Sugar toxic? It's the DOSE, silly!

10-25-12: And here's the other side of the anti-sugar coin, but Dr. David Katz, one of the leading preventive medicine and lifestyle medicine docs in our country. He posted something in Huffington Post in response to Dr. Lustig's anti-sugar "diatribe". You can read about it here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-katz-md/sugar-health-evil-toxic_b_850032.html

I agree that fructose, which is the main sugar in fruit, is not evil in and of itself. I've heard nutrition speakers talk about how the FIBER in fruit helps to ameliorate any negatives of fructose.

So whether Dr. Lustig really means that ANY amount of fructose and sucrose is bad, or if it's a dose thing, is for you to decide when you watch his Youtube rant on 60 Minutes.

I, for the record, give any sugar a safe pass when eaten in natural foods such as raw fruits. My beef (vegi beef, that is) is against refined processed sugar--white sugar, HFCS, etc. And we all know that Americans eat WAY TOO MUCH of this kind of "bad" sugar!

As a reminder, the American Heart Association gave a recommended amount of "added" sugar: 100 kcals/day for women; 150 kcals/day for men. (Source: Circulation 2009; 120: 1011-102....http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/120/11/1011.abstract)

Sugar (glucose) is needed for fuel for our muscles, so from an exercise and PA standpoint, we need sugar to move. Just watch the added refined processed sugars while you're at it! ;-)