Hi Friends,
Today’s email will be short and sweet. Though I’ve mentioned the importance of cutting out sugar before, it’s such an important topic when it comes to health and longevity, I thought I’d address it more directly. Please feel free to comment or reply directly to this email if you have any thoughts or corrections.
TL;DR: We eat incredible amounts of sugar today. Sugar is chronically toxic in these quantities, especially the fructose in sugar. The evidence points to non-caloric sweeteners likely being safe, certainly safer than sugar. These sweeteners are an excellent tool to have when establishing your sweet consumption habits.
We've really gone wild, haven’t we?
Our sugar consumption is rampant. While the graph above represents all added caloric sweeteners, the two big boys on campus are sucrose (refined table sugar) and high-fructose corn syrup. For much of history, we ate little to no sugar. The occasional piece of fruit or honeycomb. Around 4,000 BC we discovered how to domesticate and extract cane juice from "the reed which gives honey without bees”. Cultivation spread. Improvements in production were made throughout the centuries. We learned how to extract sugar from beets. Sugar became increasingly cheap and accessible. By 1970, we were eating 61x the sugar we were eating 200 years previous. In the 1980s, a cheaper form of sugar arrived on the scene: high-fructose corn syrup. HFCS consumption peaked in 2000 then started to drop as consumers started avoiding it due to health concerns.*
*Despite what your mom says, HFCS and sucrose are metabolically equivalent
The Sugar Association's use of a 50 calorie scale does a good job of making our consumption seem stable - Source: sugar.org
Source: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/charts-of-note/?topicId=14852
Today we still consume more sugar than we did in 1970. Although the trend shows a promising direction downwards, it’s not moving fast enough. Many will get sick and die before we right the ship.
What’s so bad about sugar?
Sugar is composed of two monosaccharides: glucose and fructose.*
Glucose is important. It's the primary source of energy for all living organisms. When glucose is consumed, it’s either oxidized and used directly by your cells, stored in the liver as glycogen, or stored as fat. Unless you are running a marathon, your ability to oxidize glucose is limited. Even during exercise, it is difficult for the mitochondria to oxidize more than 1 gram of glucose per minute. In a 70 kg human, the maximum amount of glycogen that can be stored in the liver and skeletal muscles is roughly ~520g. Even upon waking, you likely still have 50% of your glycogen stores intact. Once these stores are full, your liver starts converting excess glucose to fatty acids which are stored in adipose tissue (fat).
Even in the complete absence of carbohydrates, the body supplies glucose through a metabolic pathway called gluconeogenesis. The liver breaks down glycerol, lactate, propionate, and certain amino acids to maintain plasma glucose levels. This is why people can transition to a ketogenic or carnivore diet and be just fine.
Most sugar we consume in the Standard American Diet is far more than we need and far more quickly than we need it. Even in the absence of sugar, your body can maintain your glucose levels. You do not need sugar.
Now let’s get to the really ugly duckling, fructose. Fructose has been labeled as having similar effects on the body as ethanol. Hepatic (liver) fructose metabolism has been shown to trigger inflammation, increase de novo lipogenesis (fat storage), lead to hypertension, insulin resistance, and play a role leptin resistance (making you feel hungry long after you’ve had enough). In other words, fructose makes you fat, sick, and hungry for more.
If you want to dive a bit more into the weeds I recommend watching Dr. Lustig’s viral video: Sugar: The Bitter Truth.
Additional Info:
*there is also the disaccharide lactose, found in dairy, but we usually consume a very low number of calories from lactose
Non-caloric Sweeteners
Limiting sugar consumption is hard. Not only is sugar hidden in nearly everything, but it’s also addictive. Limiting or abstaining from sugar can cause cravings and even withdrawal. Substituting sugar for non-caloric sweeteners can be an effective strategy in your fight to lower sugar intake.
For some reason, non-caloric sweeteners have gotten a bad rap. Many people choose natural caloric alternatives to sugar, thinking they are making a healthy decision. Agave nectar (basically pure fructose), coconut sugar (still sugar), honey (still sugar), or maple syrup (still sugar) have all been marketed as healthy alternatives to sugar. These are sugar hiding behind a natural label.
Non-caloric sweeteners are many* times sweeter than sugar, so a negligible caloric amount can be substituted. Aspartame, saccharin, sucralose, monk fruit extract, stevia, and sugar alcohols (sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol, erythritol, etc.) are the most popular choices in the U.S.
Though there exists some evidence that noncaloric sweeteners may negatively affect gut health, the reality is most of these sweeteners have been rigorously studied and found safe, especially at the quantities we consume. Despite its bad rap, Aspartame is one of the most rigorously tested food ingredients. Sucralose has endured intense scrutiny, The Sugar Association launched a website in 2005 calling out the brand Splenda for using a slogan that implied it was “made from sugar” (it is technically) and making the claim that Splenda is made from chlorine, causes various side-effects, and hasn’t been properly tested. I have yet to find the FDA studies they claim produced these frightening side-effects (send them my way if you find them).
Like anything else (water included), the dose makes the poison. Many of these sweeteners may be perfectly safe at low dosages and start harming if consumed in great quantities (think 500 diet cokes per day). Let’s not forget the important question here. The question isn’t are these non-caloric sweeteners harmless? The question is are they better than sucrose?
From the evidence I’ve seen so far, the answer is yes.
*Advantame is 20,000x as sweet as sugar!
Your Custom Sugar Detox Program
The way I see it you have the following options:
Ignore this advice, continue your rampant sugar consumption and possibly die of metabolic disease
Accept this advice, tell yourself you are going to eat a bit less sugar, eventually forget this article and continue your rampant sugar consumption and possibly die of metabolic disease
Start substituting in non-caloric sweetness whenever you consume sugar. You may still have sugar cravings.
Cut out all caloric sweeteners, break your habitual sweetness consumption. When you do occasionally eat sweet things, use non-caloric sweeteners.
Cut out sweetness all together (the added benefit of also losing sugar cravings).
1 and 2 are the options we are trying to avoid. 5 is the most preferable but adherence would likely be low. My current approach is 4. Something like option 3 is a better choice for those with a strong sweet tooth.
Your aim should be to reduce your sweetener intake as much as possible, then replace all remaining sugars with your choice of non-caloric sweetener. When creating your own sugar "detox" take the following steps:
Over 2-5 days, record the sugar in everything you eat. You can do this manually or by using a software tool like MyFitnessPal to track your intake and estimate sugar content in dishes where you don't have access to the ingredient list.
Get an idea of where you are in your sugar consumption (grams per day) aim to reduce your intake by 10-15% per day over the next week.
After a week, you are likely consuming very little sugar, at this point substitute your remaining consumption with sugar-free alternatives. Feel free to even add a little more calorie-free sweets if you feel your current diet is not sustainable.
At your own risk, indulge occasionally in sugary foods (1-2x per month). Remember: It's your habitual consumption that is important.
I've found great success in using non-caloric sweeteners whenever I get a sugar craving. If I'm at a party where dessert is being served, I know I have stevia soda and allulose ice cream waiting at home. In my experience, delaying gratification is far easier than abstaining from gratification altogether.