Moment 212: The Dangerous Truth Behind “Sugar Free”!

Steven Bartlett (0:00)

Is sugar poison?

Robert Lustig (0:01)

Sugar is like alcohol. So, is alcohol poison?

Depends on the dose, right? The dose determines the poison. Paracelsus 1537 We have an innate capacity to metabolize alcohol, and if we stay below that, doesn't do too much damage. If we go above it, different story. Same thing with sugar. Same thing with this molecule, the sweet molecule, fructose. And the reason is because fructose and alcohol are metabolized virtually identically.

Steven Bartlett (0:39)

What's the difference between sugar and fructose?

Robert Lustig (0:42)

So, sugar, dietary sugar, the sweet stuff, the crystals, the stuff you put in your coffee.

Steven Bartlett (0:48)

The stuff I've got over here?

Robert Lustig (0:49)

Yeah, like that stuff. Yeah, that stuff.

The five pound bag right there. That's called sucrose.

Steven Bartlett (0:59)

Okay, this is sucrose.

Robert Lustig (1:00)

This is sucrose. Now, sucrose is two molecules bound together. One molecule called glucose, one molecule called fructose. They are not the same. Now, the food industry will tell you they are the same. They are not the same. The reason they tell you they are the same is because that's the way they assuage their own culpability for what they've done to the food. But they are not the same. They will say, a sugar is a sugar, a calorie is a calorie, a glucose and fructose both have four calories per gram. Why should you care? Oh, you care a lot. You care a whole lot. Now, glucose is the energy of life. Every cell on the planet burns glucose for energy. Glucose is so important that if you don't consume it, your body makes it.

The Inuit had no carbohydrate. They had ice. They had whale blubber. They still had a serum glucose level.

Steven Bartlett (1:54)

Inuits are the people that live in the North Poles and stuff.

Robert Lustig (1:56)

That's right. Yeah. They're formerly known as Eskimos. But they didn't have any carbohydrate. They ran off fat. But they still had a serum glucose level because your brain runs on glucose. It can also run on ketones too. But your brain runs on glucose. My brain runs on glucose.

You need glucose because certain hormones and certain proteins in the body require glycosylation in order to be effective. An example, LH and FSH. When you don't have glycosylation of LH and FSH, the hormones that tell your testicle and your ovary to work, you are infertile. It's that simple. So survival of the species says you need some glucose, but if you're not consuming it, you'll still get it because your body will make it. It will make it out of amino acids. It will make it out of fat. Gluconeogenesis, it's called. So glucose is essential. It's just not essential to eat. Fructose, on the other hand, the sweet molecule in that bag.

Steven Bartlett (3:06)

Which is sort of one of the two parts of the grain of sugar that I see. One part of it is fructose.

Robert Lustig (3:12)

That's right. It's the other half. That's the evil twin, if you will.

Steven Bartlett (3:16)

What are the two halves again?

Robert Lustig (3:17)

Glucose, fructose. Found together.

Steven Bartlett (3:20)

I need glucose to live. My body will figure that out. Fructose, do I need this?

Robert Lustig (3:25)

Not only do you not need it, but in high dose, it's toxic. Now, your liver has the innate ability to metabolize a small amount on the order of about six to nine teaspoons per day of dietary sugar, so half of that being fructose. So about 12 grams. Your liver can manage about 12 grams of fructose a day. In the same way, it can manage about 12 grams of alcohol per day without showing any signs of any metabolic derangement. But if you go above that, now you get problems.

Steven Bartlett (4:07)

Are we above that?

Robert Lustig (4:08)

Oh, we are so above that. We are at 50 grams of fructose per day, 100 grams of sugar per day. We're supposed to be at 25 We are at 100 We are quadruple our limit.

Steven Bartlett (4:25)

And also, just because grams are quite hard to wrap the head around, right?

Robert Lustig (4:28)

Okay.

Steven Bartlett (4:28)

So, if I was to get a tablespoon.

Robert Lustig (4:30)

What, do teaspoons?

Steven Bartlett (4:31)

A teaspoon.

Robert Lustig (4:32)

Teaspoons.

Steven Bartlett (4:32)

How many teaspoons of sugar would I have to consume to get to that level of fructose? Because I say this in part because most of us don't realize that we're consuming sugar.

Robert Lustig (4:41)

That's right. Because it's hidden in all of the food. That's exactly right. We don't even know. We say, oh, I never even add sugar to my coffee. Therefore, my sugar consumption is zero. Wrong. That is not true. Because it is hidden in plain sight in virtually every processed food in the entire grocery store. Seventy-three percent of all of the items in the American grocery store and in the British grocery store are spiked with added sugar by the food industry for its purposes, not for yours. Because they know when they add it, you buy more.