[News article] Sugar Accelerates Aging Process as Much as Smoking Does, U.S. Study Says | Natural Products News and Updates

Sugar Accelerates Aging Process as Much as Smoking Does, U.S. Study Says | Natural Products News and Updates.

Source: sheknows

From the National Post news item by Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post, National Post Wire Services | October 20, 2014 | Last Updated: Oct 20 11:26 AM ET

You knew that drinking sugary sodas could lead to obesity, diabetes and heart attacks — but, according to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, it may also speed up your body’s aging process.

What does cancer eat? Sugar, mostly, and other lessons from my dinner with a professor of pathology

What got my attention was his remark about celery.

You know: the dieters’ wishful thinking on whether eating celery is a sum negative activity, or not.

He was certainly entitled to speak. His name is Dr. Gerald Krystal and he’s a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at University of British Columbia, as well as Distinguished Scientist at the Terry Fox Laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency.

We were perched like vultures over a buffet table, commenting on the many ways to die. Fats, salts, sugars, alcohol: pick your delicious poison. I like ’em all.

Read more…

As you age, caps on the end your chromosomes called telomeres shrink. In the past several years, researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, have analyzed stored DNA from more than 5,300 healthy Americans in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from some 14 years ago. And they discovered that those who drank more pop tended to have shorter telomeres.

The shorter the telomere, the harder it is for a cell to regenerate — and so, the body ages.

“We think we can get away with drinking lots of soda as long as we are not gaining weight, but this suggests that there is an invisible pathway that leads to accelerated aging, regardless of weight,” psychiatry professor Elissa Epel, senior author of the study, told CBS San Francisco….

The findings were reported online October 16, 2014 in the American Journal of Public Health.

Soda’s Evil Twin – The Dangers of Fruit Drinks (Infographic) [With Added Item on Environmental Degradation by Soda Manufacturer Processes]

From Jen Rs Web page  (Twitter: jenicarhee)

Related articles

• [Environmenal effects of soda drink manufacturing overseas]

From the January 2012 newsletter item by the Mt. St. Agnes Theological Center for Women
Green Notes

Bad news for soft drink lovers…You might believe that your daily cola fix only poses a threat to your diet but, depending on your brand of choice, you could be terribly wrong.  As major soft drink manufactures move their bottling plants over seas and into the developing world, many are engaging in irresponsible behaviors that harm the local environment and communities dependent on it.

Coca-Cola stands out as the worst offender, particularly in India.  In the last decade, tens of thousands of farmers and their families have lost their livelihoods as Coca-Cola’s activities have dried out their wells and poisoned any alternate local water sources.  The company has peddled potentially toxic product containing elevated levels of dangerous pesticides in drinks sold in India. The dangerous pesticides include DDT, Lindane, and Malathion.  PepsiCo’s activities in India have been only marginally better.  India’s parliament has banned Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products from all of its cafeterias and, as of 2007, ten thousand of its schools and colleges have followed suit.

In support of India’s efforts to force responsible practices from the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo corporations, our Center will no longer purchase or serve soft drinks from these companies.  We hope you will do the same.  For more information regarding the on-going protest movement against Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, check outwww.cokejustice.org  andwww.indiaresource.org/news/2010/1044.html, or refer to Paul Hawken’s book, Blessed Unrest, which our Center will be discussing this April.

• Soda Has An Evil Twin, And His Name Is Fruit Drink! [Infographic] (jack.radio.com)
• How many lives could a soda tax save?
• Despite industry promises, Yale study finds unprecedented marketing of sugary drinks to youth (Robert Woods Foundation)
• The Dangers of Fruit Drinks: Soda’s Evil Twin (INFOGRAPHIC) (blippitt.com)
• Giving Up On Sugar? (foodworksblog.wordpress.com)
• 2 sugary drinks a day can boost heart disease, diabetes risk in women (news.bioscholar.com)
• Sugar-sweetened beverages may increase cardiovascular risk in women (eurekalert.org)
• Misleading Statistical Information in Ads: A Drug Ad Analyzed and Related Evaluation Resources (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Misleading information on health social sites (and tips on how to evaluate health/medical information) (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Ethical Implications of the Use of Data and Statistics (lynnmunoz.wordpress.com)
• Information Designers (fusionfinds.wordpress.com)
• What are video infographics? (marketing.yell.com)

Pediatrics Professor Calls Sugar Toxic in a Heavily Viewed 2009 YouTube Lecture

Excerpts from a 13 April 2011 New York Times article

On May 26, 2009, Robert Lustig gave a lecture called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” which was posted on YouTube the following July. Since then, it has been viewed well over 800,000 times, gaining new viewers at a rate of about 50,000 per month, fairly remarkable numbers for a 90-minute discussion of the nuances of fructose biochemistry and human physiology….

..by “sugar,” Lustig means not only the white granulated stuff that we put in coffee and sprinkle on cereal — technically known as sucrose — but also high-fructose corn syrup, which has already become without Lustig’s help what he calls “the most demonized additive known to man.”….

…The fructose component of sugar and H.F.C.S. is metabolized primarily by the liver, while the glucose from sugar and starches is metabolized by every cell in the body. Consuming sugar (fructose and glucose) means more work for the liver than if you consumed the same number of calories of starch (glucose). And if you take that sugar in liquid form — soda or fruit juices — the fructose and glucose will hit the liver more quickly than if you consume them, say, in an apple (or several apples, to get what researchers would call the equivalent dose of sugar). The speed with which the liver has to do its work will also affect how it metabolizes the fructose and glucose….

..If Lustig is right, then our excessive consumption of sugar is the primary reason that the numbers of obese and diabetic Americans have skyrocketed in the past 30 years. But his argument implies more than that. If Lustig is right, it would mean that sugar is also the likely dietary cause of several other chronic ailments widely considered to be diseases of Western lifestyles — heart disease, hypertension and many common cancers among them….

This  long article goes on to explain how it is believed that an excessive sugar intake leads to fatty livers and accompanying metabolic syndrome. The body, in its inability to use naturally produced insulin, sets the stage for diabetes, high blood pressure, and even cancer.

Related resources and articles

• Sugar and Health: Interview with UCSF professor Robert Lustig (kqed.org)
• High-fructose corn syrup: What are the health concerns? (Mayo Health)
• Dietary, lifestyle changes can significantly reduce triglycerides (American Heart Association)
• Sugar-sweetened drinks associated with higher blood pressure (American Heart Association)
• Does high-fructose corn syrup have the same affect on the body as regular sugar? (Medpedia answers)

Sugar FAQs from the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association has a list of 20 FAQS on sugars.

The first 3…

Are all sugars bad?

No, but sugars add calories and zero nutrients to food. Adding a limited amount of sugars to foods that provide important nutrients—such as whole-grain cereal, flavored milk or yogurt—to improve their taste, especially for children, is a better use of added sugars than nutrient-poor, highly sweetened foods.

How can I tell by looking at a nutrition facts panel if a product has added sugars?

Current nutrition labels don’t list the amount of added sugars (alone) in a product. It will be important for policy makers, the food industry and other public health groups to create dialogue regarding how to make assessing added sugars simpler for consumers.

How can I tell by looking at a Nutrition Facts panel if a product has added sugars?

Current nutrition labels don’t list the amount of added sugars (alone) in a product.

The line for “sugars” you see on a nutrition label includes both added and naturally occurring sugars in the product. Naturally occurring sugars are found in milk (lactose) and fruit (fructose). Any product that contains milk (such as yogurt, milk, cream) or fruit (fresh, dried) contains some natural sugars.

But you can read the ingredient list on a processed food’s label to tell if the product contains added sugars. Names for added sugars on labels include:

• Brown sugar
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup
• Sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose)
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Fruit juice concentrates
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Malt sugar
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Sugar
• Syrup

The American Heart Association has other Web pages on sugar, including

• Sugars 101
• Sugars and Carbohydrates
• Making Trade Offs to Reduce Fat and Sugar

Health Tip : Reduce Your Sugar Consumption

The American Academy of Family Physicians suggests how you can limit added sugar:

• Cut back on candy, desserts, baked goodies and other sweet treats.
• Stick to fresh and healthy foods, such as vegetables, fruit, whole grains and lean forms of protein.
• Drink water instead of sweetened drinks.
• Avoid foods that are processed.
• Opt for lower-sugar recipes when baking.
• Substitute applesauce (unsweetened) or an artificial sweetener, instead of sugar.

From Health Tip: Reduce Your Sugar Consumption