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Artificial Sweeteners, Obesity, and Diabetes

May 1, 2018/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

Last week, you may have seen headlines that said something like “Artificial Sweeteners May Cause Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes!” Just about every news organization picked up a press release from the Experimental Biology meeting. In the press release, researchers gave some of the results of a paper that was presented at a scientific session, including comments by the lead author, Dr. Brian R. Hoffman.

The purpose for doing the study, he said, was because of the epidemic of obesity and diabetes in the U.S. While there’s little question that excessive sugar intake, combined with excess calories over years, does contribute to obesity and type 2 diabetes, no one has really examined the role artificial sweeteners may play.

In these studies, he and his research team examined the effect of high levels of sugars, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium on epithelial cells taken from rodents in a test-tube study. Then using another group of rodents, they overfed them sugars and the same artificial sweeteners for three weeks. The objective was to see what changes occurred in proteins and metabolites that were produced in cardiovascular epithelial cells in the test-tube study and the blood of the rodents.

They found that there were modifications in proteins under both conditions, which may have led to changes in the products they produced. But is this meaningful research or not? I’ll tell you what I liked about the study in Thursday’s memo.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Reference: EB 2018. The Influence of Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners on Vascular Health during the Onset and Progression of Diabetes Board # / Pub #: A322 603.20.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

February 13, 2018/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

Today is Mardi Gras—in case anyone doesn’t know, Fat Tuesday is the literal meaning of the French term. It’s the final celebration before the period of Lent that culminates in Easter Sunday. Many Christians use this time to give up something they enjoy as a sacrifice. The idea is to reflect and focus on our spiritual self; no matter your beliefs, giving up something you enjoy to focus on your inner self is a good idea. This week, I’m going to talk about giving up three typical categories of food and drink: sugar, salt, and alcohol. What benefits could you gain in the 40 or so days of abstinence from these foods? What may be a healthier substitute?

Let’s start with sugar, and by that I mean cake, cookies, donuts, sweet rolls, pies, ice cream, and candy. These are the ultimate in refined carbohydrates. If you were to abstain from these foods for 40 days, several things could happen. First, your insulin levels would probably drop because you wouldn’t have high levels of sugar hitting your bloodstream. If you’re prediabetic, you might see your triglyceride and HbA1c levels decline. If you had a fatty liver, it would most likely begin to clear up.

What could you substitute that would be healthier? Berries, fresh or frozen, any type, and you could even put a tablespoon of whipped cream on them. The antioxidants and phytonutrients would be better than the refined sugar; fruit sugar is processed differently, so it would not affect your blood sugar. Second choice would be citrus, and third would be apples.

If you’re considering giving up something for the next 40 days or so, make sure it’s something you really enjoy and eat regularly. Paula has a friend from Montana whose father, years ago before every food was available year round, gave up watermelon every Lent. It has to be meaningful.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Halloween Haze

October 31, 2017/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

Today is the day adults and children will be walking around in a sugar haze: candy at work, candy at parties, trick or treating and eating the haul. Paula and I have the candy-corn-and-peanuts mix out for Halloween season.

I happened to see the comic Family Circus on Sunday; it was one of those where Billy stopped everywhere on the way home as he planned his trick or treating route to maximize his candy take.

That triggered the recall of a conversation I heard on a sports show. The announcer had planned how he and his daughter were going to divvy up the candy, especially the big candy bars.

I say enjoy it—it’s only a couple of days. Just don’t make it the beginning of regular treats until the end of the year. That would be two solid months of weight gain. Instead, just like the examples above, plan your route to better health during these next two months. Real-Life Detox is a great way to recover from the Halloween sugar haze, Thanksgiving, or even planning your strategy for the New Year.

You can have better health if you plan for it. The time for planning is right now—or as soon as you come out of your sugar haze.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

“What the Health”: False Sugar Claims

October 5, 2017/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

“Sugar doesn’t cause diabetes!” So says just about every expert in the film “What the Health.” Of all the misstatements in the film, this one is the worst and most dangerous. It isn’t because the statement is false; it’s because of the way it’s presented. Expert after expert looks into the camera and says that excess sugar intake does not cause type 2 diabetes. On top of that, the explanations that they give to justify their position are misleading.

One expert said that sugar will be stored as glycogen in the liver and the muscles and the rest used for energy. That’s correct. Another talked about the Duke University Diet which included rice, sugar, and some fruit and fruit juices; one physician used it to help many people who were too sick for other treatments. All the experts filmed agreed that neither sugar nor carbohydrate caused type 2 diabetes. It just couldn’t.

They are stopping short of telling the truth or intentionally misleading the audience. Sugar doesn’t cause type 2 diabetes if the person does not overeat. The statement about glycogen? True, as I said, but when a person overeats carbohydrates, the liver stores as much glycogen as it can and then converts the rest to fat.

Excess carbohydrates lead to insulin resistance and eventually, type 2 diabetes. The Duke University Diet? That was from the 1940s. It was an ultra low-fat diet with no salt, and was used to treat the sickest patients but only under the care of a physician.

The section on sugar and diabetes was by far the worst. It intentionally misleads people to think that overeating is fine as long as it’s carbohydrates. But there was one study that was cited over and over that’s even worse in my opinion. I’ll cover that on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

Dr. Chet

Reference: What the Health. Directed by K. Andersen and K. Kune. 2017.

The Last Word on Sugar

December 20, 2016/in Memos/by Chet Zelasko

The sugar war continues in the health headlines these last few days of 2016. Here’s a summary of what was said and my opinion.

Researchers reviewed the science behind the nutritional guidelines that fewer than 10% of calories should come from sugar (1), a position held by the World Health Organization and the USDA. After examining the science behind those guidelines, they concluded that the guidelines are not trustworthy.

Experts responded by calling what the researchers did junk science (2). The researchers were funded by a group composed of soda, candy, and fast-food companies. The experts said that . . .