One of my newest discoveries of why I love SF has little to do with these previous attributes, except for the one about the people. Not only are the people here nice, they're SMART. Like REALLY, REALLY, SMART. Not surprising, since arguably three of the state's best colleges are located in the area. Between UCSF, UC Berkeley, and Stanford, we have a great concentration of brilliance per square mile. Throw in the students and faculty at UC Davis a mere 75 miles away and you have a force of intelligence to be reckoned with.
I recently took advantage of this when I attended two nutrition conferences in the past two weeks, one called the "Sugar Symposium" the other "The Sun Food Agenda" (the latter I will discuss in a separate post). The Sugar Symposium was the brain child of UCSF COAST (Center for Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment), UC Berkeley, and UC Davis. Among other things, what amazed me the most was the fact that I sat through 6 hours of lecturing about sugar biochemistry, brain chemistry, and the application of the mounting evidence of the realities of sugar addiction... without losing attention! The conference was absolutely fascinating, and by far the best part was Dr. Robert Lustig's diatribe against sugar at the end.
Dr. Lustig is traditionally known as the Chief of Pediatrics at the UCSF Medical Center, but I lovingly refer to him as the Chief of Nutrition Badassess. To summarize his schpeel is to not pay proper homage, but alas I don't have enough time to divulge all the details!
Note that when I refer to sugar in this post, I'm referring to a certain kind of sugar called fructose. Yes, you may recognize fructose as a carbohydrate that is found in fruits, but I'm not talking about that kind of fructose. I'm referring to the highly processed corn by-product called HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) which is a fairly recent invention that is manufactured in a laboratory, not something found in nature. You may have heard about or seen commercials from the Corn Refiners Association touting HFCS as "healthy in moderation," and "natural" like table sugar (sucrose) but after you read what I learned at the symposium, you might start to think differently.
Basically, this is what he said:
1) Sugar (specifically fructose, like that found in highly processed foods including soda) is just as bad for you as alcohol when consumed in excess. Fructose is metabolized in the liver at an unregulated rate (all of the fructose you eat gets absorbed, which is not the case for other sugars) and turns into little droplets of fat, as does alcohol. When people consume excess alcohol for long periods of time, they often develop a condition called hepatic steatosis, or alcohol-induced fatty liver disease. Not surprisingly because of the way fructose is metabolized, we're now seeing fatty liver disease in people (typically obese) who consume a large amount of fructose.
Fructose is damaging to the liver just like alcohol.
2) Because of government subsidies encouraging farmers to grow excessive amounts of corn and soybeans (what we like to call commodity crops), fructose (most commonly found in the form of high fructose corn syrup) is very inexpensive, readily available, and highly preferred as a sweetener over cane sugar since it is very sweet and very cheap. As such, it is found in many products, even ones that you wouldn't think would have sugar in them. It appears that sugar is seemingly added to food products just for the heck of it! (A conspiracy theorist could say it's just an attempt for food manufacturers to capitalize on the addictive nature of fructose) As compared to alcohol, you can often buy a 6 pack of beer or bottle of wine for less than a bottle of water. We all know how much cheaper a 2 liter bottle of soda is than the equivalent amount of water. Interesting...
Fructose is very cheap (soda is less expensive than bottled water) and readily available, just like alcohol. It is found in every corner store, just like alcohol.
3) Sugar consumption triggers pleasure centers in the brain that, when consumed in excess for many years, can simulate an addictive quality, just like alcohol. There is evidence that when people "come off" of sugar, their bodies rebel, just as an alcoholic would experience when starting rehab.
Fructose is physiologically addictive like alcohol.
4) Drinking a lot of alcohol causes people to gain weight in their mid-sections, which we affectionately refer to as the "beer belly." Fructose does the same thing (because it turns into fat droplets in the liver), so now we're seeing people with "sugar bellies."
Fructose will give you a "sugar belly," just like alcohol causes "beer belly."
5) Alcoholism is more common in lower socioeconomic populations (ie the poor) presumably because it is so addictive, inexpensive, and readily available. Sugar addiction is also common in the same population, presumably for the same reasons.
Sugar addiction disproportionately affects the poor, who also suffer from higher rates of obesity and other chronic illnesses.
In summary, I was in awe at Dr. Lustig's presentation. After making those shocking comparisons between fructose and alcohol, he then made some suggestions for regulating fructose. Can you imagine carding a teenager when they go to buy a soda, or to have quotas on sweetened beverages/snacks? Lustig think that's the way to go. He also believes in taxation on sugary foods (similar to a "fat tax") in an attempt at making a bag of cookies more expensive than a bag of apples. Related to that, he would love for the government to discontinue the subsidies on corn and soybeans, and instead encourage farmers to grow more fresh fruits and vegetables, which would make them less expensive. Lustig doesn't believe that educational programs are effective, and that our only way at winning this "war on obesity" is to have government intervention which will strongly encourage people to not buy the sugary foods by means of heavy taxation and regulation. After all, this was coming from the man who was responsible for San Francisco banning toys from Happy Meals (which I happen to support).
Personally, I'm not a big fan of "big brother" or the "food police," but when you look at the similarities between fructose and alcohol, it's pretty scary! We'd all agree that alcoholism is a public health concern, but very few people would consider obesity in the same light...until now, perhaps. I had never thought of sugar as something as physiologically addictive and damaging as ethanol, and I, for one, will never look at a can of Coke the same way again.
PS: For a laugh, check out SNL's parody on HFCS :)
