Sugar Blues

Sugar came up, and I've been really interested in sugar for a long time, so I'm posting (bear with me, it's a long one). [Disclaimers: I do not endorse a certain kind of sugar or a certain kind of diet. This blurb is by no means exhaustive; feel free to ask questions &/or dialog.]

So, SUGAR can be blamed for all sorts of things (dental caries, nutrient deficiencies, heart disease, criminal behavior); however, at present sugar is being targeted for its role in obesity, specially in the USA. (The average American consumes 64 pounds of added sugar each year.) Sugar can make you fat in two or more ways:

1. Sugar-packed foods are empty calories. You need to eat more of them before you obtain essential nutrients and feel satiated. You eat more, you get fat.
2. When the body is fed with more carbs (simple & complex sugars) than it needs, the body's glycogen stores overflow. The liver breaks the extra sugar (glucose) down into smaller molecules, combines it with fragments of proteins and fats, and creates (ta da!) fat, a more permanent energy-storage compound. The liver can only store about half a day's worth of glycogen; however, fat cells can store unlimited amounts of fat.
3. Think now how much carb your diet is comprised of. Eat your heart out.

I would argue against claims that crystalline fructose, sorbitol, or sucralose (Splenda) are "better" for human consumption. Part of this is because I am pissed about efforts by big biz to continue sprinkling simple sugars throughout the "food pyramid," poisoning people by excess, the other part of it is skepticism, intuition, and well-researched personal sugar "wisdom." (Keep in mind that when most people say sugar, they mean sucrose [and now, fructose].)

1. Glucose (dextrose) is the sugar most readily absorbed and used by the body. It is the sugar in IV fluid. Maltose (a disaccharide) = glucose + glucose. Sucrose (a disaccharide) = glucose + fructose. Lactose (a disaccharide) = glucose + galactose. These are broken down by the enzymes maltase, sucrase, and lactase in the small intestine.
2. Fructose is naturally sweeter than glucose, but not so readily absorbed and used by the body. The low glycemic index has not so much to do with taking less in (which I doubt in this fruit-crazed world) as it does with a naturally crippled trans-epithelial transport from the bowel to the bloodstream and with that fructose must also be converted by the enterocytes and the hard-working liver into glucose (not an instantaneous process). Were blood glucose monitors called blood fructose monitors, I am sure the glycemic index of fructose would be higher. Fructose, too, becomes glucose, and must be dealt with by the pancreas all the same.
3. In opting for fructose, we are sacrificing our guts in order to placate our sweet tooths. Fructose, HFCS, sucralose, and sorbitol absorption (mainly in the small bowel) is a slow, awkward process such that the bowel will end up osmotically filling with water to dilute the concentration of sugars held there. If it is diluted in water already (such as in a fashion drink), both stay in the intestinal lumen. Ergo, diarrhea. This is why fruit juice is commonly used more as a laxative than as a thirst quencher among people in tuned with their bodies, and why I try to have dehydrated patients drink broth and tea instead of fruit juice. I dare say, drinking and eating products enriched with sugars that stay in the bowel lumen is setting yourself up for an Olestra-style doom. You can read a little more about choosing sugars here.
4. It would seem to me then, that you might indeed want to round out your diet so that the sweetness comes naturally from grains and vegetables (complex carbohydrates armed with near complete nutrition), and some fruit. Sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup are largely sucrose. My intuition tells me that if I have a mixture of glucose and fructose flowing down the pipe, my body with naturally opt for the more readily available (glucose), and that the fructose will stay in the intestinal lumen and act as something of a natural laxative. Fruits are especially laxative, not because of magic, but because of the magical combination of fructose and fiber. Take the fiber out of fruit and you are robbing it of it's natural gift to mankind: post-meal intestinal cleansing. I try my best to remember that fruit is nature's desert.

I believe people should think hard about what they eat. I believe everything in moderation is best.

I believe you are what you eat.