Is sugar toxic?

[BridgeTheGap]

(CBS News) If you are what you eat, then what does it mean that the average American consumes 130 pounds of sugar a year? Sanjay Gupta reports on new research showing that beyond weight gain, sugar can take a serious toll on your health, worsening conditions ranging from heart disease to cancer. Some physicians go so far as to call sugar a toxin.
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The chances are good that sugar is a bigger part of your daily diet than you may realize which is why our story tonight is so important. New research coming out of some of America's most respected institutions is starting to find that sugar, the way many people are eating it today, is a toxin and could be a driving force behind some of this country's leading killers, including heart disease.

As a result of these findings, an anti-sugar campaign has sprung up, led by Dr. Robert Lustig, a California endocrinologist, who believes the consumption of added sugars has plunged America into a public health crisis.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Is sugar toxic?


Dr. Robert Lustig: I believe it is.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57407294/is-sugar-toxic/?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

[yourout]

1. As a recent addition to the Type 2 Club(diabetes) I belive it is highly addictive.

It has taken 2 months but I feel better than I have in years now that I made drastic cuts to my sugar intake.

[Lex]

6. As a pre-diabetes II patient, I cut out virtually all sugar

and unrefined carbs (even most all bread, rice, pasta) and the result was that I lost 70 pounds and am no longer showing "at risk" numbers for diabetes II anymore.

[bowens43]

2. everything is a toxin in sufficient quantities....

[doc03]

3. +1

[DetlefK]

4. Water is toxic, too.

[Lex]

5. And the average American diet is at toxic levels.

nt

[skepticscott]

7. Exactly...

For a doctor to simply say without qualification that "X is a toxin" is foolish and grossly irresponsible. In large enough amounts, anything can have a harmful effect. In small enough amounts, anything can be harmless. Toxicity is ALL about dose.

[ellenfl]

8. and the prepared food industry is overdosing us. eom

[Warpy]

9. Too much of anything is toxic, even water.

I'm not surprised to see the findings on sugar, something that is overused in processed foods to the same extent salt is.

Unfortunately, the alternative to processed foods for hardworking families is time they don't have to make food from scratch. It's either that or living on broiled meat and fish with salads, something that gets boring rather quickly.

I would love to see a movement to get both sugars and salt out of processed foods that don't really call for either along with at least a 50% reduction in sweetened drinks like sodas and "fruit" juices, done gradually over a period of 5 years or so.

Over time, I think we'd start seeing trends slowly reverse.

[BlueIris]

10. The best decision I ever made was to limit sugar.

And get rid of high fructose corn syrup.

[bemildred]

11. As with most drugs, dosage is everything. nt

[MineralMan]

12. I don't think so.

However, eating too much of it contributes to obesity, which contributes to a whole range of life-shortening illnesses.

Like our near relatives, the apes, we eat fruit as a natural part of our diet. Fruit contains sugar. Sugar, in itself, is not toxic. Over consumption of sugar causes health problems. Lustig is incorrect, and is using scare techniques to make people cut down on the amount of sugar they consume.

Eat a big, juicy peach or a ripe orange. It's good for you.

[handmade34]

13. sugar IS a toxin!

we do have a health crisis in this country because of processed sugars