Research news on nutrition, environmental medicine and health
Robert H. Lustig, MD, and a team of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers argue that sugar should be controlled like alcohol and tobacco to protect public health. In a new report, they maintain that sugar is fueling a global obesity pandemic, contributing to 35 million deaths annually worldwide from non-communicable diseases like diabetes, …
Continue reading “Societal Control of Sugar Essential to Ease Public Health Burden”
If you are what you eat, then what does it mean that the average American consumes 130 pounds of sugar a year? Dr. 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 …
If the brain goes hungry, Twinkies look a lot better, a study led by researchers at Yale University and the University of Southern California has found. Brain imaging scans show that when glucose levels drop, an area of the brain known to regulate emotions and impulses loses the ability to dampen desire for high-calorie food, …
Big Sugar (CBC, 2005) explores the dark history and modern power of the world’s reining sugar cartels. Using dramatic re-enactments, it reveals how sugar was at the heart of slavery in the West Indies in the 18th century, while showing how present-day consumers are slaves to a sugar-based diet. Going undercover, Big Sugar witnesses the appalling working …
In this lecture, Dr. Russell Blaylock explains one of the most important connections between nutrition and our health, how nutrition affects our behavior. Citing a series of important studies, he shows that good nutrition can powerfully enhance our memory, mood, and behavior in a socially desirable way. Likewise he shows us that poor nutrition can lead …
Energy drinks have become increasingly popular in recent years. There are many brands on the market. Each contain caffeine and some have added stimulants such as guarana, an herbal form of more caffeine, as well as ginseng. Most of these drinks, in moderation, are probably relatively harmless for healthy people. However, when consumed to excess …
Robert H. Lustig, MD is Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He is nationally recognized in the field of neuroendocrinology, with an emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. Dr. Lustig has a special interest in childhood obesity. He has become publicly notable through …
Study suggests U.S. Dietary Guideline for Upper Limit of Sugar Consumption is too High: A recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) found that adults who consumed high fructose corn syrup for two weeks as 25 percent of their daily calorie requirement had increased blood levels of cholesterol …
Continue reading “Fructose Consumption Increases Risk Factors for Heart Disease”
The past two decades have witnessed an epidemic spread of obesity-related diseases in Western countries. Elucidating the biological mechanism that links overnutrition to obesity could prove crucial in reducing obesity levels. In the July 26 issue of PLoS Biology, Dr. Dongsheng Cai and his research team at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe a pathway that …
Continue reading “Treating Obesity Via Brain Glucose Sensing”
In 2005, the average American consumed 64 kg of added sugar, a sizeable proportion of which came through drinking soft drinks. Now, in a 10-week study, Peter Havel and colleagues, at the University of California at Davis, Davis, have provided evidence that human consumption of fructose-sweetened but not glucose-sweetened beverages can adversely affect both sensitivity …
Continue reading “Too Much Sugar Is Bad, But Which Sugar Is Worse: Fructose Or Glucose?”
