For about 6 years I rented a room with a great family in New Jersey. On most holidays, and frequently on weekends I would be invited to join them for meals. This almost family relationship let me observe their eating habits. The father and an early 20's son were both quite over weight.
The father and especially the son virtually ate no sugar and used artificial sweeteners in all drinks. To me it was obvious their overweight problem was not caused by sugar.
When I moved to California, I observed among people I worked with the ones who were overweight were all users of artificial sweeteners. Especially true for one who was near serious obesity. Could it be the artificial sweeteners were causing the body to put on fat?
We know: All the artificial sweeteners trick the body's sense of taste. The body's chemical detection of sugars is being deceived. Why assume it is only the sense of taste that is being tricked? The body also has chemistry to determine when there is an excess and it should store it as fat. Simply put: I believe artificial sweeteners screw this up as well. But wait. Sugars are the source of energy for the muscles of every animal. Sugars, specifically glucose, is what plants produce by photosynthesis. Glucose is both the starting and ending of the chemistry that gives animals the ability to move.
The entire process from plants capturing energy, and animals eating it and having the ability to work has evolved over millions of years. The process is very involved and not completely understood. But a lot is known. I have reproduced below a rather lengthy description of the process. You can find this and more from information on the internet. Wikipedia has a lot and you will find it if you simply search on either "Glucose" or "Sugar". I present it here only to show the process is far too involved to meddle with.
As an energy sourceGlucose is an ubiquitous fuel in biology. It is used as an energy source in most organisms, from bacteria to humans. Use of glucose may be by either aerobic or anaerobic respiration (fermentation). Carbohydrates are the human body's key source of energy, through aerobic respiration, providing approximately 3.75 kilocalories (16 kilojoules) of food energy per gram.[6] Breakdown of carbohydrates (e.g. starch) yields mono- and disaccharides, most of which is glucose. Through glycolysis and later in the reactions of the Citric acid cycle (TCAC), glucose is oxidized to eventually form CO2 and water, yielding energy sources, mostly in the form of ATP. The insulin reaction, and other mechanisms, regulate the concentration of glucose in the blood. A high fasting blood sugar level is an indication of prediabetic and diabetic conditions. Glucose is a primary source of energy for the brain, and hence its availability influences psychological processes. When glucose is low, psychological processes requiring mental effort (e.g., self-control, effortful decision-making) are impaired.[7][8][9][10] Glucose in glycolysisUse of glucose as an energy source in cells is via aerobic or anaerobic respiration. Both of these start with the early steps of the glycolysis metabolic pathway. The first step of this is the phosphorylation of glucose by hexokinase to prepare it for later breakdown to provide energy. The major reason for the immediate phosphorylation of glucose by a hexokinase is to prevent diffusion out of the cell. The phosphorylation adds a charged phosphate group so the glucose 6-phosphate cannot easily cross the cell membrane. Irreversible first steps of a metabolic pathway are common for regulatory purposes. As a precursorGlucose is critical in the production of proteins and in lipid metabolism. Also, in plants and most animals, it is a precursor for vitamin C (ascorbic acid) production. It is modified for use in these processes by the glycolysis pathway. Glucose is used as a precursor for the synthesis of several important substances. Starch, cellulose, and glycogen ("animal starch") are common glucose polymers (polysaccharides). Lactose, the predominant sugar in milk, is a glucose-galactose disaccharide. In sucrose, another important disaccharide, glucose is joined to fructose. These synthesis processes also rely on the phosphorylation of glucose through the first step of glycolysis. Industrial useIn the industry glucose is used as a precursor to make vitamin C in the Reichstein process, to make citric acid, gluconic acid, bio-ethanol, polylactic acid, sorbitol. Sources and absorptionAll major dietary carbohydrates contain glucose, either as their only building block, as in starch and glycogen, or together with another monosaccharide, as in sucrose and lactose. In the lumen of the duodenum and small intestine, the glucose oligo- and polysaccharides are broken down to monosaccharides by the pancreatic and intestinal glycosidases. Other polysaccarhides cannot be processed by the human intestine and require assistance by intestinal flora if they are to be broken down; the most notable exceptions are sucrose (fructose-glucose) and lactose (galactose-glucose). Glucose is then transported across the apical membrane of the enterocytes by SLC5A1, and later across their basal membrane by SLC2A2.[11] Some of the glucose goes directly toward fueling brain cells, intestinal cells, and red blood cells, while the rest makes its way to liver, adipose tissue, and muscle cells, where it is absorbed (under the influence of insulin) and stored as glycogen. Liver cell glycogen is (when insulin is low or absent) converted to glucose and returned to the blood, muscle cell glycogen is not returned to the blood as the necessary enzymes are lacking. In fat cells, glucose is used to power reactions which, among other things, synthesize some fat types. Glycogen is the body's 'glucose energy' storage mechanism as it is much more 'space efficient' and less reactive than glucose itself. |
Every animal has to have a source of energy to move. That energy comes ultimately from plants. Plants have the ability using energy from the sun to make Glucose from Carbon Dioxide and water. The process is complex and uses other minerals in the process, And muscle tissue is amazing in that it can on demand use energy from sugars and do work. Animals have to have sugars period, there is no way around it. And they get it from digestion of a variety of foods, and ultimately will create it from body fat when necessary.
It is my belief: When people eat artificial sweeteners they are tricking the body into putting on fat, leaving them with inadequate energy. So, they cannot get adequate exercise. Thus: Artificial Sweeteners, destroy health and cause obesity. Everybody I know who is obese, gets virtually no exercise and uses artificial sweeteners and tries to avoid the real sources of energy: Sugars and starches.
The sugar chemistry, evolved over millions of years if not generations. It works well. Artificial sweeteners, have been tested on a few laboratory animals, then people for a few years with no obvious terrible effects. Because there was lots of money to be made, companies are allowed to produce them and sell to the public. Marketing people, whose job is dependent on convincing people to use the product, have done a remarkable job of convincing people that sugar is bad; and their product is healthy.
Spectacular marketing has convinced our society they should eat barley tested chemicals to improve their body's chemistry. Doctors prescribe some chemical for every ill, and the gullible patient treats it as though it was divinely inspired. Today a doctor doesn't know what to do, and knows the patient will be disappointed if he does not write a prescription. Look at all the ads in magazines and on TV to convince the public to request the doctor prescribe their chemical. Later the doctor prescribes another chemical to counter the side effects, and this turns out to be a never ending cycle.
Yes, there are examples where a person's body chemistry needs to be changed, but it is always a gamble to take chemicals other than what is in well tested food. I believe the most healthy prescription a doctor could write is for a placebo.
Here is a comment made by a friend after he saw this page.
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