Sugar, obesity and metabolic syndrome
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 21:19 This is a very interesting article about how the overabundance of sugar - particularly fructose and high-fructose corn syrup - may be contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic. It almost goes without saying that the same causes may contribute to why you and I - adults - have such a difficult time controlling weight.
What I found particularly interesting here is that Lustig suggests that declines in activity levels among young people may be a result of eating a diet high in sugars.
Sugar is a poison, says UCSF Obesity Expert
By Jeffrey Norris
The rise of obesity is usually blamed on too much eating and not enough exercising, but Robert Lustig, MD, a UCSF pediatric neuroendocrinologist, asks us to look beyond the obvious.
Yes, more Americans are overweight today than 30 years ago. Kids are still getting heavier, compared with prior generations of kids. That leads some UCSF researchers to warn that heart disease and other health problems will grow in future decades.
But behaviors that some might refer to as gluttony and sloth are merely consequences of the true cause of the epidemic, Lustig says. Food was just as abundant before obesity’s ascendance. The problem is the increase in sugar consumption. Sugar both drives fat storage and makes the brain think it is hungry, setting up a “vicious cycle,” according to Lustig.