Podcast Review: Sugar is Killing Us with Dr. Lustig
Mathieu Norry recently hosted Dr. Robert Lustig on his podcast, Happy Habit, to discuss the public health crisis of sugar addiction. Dr. Lustig is a lead researcher and spokesperson in sugar and metabolic diseases. He is a firm believer that sugar is no longer an individuals responsibility, but instead a public health crisis. Metabolic diseases and healthcare costs continue to be on the rise and the more research we gather, the more it is evident that sugar is a major driver in this rise.
Dr. Lustig states that sugar is lethal. It is very similar to alcohol in that it provides calories, but no other nutrition, is addictive, and has harsh impacts on health. However, the public has no issue believing that alcohol is dangerous... so why is it so hard to believe that sugar is lethal?
The main reason is that food companies put extreme effort and money into hiding and arguing that sugar is not dangerous. Sugar is used for many reasons in processing foods, which gives little motivation for companies to find safer and healthier alternatives: better taste, preservation, consistency, and addictiveness. Politicians receive large amounts of funding from large food companies, so there is very little incentive to fight the big corporations.
The type of sugar that Dr. Lustig is talking about is the added sugars into foods, not natural sugar found in fruits. The main difference is that whole fruit (not fruit juice) has fiber which helps to block the absorption of sugar through the intestines. So, although you are eating sugar in fruits, your body is not absorbing all of it. Whole fruit has been found to be protective against diseases, while fruit juice and added sugars (those without fiber) are stimulants for diseases.
Dr. Lustig recommends eating "Real Food". Avoid processed foods and stick to whole, natural foods. He simplifies this by saying anything with a label is processed (although he does note there are different levels of processing). It is true that most people are not able to avoid all foods with labels, but aim to decrease the number of labeled foods in your cart and if you do choose more processed foods aim to get the ones that do not show any type of sugar in the top 3-5 ingredients.
Written by Meghan Hawley, RD
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