Thursday, October 11, 2007

TOO SWEET ON SUGAR

Dr. David Ludwig treats childhood obesity at Boston Children's Hospital and he is stunned by America's consumption of empty calories. In fact, he says that the average convenience store is a nutritional disaster area.

"All sugar-containing foods aren't bad," he told CBS News correspondent Susan Spencer. "For example, an apple has its main calories come from sugar. But it's surrounded by fiber, so it digests slowly and keeps blood sugar under control."

Including refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners, the average American wolfs down 142 pounds a year, or roughly 2 ½ pound a week. That is up 23 percent in the last 25 years, and is a major factor in soaring rates of obesity and diabetes.

"The problem is when we take sugars and concentrate and refine them, and serve them in massive amounts throughout the food supply," Ludwig said. "That's causing hormonal changes that in many people drive hunger, cause overeating, and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease."

And it isn't just sugar driving those highs and lows - so do the carbohydrates found in highly-processed food, like white bread and white rice, which turn to glucose when eaten.

Click Here To Read The CBS Story...

Recent research showed that sugar is more addictive than cocaine - no wonder the processed food companies want to put heaps of it in their products - there's no better repeat customer than an addicted one!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Yes, that's the major factor for obesity. Heavy sugar made children fat. One of my friends at millionairematch.com said he ever talked several times with the doctors for his son's obesity questions.