drinks, overloads the liver, where it is then sent to the mitochondria and converted into fat. This is a recipe for mitochondrial melt down; mitohcondrial constipation, and disease because the mitochondria is the energy engine of a cell.
Commercial fructose (without the fibre) is a chronic dose dependent liver toxin, just like alcohol. It is metabolised to fat, just like alcohol. Both create more liver fat than the liver can’t export. Hence, fatty liver disease develops. Hepatic fructose metabolism leads to the manifestations of all the Metabolic Syndrome diseases.
In addition, refined sugar and fructose (HFCS) in particular, cause the liver to become insulin resistant. This drives the pancreas to make more insulin, which in turn creates fat cells adding to weight gain. The extra insulin produced also drives blood pressure up, which can lead to heart disease. High insulin also creates mutational cell division, which may lead to cancer and changes in the brain, which can cause dementia. When the pancreas can’t produce anymore insulin it burns out and you have diabetes. The diseases of alcohol, sugar, and obesity are all the same.
Dr. Lustig’s research clearly reveals that refined sugar is the real toxin in our food that is causing damage to the mitochondria, leading to early death.
A study released by the World Economic Forum found chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 36 million a year, account for 63% of deaths in the world, and are projected to cost the global economy $47 trillion in the next 20 years. The socio-economic impact is staggering. In response to this, the United Nation’s Sec. General announced in Sept. 2011, that chronic NCDs such as diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, cancer, dementia, now pose a bigger threat to the developing world than acute/infectious diseases.
Food manufacturers have created a very toxic environment in our food supply in order to make food addictive, sell more, and reap larger profits. They don’t care that adding sugar to processed food/ drinks destroys the food and eventually kills the consumer. The primary reason that fructose is used commercially in food products and beverages, is its low cost, long shelf life, and its high sweetness.
People erroneously think that if something is in our food supply it is safe. However, this is far from the truth! Government regulatory agencies are heavily influenced by powerful corporate lobbyist, who highly fund political campaigns and infiltrate these agencies. Many executive positions in regulatory agencies are filled by corporate implants from the food or drug companies. When their mission is accomplished, the government agency executives are then recruited back to the corporation, whose product or drug was just approved. It is very much of a revolving door scenario. This is how many potentially harmful drugs and substances, including Nutrasweet and fluoride, managed to get approved.
Big sugar, being one of the most powerful lobby groups globally, wields a great deal of influence in establishing dietary policies, obtaining approval of their products, and ensuring that regulatory agencies turn a blind eye on the chronic metabolic diseases created from their products. Also, the FDA only regulates acute diseases. Thus, they can’t and won’t regulate chronic diseases. This is why nothing has been done to curtail the causes of (chronic) metabolic diseases, which are increasing at an alarming rate.
As if this was not bad enough... Sugar is very addictive and impacts the brain just as much as the waistline!
READ ‘SWEET TREAT ADDICTION: The Scourge of Sugar - Part 2’ in next month’s MASTERS OF HEALTH magazine.