Sugar is Poison?

A recent study conducted by Dr. Robert Lustig, and expert on childhood obesity at the University of California showed that sugar is “poison beyond its calories”. In his research he explained that sugar, the fructose, when metabolized in the liver in excess, the liver will have to turn the sugar into liver fat which is the cause of many illnesses later on in life. Although this new research is surrounded by much skepticism, it is not a mystery to the unhealthy side effects of eating sugar. The average Canadian consumes 26 teaspoons of sugar a day, in a year that is about 40 kilograms. It is found in many popular grocery items like cereals and ketchup. Despite all this, there is actually no recommended amounts of the daily intake or sugar, it is recommended that men consume no more than  9 teaspoons and day and a max of 6 teaspoons for women. This recommended intake of sugar is actually quite hard to stay within considering the amount of sugar in the food we eat everyday, in a can of coke for example already has more than 10 teaspoons of sugar. Dr Lustig has also posted a 90 minutes lecture on youtube on which he described sugar as being “toxic”. This video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

 

Sources:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/how-toxic-is-sugar-1.1894262

http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/sugarinthekitchen/

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