Was There Ever Really A “Sugar Conspiracy”?

[Steven Bussinger]

PUFA does this by binding to the protein (transthyretin) that carries thyroid into the cell. So PUFA can “out compete” thyroid for binding to transthyretin and so the effect is lower thyroid function.

Transthyretin (also called prealbumin) is important as a carrier of the thyroid hormone and vitamin A. The unsaturation of vitamin A and of thyroxin allow them to bind firmly with transthyretin and certain other proteins, but the unsaturated fatty acids are able to displace them, with an efficiency that increases with the number of double bonds, from linoleic (with two double bonds) through DHA (with six double bonds). Fats, functions and malfunctions.

This is extremely fascinating to me. I looked at Peat's bibliography in order to find some studies to read, but it's really difficult to decide which study has what I want. Sometimes I wish he would use referenced notation like in research papers, instead of requiring the reader to read every single paper to verify a single claim.

Do you have a suggestion for where I can learn more about this competition between vitamin A and PUFA? Perhaps it would be a good protocol to include a good source of retinol with PUFA consumption.

 

[Mito]

Transthyretin (also called prealbumin) is important as a carrier of the thyroid hormone and vitamin A. The unsaturation of vitamin A and of thyroxin allow them to bind firmly with transthyretin and certain other proteins, but the unsaturated fatty acids are able to displace them, with an efficiency that increases with the number of double bonds, from linoleic (with two double bonds) through DHA (with six double bonds). Fats, functions and malfunctions.

This is extremely fascinating to me. I looked at Peat's bibliography in order to find some studies to read, but it's really difficult to decide which study has what I want. Sometimes I wish he would use referenced notation like in research papers, instead of requiring the reader to read every single paper to verify a single claim.

Do you have a suggestion for where I can learn more about this competition between vitamin A and PUFA? Perhaps it would be a good protocol to include a good source of retinol with PUFA consumption.

No, but maybe @Travis does?

 

[Steven Bussinger]

Effect of low vitamin A status on fat deposition and fatty acid desaturation in beef cattle.

"Thereafter, plasma vitamin A of the supplemented group was significantly greater than that of the unsupplemented group (P < 0.05). Muscle samples at slaughter from supplemented animals contained significantly (P < 0.01) more intramuscular lipid (13.0 vs. 9.6%). Major changes occurred over time in FA composition in both groups. Saturated FA decreased as monounsaturated FA increased over the first 60 d. An index of desaturation of FA was significantly lower (P < 0.001) in the vitamin A-supplemented group than in the nonsupplemented group. M.P. of the adipose tissue of nonsupplemented animals was 32.3 degrees C, significantly less (P< 0.05) than that of supplemented animals (34.1 degrees C). Feeding vitamin A was associated with less intramuscular fat but with a less desirable (less unsaturated, more solid) FA profile."

Reminds me of the "pigs in sweaters" study that Ray mentions.

 

[Mito]

https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/big-sugar-isnt-to-blame-for-steering-us-away-from-fat.html

 

[bboone]

Sugar is a poison.

It’s the culprit of most modern diseases.

Anyone telling you it fuels your energy and promotes metabolism has an agenda.

Where do you think our ancestors found sugar? That’s right, nowhere

why do you even write this, considering the testimonials of all the people who have gotten better on a high sugar diet right here on this forum, with bloodwork to prove it? if sugar is poison and a diet is to be gauged by its lindy factor, starch containing gluten would be the best source of nutrition, seeing as it has been the main staple of all eurasian peoples for the last 7000 years lol. can you link me the studies proving wheat's superiority over sugar as a carbohydrate? are you perhaps going to refer to the old glycemic index?

that said, i dont really discriminate between food sources, as long as they are not downright poison, and i eat wheat almost every day. it's all about what you can digest and how it affects you individually. personally, i was almost prediabetic during my time doing a "keto" diet, whereas my blood sugar is in a much healthier range now, consuming roughly 300 grams of sugar a day.

btw, "our ancestors", by and large, had horrible teeth, stomachs filled with parasites and most likely terrible digestion, so i wouldn't use them as a shining example in any case. the only studies i have found highlighting the negative effects of sugar are those done on extremely unhealthy americans of the type, "sugar linked to" such and such, wholly discounting the probability that the same people from which this sugar has been linked get a large portion of their food from mcdonalds and their sugar in the form of low grade hfcs

 

[TeaRex14]

Define conspiracy? Is it a conspiracy that the sugar industry wants to make money, and thus by extension selling their product? Not really, the low carb community built a straw man about sugar. It's no secret that every business wants to make money. The better question is what does the science say about sugar? And this is where the low carbers come up short. The Australian paradox pretty much blows the lid on the idea sugar makes you fat and diabetic. Christopher Walker explains the Australian paradox in one of his videos. People like Gary Taubes (Owen Wilson, lol), William Davis, David Perlmutter, and Dave Asprey are just pseudo intellectuals looking to cash in a lot of money on their books, products, and whatnot. And to be fair, they're not really lying when they say you'll lose weight on their plans, it's just not healthy weight loss. Low carb has deceived a lot of people, primarily because of the quick weight loss results you get (most of which, is water). Considering EVERYTHING is about making money, regardless which side you're on, you can't take anyone at face value. Which is why studying the science is important.

 

[lvysaur]

Where do you think our ancestors found sugar? That’s right, nowhere

Tree fruits, duh. Also honey. Both of these are obviously functions of sunlight, and the data on sucrose intolerance is consistent with that. Intolerance is highest in northern populations.

However, in absolute terms it's fairly low in anyone. The Inuit are 90% sugar tolerant, and Europeans roughly 99.5%. Africans and Indians are basically 100% tolerant.

 

[Runenight201]

Tree fruits, duh. Also honey. Both of these are obviously functions of sunlight, and the data on sucrose intolerance is consistent with that. Intolerance is highest in northern populations.

However, in absolute terms it's fairly low in anyone. The Inuit are 90% sugar tolerant, and Europeans roughly 99.5%. Africans and Indians are basically 100% tolerant.

I genuinely don’t understand how people can experience the euphoria and vibrant energy that sugar consumption brings and then consider it a bad thing.

In the Bible the promised land is always referenced as the land of milk and honey. Ancient people didn’t need research to tell them that abundant sucrose and dairy creates states of well-being and euphoria that far exceed states from a sucrose/dairy devoid life.

 

[lvysaur]

the euphoria and vibrant energy that sugar consumption brings

I would describe it as a euphoria. I would describe it as a stable but flexible energy. Actual euphoria is unhealthy.

the land of milk and honey. Ancient people didn’t need research to tell them that

I think that modern cushy living standards "allow" people to live off of unhealthy diets. In ancient times you needed energy at all times--in modernity, you can be fairy lazy and still thrive. This means that the cognitive and energetic deficits caused by high-fat are not a death sentence as they used to be.

If an ancient ate high fat, he'd become unstable, and would not be able to do the tremendous amount of work and planning required to simply survive. Whereas that same instability and mild bad health does not carry as strong consequences in the modern world, so people don't learn.