2nd Apology & Clarification Re Fructose Comments

OK, I admit it! Clearly in my zeal to get the word out about the potential dangers of over-consuming fructose, I used the wrong launching pad and I indulged in some faulty logic.

Here’s where I goofed. When writing about Seth Roberts’ "Shangri-La Diet" in which he drank several glasses a day of fructose water, I then jumped to a discussion about the dangers of over-consuming fructose-laden products.

To me, it seemed the totally appropriate starting point for my comments, but evidently, with others it didn’t work.

Oh boy, having a blog sure puts one out there for people to ridicule and flog!

For example, in a rather lengthy indictment of what I wrote about the dangers of fructose (in connection to Seth Roberts’s work), Philosopydoc quite powerfully, eloquently and convincingly told me that I was full of it — that’s my lay summary.

The good philosophy professor — care to tell us who you are? — called the logic of my writing "hopelessly flawed."

And you know what, the sad part (to me) is that he does, in fact, have a point — a very good one at that. Clearly, I should have thought more carefully before I posted. And clearly, I failed to make my point adequately.

Philosophydoc accused me, perhaps rightfully:

"It appears that the vast majority of the criticisms you have written in your posts about Roberts are wholly irrelevant to his regimen. Consider all your comments about the dangers of fructose-laden products, their ubiquity in the marketplace and in the average person’s diet, etc., (claims whose truth I won’t dispute). Had you read his work before commenting, you’d have seen that Roberts plainly says ‘The fructose-water results suggest that ingestion of a small fraction of one’s daily calorie intake this way may substantially reduce the set point.’ Since he’s not advocating ‘ingesting large quantities of drinks or foods with fructose,’ all your comments about the dangers of such actions are, again, irrelevant."

Yes, I do concede, Philosophydoc, that you’ve made some very compelling points here.

"Worse yet, had I read only your posts on Roberts, I would have concluded that Roberts was advocating a "fructose-laden" diet. But having read his work, I can plainly see that it is you who have created this impression, and not Roberts.

"I am in no way arguing for Roberts’ conclusions…I am only pointing out that the reasons you have offered are largely irrelevant to assessing Roberts’ claims.

"As a philosophy professor, I struggle daily to teach my students how to reason effectively and well. I urge you to take far more care in your writing."

I simply don’t know what to say other than that:

• I apologize yet again to Seth Roberts if I conveyed, in any way, the wrong idea about his diet, in which he drank several spoonfuls of fructose a day, not a lot. I know he was not advocating over-indulgence, and if I implied that, I’m sorry.
• I apologize to those of you who misunderstood me.
• I will absolutely take more care in my writing in the future, as Philosophydoc suggests.
• Yes, in an ideal world, I would have read Seth’s complete study before posting, but I did feel an immediate response was needed. (It’s just that lately this blog has consumed soooooo sooooo much of my time, where I’ve often been working into the wee hours — I do, in fact, regularly read articles and then medical studies before writing about something. In this case, I had planned (and still do) to read Seth’s study while on vacation, when I had the luxury of spending some quality, leisurely time with it. The lesson for me from all of this is to do what I’d been planning to do anyway — to get more research help on this blog or I’ll never get anything else done.)

I do, however, want to make the point that I am still wary of consuming even several tablespoonsfuls of fructose a day.

There are other more healthy ways to lose weight and maintain that loss. You simply don’t need to ingest sugar water to do it.

Perhaps Seth Roberts is convinced, via self-experimentation, that he’s hit upon the ideal "Shangi-La Diet" to peel off the pounds by ingesting fructose (or now sucrose) beverages (first to lose and now to maintain weight). I’m convinced that this isn’t the way to go.

In fact, some sugar experts argue that even a little bit of sugars can mess up your body. For example, one I noted previously, as Nancy Appleton, Ph.D., author of Lick the Sugar Habit, says: "Even a teaspoon of refined sugars work to throw the body out of balance and compromise its health."

I promise to explore this further and to comment on Seth’s full paper, but can I please go back to my much-needed vacation in Florida now? I just worked 6-plus hours — much of it related to this — on a day I’m supposed to be totally playing, hanging out at the beach, working out, goofing off with friends, reading a lightweight novel, etc.