On 4/19/11 9:28 PM April 19, 2011, Deepa Mohan wrote:
Heather...the sense I get from that article is that sugar is *invariably* bad for me; I believe, as Shiv says, that everything is metabolized to sugar, and therefore, sugar (in moderation) is something the human body needs.
Okay, fairly big quibble here. “Everything is metabolized to sugar” is at best imprecise and at worst misleading. Yes, if you're going to burn protein or fat (or fructose or galactose) for energy, you first need to extract/turn it into glucose. Glucose is the only sugar we burn for energy. Naturally, we can also use proteins and fats for other purposes in our bodies. Fructose goes to the liver to be converted to glycogen and triglycerides, and is more readily stored as fat than glucose.
Problem number 1 with sucrose and high fructose corn syrup is that the glucose and fructose are released extremely quickly into the bloodstream. The other problem with sucrose and high fructose corn syrup is that they have a 1:1 ratio of glucose to fructose. The glucose goes off to be burned and the fructose goes off to to the liver. The two sugars together work to promote fat storage and insulin resistance. At high enough doses and over time, ta da! obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes.
Most of the foods that contain carbohydrates that we typically burn for energy contain mostly or exclusively glucose. Glucose by itself causes insulin to spike, but does not so handily present itself to the liver to be packaged as fat as fructose does. Fructose, when it exists in nature, is usually in fruit and vegetables, which also contain fiber that slows down the release of glucose and fructose into the bloodstream.
In case you were wondering, the third monosaccharide, galactose, is much more readily converted to glucose than fructose is.
As an aside, even though dietary protein and fat can be converted to glucose to meet our energy needs, it's not so great for our bodies to do this too often, either. Our bodies do best when they have the right mix of nutrients.
Surely, there is sense in the age-old endearments of "sugar", "honey"...in every language and culture I know of, to be "sweet" is to be something good. So...I will stick with sugar...in small amounts, as well as fruits and honey.
I think “in small amounts” is the operative phrase here. -- Heather Madrone (heat...@madrone.com) http://www.sunsplinter.blogspot.com I'd love to change the world, but they won't give me access to the source code.
