices.

Lustig’s studies on rats and mice in laboratory showed clear evidence that “if the fructose from processed sugar hits the liver in sufficient quantities and with sufficient speed, the liver will indeed turn it into a non-healthy fat, precipitating the condition of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is now considered the underlying cause in obesity, type 2 diabetes, and is a large contributor to heart disease.”

     So what can we conclude from this? Sugar found in fruits and 100% fruit juices (with no added sugar), as well as milk sugar (lactose), aren’t harmful to us in moderation. Table sugar, HFCS, and all processed sugars are harmful to us because of the way in which the liver metabolizes the fructose when it is combined as a fructose/glucose molecule. It’s important to also note that all types of sugar have the same effect on the pancreas. All sugar—be it honey, brown sugar, or HFCS—will cause the pancreas to secrete insulin. As mentioned earlier, high levels of sugar in the bloodstream are toxic and insulin helps to remove it by carrying it to the cells of the body where it can be converted to energy. Over consumption of all sugar, even that found in fruits, can cause a buildup of sugar in the blood. Eventually, if the pancreas becomes overburdened on a regular basis, it becomes less efficient, setting the stage for type 2 diabetes.

Recommendations

• Limit your sugar intake, and check all nutrition labels for added sugar, i.e., sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucrose, cane sugar, and brown sugar to name a few.
• Try not to get more than 10-20% of total calories from added sugar. Example: For an 1800 kcal a day diet: 1800 x 10% = 180 sugar calories. Sugar has 4 grams per calorie. 180 divided by 4 = 45 grams of sugar per day.
• One teaspoon of processed sugar (sucrose) has 4 grams and 15 calories. One bottle of soda has approx. 34 grams of sugar and 140 calories, almost an entire days worth of allotted added sugar.
• Eat 2-4 serving of fruit/ day: 1 serving is equal to 1 medium-sized fruit, or 1 cup of cut up fresh fruit.