Robert Lustig was talking at the Aspen Ideas Conference last week. He has been on a crusade against fructose for some time. He is one of the leading proponents that all calories are not created equal. He claims that sugar is one of the most toxic substances we can consume and wants it regulated like alcohol. I tend to react poorly to alarmist phraseology. I do not believe that sugar causes cancer any more than I think that police cause highway accidents. The is a clear confusion of correlation (some cancer cells selectively metabolize sugars, you always see a police car at an accident scene) with cause.
However there is a significant amount of truth that humans were opportunistic omnivores. We ate meat, vegetables, nuts, berries, but no significant amounts of grain. we got fructose in our diet from fruit, but it wasn't constant and it was most likely an episodic binge. When we learned agriculture, our life spans, cranial capacities and overall measures of health decreased. The source of this information is the very fascinating book: "Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture (Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global)" it's recommended reading.
Clearly we didn't evolve to eat so much grain. A more reasoned approach to the problem can be found in the work of Dr. Peter Attia, who was an obese and pre-diabetic surgeon turned nutrition researcher who, I think quite rightly shows that people confuse acute with chronic toxicity. He explains the issue quite well here.
Personally I was a vegan (for moral, not health reasons) and was very obese. I have lost 65 pounds consuming more calories than I ate before on a slow carb diet. I'm still losing, but now I'm just fat, not obese. I resumed eating meat (grass fed, organic and also game meat. (tip: wild boar makes a great burger)) and all of my blood markers are better than they were whilst vegan. You can chalk that up to anecdotal evidence. But I do believe all calories are not equal.
Stay healthy out there. Take what I say with a grain of salt, but do look into the concept of caloric difference.
However there is a significant amount of truth that humans were opportunistic omnivores. We ate meat, vegetables, nuts, berries, but no significant amounts of grain. we got fructose in our diet from fruit, but it wasn't constant and it was most likely an episodic binge. When we learned agriculture, our life spans, cranial capacities and overall measures of health decreased. The source of this information is the very fascinating book: "Paleopathology at the Origins of Agriculture (Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global)" it's recommended reading.
Clearly we didn't evolve to eat so much grain. A more reasoned approach to the problem can be found in the work of Dr. Peter Attia, who was an obese and pre-diabetic surgeon turned nutrition researcher who, I think quite rightly shows that people confuse acute with chronic toxicity. He explains the issue quite well here.
Personally I was a vegan (for moral, not health reasons) and was very obese. I have lost 65 pounds consuming more calories than I ate before on a slow carb diet. I'm still losing, but now I'm just fat, not obese. I resumed eating meat (grass fed, organic and also game meat. (tip: wild boar makes a great burger)) and all of my blood markers are better than they were whilst vegan. You can chalk that up to anecdotal evidence. But I do believe all calories are not equal.
Stay healthy out there. Take what I say with a grain of salt, but do look into the concept of caloric difference.
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