Thread: Youtube: Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Ok, I watched 15 minutes of it.

The guy presents some really great information.

However, he also presents some sweeping generalizations and uses statistics as too strong a base for his conclusions. He is being irresponsible because he presents things in very dogmatic general fashion that does not really do justice to the facts.

Example: He talks about different servings of coke and the amount of fat that can be stored per year by drinking one a day of said serving. 6.5 oz/10 lbs a year, 10 oz/13 lbs a year, 20 oz/26 lb year and so on. Even though he presents the laws of thermodynamics in the beginning, he fails to integrate those laws in his explanation of drinking coke. We all know you don't just gain weight from drinking coke, you need a caloric excess.

I understand his point, but I feel he is too simplistic in his approach and forgoes some very integral factors when it comes to gaining weight. However, that is the 101 paradox. When you over simplify and generalize, you fail to present the facts. That is unless you are a master of composing lectures and really invest a lot of time and thought into it.

Also, he claims 55 mg of sodium (in a 12 oz can of Coke) is like "drinking a pizza". This is clearly false and his use of sensationalism is irresponsible. 55 mg is not a lot. An average large pizza will have at least 2000 mg of sodium, and could likely get as high at 4 or 5k. So he is off by approximetaly 3600%-9000%. He claims this "spike" in sodium will encourage the consumer to drink more because he becomes thirstier from the cellular pull of water from sodium intake.

He has some good guidelines, but watch this lecture with a skeptic eye.

I just finished watching it and I think it's superb. Yeah, he's a little glib at the beginning, but he quickly, and for a long time, delves into the details. He does a long bit on the biochemistry of fructose.

Things that stand out, in particular order:

• All things being equal, 120 calories of Sucrose results in 24 calories being stored as fat, while 120 calories of fructose results in 74 calories being stored as fat.
• Fructose has 8 or the 12 negative effects of alcohol.
• Fructose results in much higher levels of VLDLs. The very harmful part of LDLs.
• Fructose doesn't trigger a ghrelin response. In other words, you won't experience satiety by consuming it. You'll continue to feel hungry.
• Processed fructose consumption leads to type 2 diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.
• Fructose is a chronic hepatotoxin. It's processed exclusively by the liver, just as alcohol is.

And that's just off the top of my head.

A very good post, maxpro2!

I like the part where they mention Nixon, I do remember the price of food going up.

Originally Posted by min0 lee

I like the part where they mention Nixon, I do remember the price of food going up.

Actually, Nixon made the price go down...to the detriment of the American public.