THE EXTRAODINARY DANGER OF SUGAR
Derrick Lonsdale, M.D.

Sent to Chris Gupta February 12, 2009.

Many books have been written about diet and its dangers. I posted an article on sugar some time ago, but there is new information. Few in our civilization take sufficient notice to help themselves. We have become indifferent to our biology and when we get sick we expect a doctor to “fix” it. He is traditionally regarded as a super intelligent individual into whose care we deliver our bodies and minds for a “cure”. I am a physician and I have some observations to make that indicate that our health is very much in our own hands and “cure” is a myth! Healing is performed by the body and all we can do is to help it. How can we possibly expect chemical substances, that are essentially foreign to our biology, to affect us beneficially? By taking pharmaceutical drugs we may reduce the symptoms that arise from the faulty biology, but we do not affect the course of the disease. There are, of course, exceptions such as antibiotics and chemotherapy, but they have their own dangers as we all know. The danger of sugar keeps coming up in the health literature and the message is certainly growing, but the mechanism is understood by very few. Even many doctors do not understand why a food substance essential as the normal fuel of our cells, particularly those of the brain, is dangerous when it is ingested in an unnatural form.

I want to tell a story to illustrate what I am talking about, but it requires some discussion about sugar. First of all, sugar is never found in nature in its free state. It is always in part of a plant. Beet root, for example, contains about two teaspoons of sugar in 2 pounds of the root. Furthermore, it is always wrapped up in fiber that is important since it modifies the processing of sugar: so fresh fruit is the natural source. Our taste mechanism is in the brain: the signal comes from the tongue. All “God-made” food stimulates permutations and combinations of sweet, sour, bitter, salt, astringent and metal, providing flavor. Thus we can take an apple where one of these taste inputs dominates, but all the others are present, giving the brain stimulation as it was designed. It is the same with light. Full spectrum white light as it comes from the sun is made up of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet Each color represents its own wave length. If we shine red light into the eye, it will produce a different effect in the brain from shining in, for example, blue light. We were designed to “live under the sun”.
When sweet, and sometimes salt, input is provided in its isolated form, it gives a jolt of pleasure and that is the root of any form of addiction. We extract sugar in its pure form and use it in countless foods. It has become so important to us that no commercial food would be purchased if not sweetened. I have encountered hundreds of patients whose craving for sugar and/or salt is the underlying cause of their multiple symptoms. I have frequently observed that sugar craving is not assuaged by eating fresh fruit, even when the fruit tastes sweet. The only quieting of the craving is by ingestion of sugar in its unnatural extracted form, suggesting that it is indeed acting like a drug. Remember that an addict has to take the addictive drug to silence withdrawal symptoms. That is, of course, the whole problem with addiction. It is the stimulation of pleasure centers in the brain, followed by withdrawal symptoms that can only be removed by another dose of the addictive drug. It is only the severity of the symptoms associated with each drug that makes the treatment more of less difficult for “cold turkey”.
When sugar is absorbed, it is carried in the blood to the liver and muscles where it is stored as glycogen. The subsequent concentration of circulating sugar is carefully controlled by its conversion back to glucose in order to provide fuel as it is required. Its use in the synthesis of energy for function is complex. This synthesis might be compared with a car engine where the flow of gasoline is controlled by a mechanical mechanism proportional to the acceleration and speed of the car. Several vitamins and minerals are essential to this processing and one of the essential vitamins is thiamine, for it is now well known that deficiency of this is the cause of an ancient scourge that has affected humans for thousands of years, mainly in rice dependent cultures. It is also known that even if the concentration of thiamine is adequate for processing sugar in a healthy diet, it is easily overwhelmed by an excess of sugar or other simple carbohydrates. This results in inadequate combustion and the supply of cellular energy is compromised. A recent paper in the journal Cell (Zhang X, et al. Cell 2008;135(1):61-73.) reported that experimental overnutrition in mice is associated with chronic inflammation in metabolic tissues and obesity, through a mechanism in the hypothalamus, an important part of the brain. Since the genome of mice is surprisingly similar to ours, it is very probable that we can extrapolate this to humans.

The equivalent of mechanical mechanisms in a car is enzymes in the body and there is one important enzyme that might be compared with a throttle in an engine. It is called transketolase and its function requires both thiamine and magnesium. It can be used to demonstrate cellular deficiency of thiamine and how this test is done must be described so that subsequent information can be understood. The transketolase enzyme occurs in our red blood cells so, unlike most enzymes in other tissues of the body, the test can be done by taking a specimen of blood. In the test tube, the biochemical product of the enzyme is measured in biological units per unit time. This identifies its existing efficiency and is called transketolase activity (TKA). The test is then repeated after adding thiamine to the reaction. If the TKA is found to increase as a result, it is measured as a percentage increase over its original baseline activity and called TPPE. The higher the percentage increase of TPPE the more severe the deficiency of thiamine. There are two aspects to the test and the worst effect is when the TKA is low and the TPPE is high. This indicates that the enzyme has been deficient so long that it has become slowed down in its reaction. It takes a long time to do this when it is deficient in vitamin B1 or magnesium, so the TKA can still be normal even when the increased action of TPPE indicates deficiency.

I am 84 years of age and still in part time practice. My intake of sugar was probably less than average since I have been preaching its dangers for years: perhaps an occasional cocktail, dessert, candy or chocolate, but without the craving for it exhibited by millions of people. My health was excellent until February 2008 when I began to experience severe insomnia. This is a symptom that is common in older people but although it sounds like a simple problem, it is associated with complex chemical changes in the brain and occurs in many young people. I obtained some laboratory studies to investigate my health risks and found that the abnormal results pointed clearly and unmistakably to the effect of sugar. I must discuss briefly the significant laboratory studies that are now known to point to inflammation.

Triglycerides

This is part of the lipid profile that is measured routinely in the investigation of disease. It must be measured after an overnight fast since it is sensitive to dietary intake, particularly simple carbohydrate. There is some scientific support for the triglyceride level to be about half that of cholesterol. When it is significantly elevated it is the signature of sugar ingestion.

Fibrinogen and CRP

Without going into details, these are the signatures of inflammation.

I did nothing but discontinue all forms of sugar. I did not change my diet in any other way and I continued to take the same nutritional supplements. I repeated the abnormal tests at intervals and the results are shown below.

All studies were performed on blood after an overnight fast. Notice that the blood cholesterol reduced and became stable, while the triglycerides steadily decreased from February to August. This is a significant time interval. Since we are generally impatient, it might easily be concluded that the “sacrifice” of sugar withdrawal is not worth it because it shows no evidence of quick improvement. By August the triglycerides were still not half the concentration of cholesterol that should be the ideal, but significantly improved. In September they increased again the morning after a trivial ingestion of simple carbohydrate only the day before. Notice also that the TPPE was 0% in August, meaning that the enzyme was saturated with vitamin B1 and did not accelerate in the test tube after thiamine was added to the reaction. This means that in August the enzyme was working at its most efficient level. In September, after the carbohydrate meal the day before, there was an increase in TPPE to 8%, indicating a reduction in the efficiency of the enzyme in relation to its need for vitamin B1, suggesting the sensitivity of the mechanisms involved.

This can be put together quite simply. The insomnia was gradually replaced by normal sleep but returned on the night in September when the carbohydrate was ingested. What is quite alarming is that there was very marked evidence of inflammation that gradually subsided over a period of 6 months. It did not cause any symptoms usually associated with inflammation but it is now known that cardiovascular disease is inflammatory in nature and the elevated CRP indicated that I was at risk.

It must be understood that inflammation is a defensive response in the body. I hypothesize that this has to be computed by the automatic part of the brain in answer to some form of attack such as infection. That empty calories cause unwanted inflammation is supported by the scientific paper quoted above in this article. If this mechanism is out of control it can result in reactions that lead to disease in the part of the body that is being alerted.

The “take-home message” is that sugar, ingested out of natural context is indeed a dangerous commodity that is capable of causing disease after a period of silent onset of inflammatory action that may ultimately lead to the well known symptoms associated with it. It is entirely predictable that people reading this will scoff. It is quite obvious that ingestion of sugar does not affect everybody in the same way. But if you happen to be genetically at risk, and this is usually completely unknown, a disciplined personal withdrawal might be a magic avenue to health. The easiest way to find out is to do it and it is about the cheapest way that anyone could retrieve failing health. An excellent indicator exists if there is a history of sugar craving or alcoholism in the family.