At 43:12 minute of the video you could see the selection of prevalence across the USA in terms of the obesity, diabetes, perceived happiness, 'laziness', heart diseases and finally the soda consumption:
The aim was to point at the soda and sugar consumption that was behind all these variables. You know what? I will add one more:
Here you see how the metabolic diseases, obesity and sugar consumption correlate with the poverty. One can argue: yes, but that is the point! Poor people cannot eat healthily and they stick to soda! I agree. But look at this:
The description says that it represents the visualization by the distance to the nearest McDonald's. And what is McDonald's typical for? FRIES and other fried food, among others. But fries and the burger are the icon of this fast food chain. It does also sell sweet stuff, including sodas, but the diet sodas have gained more popularity in the recent years, despite the worries about aspartame among health-conscious individuals. Fast food outlets now offer diet soft drink and the customers are buying it.
In this slide, from another video at 12:08 minute, which presented the obesity issue in more complex view (which is more correct than looking only at the sugar and addiction) you will understand that it is mainly the poverty that makes people going for cheaper and nutrient depleted food. They often do not have a choice.
Now look at the picture below and read the comment under it. I have copied it from the Mirror website:
In this slide, from another video at 12:08 minute, which presented the obesity issue in more complex view (which is more correct than looking only at the sugar and addiction) you will understand that it is mainly the poverty that makes people going for cheaper and nutrient depleted food. They often do not have a choice.
Now look at the picture below and read the comment under it. I have copied it from the Mirror website:
I also recommend you to read the Mirror article based on the statements of the scientists. It basically says what I have been saying all the time: obesity DOES matter as with obesity there go various diseases, especially the fatty liver. Obesity is not only a marker, it is a direct factor contributing to the fatty liver prevalence. Something made people obese and that something contributes to their fatty liver, too. Or change the order: something contributes to the fatty liver while making that person fat at the same time. And this does not have to relate to only obese people with BMI over 30. Positive energy balance is the factor and that starts way before people reach BMI 30, got it? Meanwhile, people kept gaining weight and the fatty liver disease prevalence kept rising in times when the sugar consumption went down, also in the UK. Do you think it is the fructose fault?
The following map only confirms the trend, taking the fast food in general, not only one brand:
Let's continue. Soon after the presentation of the six maps on the top, Dr Lustig continues with another map, showing the USA as one of the highest consumers of sugar in the world:
Are you impressed?
How about this?
This fat intake diagram is an equivalent to the sugar intake diagram above it. The darker the color, the higher the consumption of substance in question. Any similarities?
Make your own mind and listen to your intelligence. Do not let anybody fool you in their chosen direction.
After watching another video of Dr Lustig, where he presented the same 6 maps, he said at 45:25:
"The question is - is it that unhappy people with diabetes and heart disease drink soda, or is it that soda causes diabetes, heart disease and unhappiness..."
Why should drinking soda be so markedly correlated with unhappiness? Cannot people be unhappy because they are poor and live in a region with the high prevalence of crime, which is also just a result of poverty? We can guess what was the purpose of using the map with the level of happiness and not this one instead because it is well documented that the high sugar intake (also fat, alcohol and cigarettes smoking) is more prevalent among the lower socio-economic class. The poorer you are, the less healthy lifestyle you have and of course that does not make you happy. And this additional stress has also been found to contribute to the metabolic diseases, especially the cardiovascular events.
While I agree that this is just a correlation, not a causation, and I appreciate that Dr Lustig and his team made an effort to perform statistical analysis in terms of causal medical inference, after I have seen how he constantly distorted the information and presented selectively chosen and outdated data, I have concerns about the accuracy and correctness of their analysis, too. Even the best tool can be used inappropriately when people have a specific interest in mind. And here it was sugar and specifically fructose within. Just an example: the soft drinks consumption data from 1990s repeatedly presented by Dr Lustig until today is out of date because since then the consumption of soft drinks decreased markedly in the U.S. and there is data for that, too.
Towards the end of this article I would like to bring to your attention Dr Lustig's struggle with his body weight for years announced in the video at 1:18:05 time when answering the questions of the audience. He said that he regularly exercises and that helps him to reduce the abdominal fat deposits while his body weight does not change. With no sugar and fruit drinks in the house, Dr Lustig? He said that he stays away from refined carbohydrates and sugar mostly and how it is difficult for him to have a healthy diet, that he has half a bagel with cheese for breakfast... let me remind you that the bagel is mostly starch, not sugar and that cheese is probably not of the low-fat range. What is preventing his body fat loss if he does not consume sugar/fructose at the average population levels? That is the question.
I don't know about the sugary soft drink consumption data. But sugar consumption overall remains far higher than it was in past generations. It continued to rise until around 2000 when it leveled off. As for artificial sweeteners, research shows the body can treat at least some of them similarly to sugar. They can still contribute to insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes. They trick the body into thinking sugar is coming into the body and so the hormonal system responds accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIt's not hard to respond to your concluding comment. Dr. Lustig does not follow a low-carb diet. It's not clear the he necessarily even follows a low-sugar diet, at least probably not low compared to traditional diets. Consider that 80% of food products sold in stores contain added sugar. Even that bagel he eats probably has far more sugar than a non-commercial bagel. Besides, as far as the body is concerned, a carb is a carb whether it is a sugar or a starch. I doubt Dr. Lustig has ever argued against the fact that the body turns starchy carbs into glucose.