A new study published in journal Obesity by San Diego pediatric endocrinologist Robert Lustig revealed that sugar intake, regardless of weight gain, increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
Lustig, author of "Fat Chance: the hidden truth about sugar," said that 43 children, who are under the care of his clinic, had their health greatly improved when sugar in their diet was replaced with foods rich in starch. And while sugar and starch can have the same amount of calories, the cutting of sugar intake and replacing it with starchy foods had dramatic effect in the children's health after just 10 days, reducing and reversing risks in high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
The 43 children subjected to the study are aged 9 to 18 and are coming from the UCSF Benioff children's hospital in San Francisco and Touro University, California. These children were referred to the hospitals for weight and health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
The study took Ludwig to collect questionnaires from all 43 children that have detailed their diet and the amount of their calorie intakes in a day. He then designed a special menu for each child for nine days, cutting sugar intake and matching it with a diet that practically has the same amount of calorie.
"We took chicken teriyaki out, and put turkey hot dogs in. We took sweetened yogurt out, and put baked potato chips in. We took pastries out and put bagels in," said Lustig. "So there was no change in weight and no change in calories."
The children were then instructed to monitor their weight daily and if in case their weight decreases, they were told to eat more of the food that were listed for them just to maintain their weight.
So after nine days, "everything got better" according to Lustig. He highlighted that children went from being insulin resistant to being insulin sensitive. Being insulin resistant is considered to be a symptom of diabetes. Insulin are important as it break down carbohydrates and sugar. He added that the children had less fat in the liver and their triglyceride and LDL levels, which are associated to heart disease, also declined.
Time, in its report, however said that not everyone is convinced with the results of Lustig's study. Susan Roberts, a professor of Nutrition at Tufts University, commented, "We know that a healthy diet and weight loss cause good metabolic changes, and although this study tries to attribute its effect to low fructose, in fact it is impossible to do that because of the study design."
