|
|
|
|
|
|
by rjyoungling
2303 days ago
|
|
|
I think this is mistaking correlation for causation. The problem with sugar is that it's often found in highly palatable foods that contain large quantities of fat and calories. If one monitors their caloric intake/outtake such that one is in a deficit or at maintenance not only do negative markers disappear, they improve. (Even on a high sugar diet.) That's not to say: 'only eat lion candy bars and all is fine.' (One reason is that that would be too hard to adhere to since the volume of food is so low because they're so calorically dense. Low volume, even if calories are high, causes hunger. Another would be the lack of fiber, protein and micronutrients.) But it does show that it's not sugar that's the problem but rather consistently being in a caloric surplus such that people become severely overweight. Unfortunately, nutrition has become such a religious topic that it's become hard to have civil, scientific discussions. Instead, we stick to our tribe, demonize those who show flaws in our reasoning, and selectively search for research that aligns with what we already believe. |
|
|
1. Too much sugar has direct effects on the body, even for people at a totally healthy weight. Possibly including changing your appetite.
2. What you said: unhealthy foods very often contain sugar; therefore, foods high in sugar are more likely to be unhealthy in other ways too.
3. Sugar has calories but doesn't make you feel full. Too much sugar works against controlling your weight because people want a minimum amount of satiation.
The first point may seem wrong if you tend to think of the body as simply using sugar as fuel so that it only "pays attention" to the energy content. One thing that convinced me it's probably more complicated than that is a study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5513783/) showing that if endurance athletes merely swish a sugary beverage in their mouth and then spit it out, it still improves their athletic performance. It can't be merely sweet; artificial sweeteners didn't have the same effect.