Sugary Drinks Are NOT The Cause Of Obesity Epidemic

haidut

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As many of you already know, the Internet is currently on a holy crusade against sugar. From Reddit to Oprah to Dr. Oz, everybody loves to hate sugfar and blame it for the obesity epidemic. However, this recent study found that the intake of sweets and especially sugary drinks is not correlated with BMI, except in the most morbidly obese people. So, don't avoid that Mexican Coke you've been craving for some time:):

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/11 ... y-were-fat

"...The study by professors David Just and Brian Wansink of Cornell’s Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management re-examined national data from 2007-08 describing people’s food habits based on their body mass index (BMI). For all but the most overweight and underweight individuals, the consumption of soda, candy and fast food showed no correlation to BMI.
Indulging in those tasty, albeit non-ideal, food choices is often derided as a sure-fire way to become obese. However, those categorized as healthy weight and obese individuals consume nearly identical amounts on average, according to the study, published in the journal Obesity Science & Practice.
The findings upend the seemingly self-evident conclusion that consuming unhealthy foods is the cause of high rates of obesity. According to Just, previous studies reporting a positive correlation between indulgent foods and weight status at the population level failed to take into account the distorting effects from the roughly five percent of people who are either chronically underweight or morbidly obese.
For the rest of the 95 percent of the population, the consumption of those indulgent foods and beverages showed no significant difference between the habits of healthy weight and overweight individuals.
While not claiming that sodas and fast food represent healthy choices, the study suggests that those indulgences receive far more scorn than their impact warrants
.
“Simply put, just because those things can lead you to get fat doesn’t mean that’s what is making us fat,” says Just. “By targeting just these vilified foods, we are creating policies that are not just highly ineffective, but may be self-defeating as it distracts from the real underlying causes of obesity.”
Just says banishing sodas and fast food as the solution to curbing obesity, while promoting a simple and seemingly intuitive narrative, is in fact a flawed approach to obtaining real results. Rather, sedentary activity levels and inadequate consumption of healthier foods, such as fruits and vegetables, likely play an outsized influence on a person’s weight.
According to Just, the public health implication of maligning junk food as the preeminent cause of obesity goes beyond giving one class of food a bad name. Health policies directed at those vilified foods threaten to squander resources that could be used on more effective community health decisions. And for dieters, false information risks breeding disillusionment when their efforts don’t result in the anticipated weight loss.
“If you want to try and prevent obesity, or want to create policy that is going to help people, simply addressing the availability of junk foods and sodas isn’t going to do it,” says Just. “This isn’t the difference between fat people and skinny people. It’s other things.”"
 

Vinero

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I've been drinking soda for 5 years on a daily basis and I sure haven't gained any weight from it. Sugar doesn't cause weight gain at all when eaten in satisfying amounts. The problem is the cookies, doughnuts, pastries, candies that besides sugar contain tons of PUFA that nobody seems to notice.
 
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brandonk

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Such_Saturation said:
post 118000
ecstatichamster said:
post 117992 thanks Haidut! This is HUGE.
How so?
There are several reasons to ignore this study: 1) The study did not consider the amounts of food eaten, only the frequency with which the subjects could recall eating and the general categories of what they could recall. 2) The study only looks for associations with BMI, which are increasingly found to be meaningless in many studies of an "obesity epidemic". 3) the lead author expressly states that the study should not be misconstrued (as it is in the title of the thread) to imply that excessive consumption of these foods is not the cause of the obesity epidemic, but merely that fast food as a category should not be banned without further proof. The same author is on McDonald's Global Advisory Council.

I hope everyone here takes very seriously Ray Peat's many warnings that it is not safe to consume sugar or soda without other food that provides the needed B vitamins and minerals.
 
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J

jb116

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brandonk said:
post 118007
Such_Saturation said:
post 118000
ecstatichamster said:
post 117992 thanks Haidut! This is HUGE.
How so?
There are several reasons to ignore this study: 1) The study did not consider the amounts of food eaten, only the frequency with which the subjects could recall eating and the general categories of what they could recall. 2) The study only looks for associations with BMI, which are increasingly found to be meaningless in many studies of an "obesity epidemic". 3) the lead author expressly states that the study should not be misconstrued (as it is in the title of the thread) to imply that excessive consumption of these foods is not the cause of the obesity epidemic, but merely that fast food as a category should not be banned without further proof. The same author is on McDonald's Global Advisory Council.

I hope everyone here takes very seriously Ray Peat's many warnings that it is not safe to consume sugar or soda without other food that provides the needed B vitamins and minerals.

I would think that we do understand the severity of blindly having plain sugar; I think we understand that much :?
Our flippant tone has to do with the idea that 1) soda, especially with real sugar, and especially within the context of good diet is not going to make you fat - regardless of the study. 2) that idea 1 is not so much news as it is a rudimentary understanding - at least for us.
 
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sladerunner69

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The amount of times I have to roll my eyes and exhale sharply each day from hearing "nah too much sugar" or "ewwww slade you drink soda??!!" is actually stressful. When is science going to finally hit mainstream?
 
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But "bio-hackers" can chug lauric acid as a snack and go on Letterman? Thanks but I think I'll go do a line of sugar now just because there are so many worse things in life.
 

sladerunner69

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jb116 said:
post 118008
brandonk said:
post 118007
Such_Saturation said:
post 118000
ecstatichamster said:
post 117992 thanks Haidut! This is HUGE.
How so?
There are several reasons to ignore this study: 1) The study did not consider the amounts of food eaten, only the frequency with which the subjects could recall eating and the general categories of what they could recall. 2) The study only looks for associations with BMI, which are increasingly found to be meaningless in many studies of an "obesity epidemic". 3) the lead author expressly states that the study should not be misconstrued (as it is in the title of the thread) to imply that excessive consumption of these foods is not the cause of the obesity epidemic, but merely that fast food as a category should not be banned without further proof. The same author is on McDonald's Global Advisory Council.

I hope everyone here takes very seriously Ray Peat's many warnings that it is not safe to consume sugar or soda without other food that provides the needed B vitamins and minerals.

I would think that we do understand the severity of blindly having plain sugar; I think we understand that much :?
Our flippant tone has to do with the idea that 1) soda, especially with real sugar, and especially within the context of good diet is not going to make you fat - regardless of the study. 2) that idea 1 is not so much news as it is a rudimentary understanding - at least for us.


I've even used HFCS and don't see much difference. I think it's just more allergenic because it's synthetic and the heavy metals could also be problematic. Point is sugar is not just harmless, it's beneficial. The fact basically >99% of people view sugar as poison is totally beyond me, because it couldn't have been interpreted from scientific literature and seems to come from nowhere...
 
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brandonk said:
post 118007
Such_Saturation said:
post 118000
ecstatichamster said:
post 117992 thanks Haidut! This is HUGE.
How so?
There are several reasons to ignore this study: 1) The study did not consider the amounts of food eaten, only the frequency with which the subjects could recall eating and the general categories of what they could recall. 2) The study only looks for associations with BMI, which are increasingly found to be meaningless in many studies of an "obesity epidemic". 3) the lead author expressly states that the study should not be misconstrued (as it is in the title of the thread) to imply that excessive consumption of these foods is not the cause of the obesity epidemic, but merely that fast food as a category should not be banned without further proof. The same author is on McDonald's Global Advisory Council.

yes, but those disclaimers and preambles are common for a politically incorrect study. Studies often have summaries and conclusions like that even though they may totally disagree with the study findings.

And as you say, it's a study based upon surveying users. And excluding the extreme outliers. Lots of room to fudge there.

But it makes sense.
 
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brandonk

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jb116 said:
post 118008
brandonk said:
post 118007
Such_Saturation said:
post 118000
ecstatichamster said:
post 117992 thanks Haidut! This is HUGE.
How so?
There are several reasons to ignore this study: 1) The study did not consider the amounts of food eaten, only the frequency with which the subjects could recall eating and the general categories of what they could recall. 2) The study only looks for associations with BMI, which are increasingly found to be meaningless in many studies of an "obesity epidemic". 3) the lead author expressly states that the study should not be misconstrued (as it is in the title of the thread) to imply that excessive consumption of these foods is not the cause of the obesity epidemic, but merely that fast food as a category should not be banned without further proof. The same author is on McDonald's Global Advisory Council.

I hope everyone here takes very seriously Ray Peat's many warnings that it is not safe to consume sugar or soda without other food that provides the needed B vitamins and minerals.

I would think that we do understand the severity of blindly having plain sugar; I think we understand that much :?
Our flippant tone has to do with the idea that 1) soda, especially with real sugar, and especially within the context of good diet is not going to make you fat - regardless of the study. 2) that idea 1 is not so much news as it is a rudimentary understanding - at least for us.
Yes, this study shows us nothing. It's a misleading publicity stunt for McDonald's and the fast food industry, as far as I can tell.

I guess my own rudimentary understanding is that sugar is very pure and good for stress in the short term, but in the long term the glucose portion of sugar can cause inflammation (and with that obesity) if you lack potassium or have an impaired insulin response (typically from an excess of free fatty acids). I prefer fructose, in fruit juice or even in powdered form, which I feel may be safer.
 
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cout12

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brandonk said:
I guess my own rudimentary understanding is that sugar is very pure and good for stress in the short term, but in the long term the glucose portion of sugar can cause inflammation (and with that obesity) if you lack potassium or have an impaired insulin response (typically from an excess of free fatty acids). I prefer fructose, in fruit juice or even in powdered form, which I feel may be safer.
Fruits have a similar amount of glucose as sugar does.
 
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Amazoniac

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Amazoniac said:
post 118130
But we are all from the same pride

It's ok to be Ray, let's rejoice with the boys, milk and oj... :ss2
 
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