Sugar: The Bitter Truth With Dr. Robert Lustig

If you haven't quit indulging in sugar and refined carbs, then you must see this informative, eye-opening, scary presentation from the nationally renowned Robert H. Lustig, M.D., professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology Director
of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health (WATCH) Program at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF).

I predict that you'll get shocked into taking action — i.e., removing sugar from your life for good.

Watch now and learn why he rightly believes that "high fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both equally bad — they're both poison."

Incidentally, as I posted here, on the Sugar Shock Blog back in 2006, Dr. Lustig is a forward-thinking researcher, who made the news (in the San Francisco Chronicle) for his theories about our poisoned food supply.

Get ready for some fascinating information about:

  • What he calls "The Coca-Cola Conspiracy."
  • How we have an epidemic of obese six-month olds.
  • How the average person is consuming way too much sugar. (FYI, his figure of 141 pounds of sugar per year is too low — it's really closer to 170 to 190 pounds per person.)
  • The amount of sugar found in baby formula.
    (A lot! Of Similac Isomil, which contains 43.2% corn syrup solids and
    10.3% sugar (sucrose), Dr. Lustig says, "It’s a baby milkshake.”

See his replies here to some questions.Listen now or anytime.

19 thoughts on “Sugar: The Bitter Truth With Dr. Robert Lustig”

  2. Isn’t it time for a class action lawsuit against the FDA in behalf of all Type II diabetics? Essentially the FDA have pushed this chronic disease on us and they will not change their ways until legal action is brought against them. We are going to have at least 4 generations who are going to cost the health system huge amounts of money because of bad FDA decisions.
    It is time to stop the FDA from ruining more lives.

  3. Wow – this is one of the most alarmist and misguided diatribes I’ve ever sat through. If you find this “informative” or “shoking”, you’ll probably want to do some fact checking.
    He only casuallly mentions that the dose makes the poison and he completely disregards the role of calories (no studies have shown fructose to be problematic in reasonable doses in a caloric deficit). He’s been challenged for evidence on Alan Aragon’s blog after showing up and offering up nothing more than red herrings and cherry-picked data.
    Moderate amounts of sugar/fructose won’t have any negative impact on health, body fat, etc. within the context of an otherwise healthy diet.

  5. Correct however most Americans are not following “an otherwise healthy diet”.

  6. blogosphere+fanboys shouts down peer-reviewed scientific author of over 70 papers related to obesity; yes, that sounds about right. Will Alan be publishing in a journal anytime soon?

  7. Excellent information. I am very happy to see other healthcare providers and researchers echoing my concerns regarding this poison. Eventhough I write that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)is one of the eight reasons why Americans are overweight and unhealthy, I encourage more physicians and their patients to grasp the importance of avoiding sugars in general, and HFCS specifically.

  8. i will agree with joe. i think that this idiot of a doctor is just trying to make some money. he stated “juice wasnt invented until 1950”. what, are you just stupid, or should we just go ahead an send you to the looney pin. Juice has been around for thousands of years. he needs a hobby or something, lets say cliff jumping, without the water that is!

  9. Robert, I think when he was talking about juice being invented, I think he meant that it wasn’t processed until then and available in cans or bottles.
    Also, I completely disagree with you — I don’t think making money is the issue here — he is greatly concerned about the health of Americans, who are eating way too much high fructose corn syrup.

  10. You may believe that “moderate amounts of sugar/fructose won’t have any negative impact on health.” But that is not the point. The point is that Fructose is so addictive, that few people are able to consume it in moderate amounts. It is a drug…and like all drugs, the body craves more and more to get the same satiety effect. So just putting one teaspoon of sugar in one’s coffee is not going to kick the addiction, but will only enable it. Complete abstinence from sugar is the only way to break the addiction, just like complete abstinence from alcohol (which has the same properties) is the only way to break alcoholism.

  11. I think there is some degree of truth in this theory, BUT Australia debunks his theory.
    Why?
    Australia also has an alarming rate of obesity and it has only really appeared in the past 20 years (just like the USA). However, Australia hardly uses HFCS as corn is not used in foods anywhere near the volumes used in the USA. Australian food manufacturers use good old sugar in their products as it is cheap and readily availible due to the large volumes grown there.
    Therefore, the theory of Fructose being the root cause is debunked. Sure sugar may be a contributing factor, but clearly not fructose.

  12. Thanks for sharing, Smiddi. As I’ve said previously, we consume too much sugar — in all its forms. That includes high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, dextrose, etc. Too much of any kind of sugar can lead to weight gain. However, there is some compelling research, which suggests that HFCS does even more harm, and that’s the subject of Dr. Lustig’s video. Thanks again.

  14. X, thanks for mentioning John Yudkin. In my book, Sugar Shock, I do mention Yukdin, his landmark book, Sweet and Dangerous, and his groundbreaking discoveries that large amounts of sugar and refined carbs could be a major contributor to coronary heart disease. Yudkin was far ahead of his time and I’m happy to credit him for this important observations.

  15. Watching Robert Lustig’s 90-minute lecture was a breathe of fresh air. It made so much sense to me. The biochemistry that he presented is important because it is proof that fructose is the culprit. My favorite part was the last five minutes or so when he talked about the obstacles facing us in reversing our fructose/sugar addiction.
    The food industry is one America’s biggest money-makers, and it is something that we need–we can’t stop eating or we’ll die. According to Lustig, one of our main exports as a nation is food, so our national livelihood depends on it. But the fact that what we eat (and how we make food) is making us sick, rather than helping us be healthy, is bad. The fact that the government institutions that govern our food are encouraging us to keep up this deadly addiction is even worse.
    Where to start? We can vote with our money. Stop buying high-sugar foods–at least as many as you can afford. For working class people, it might not be possible to buy bread without HFCS. Unfortunately, foods without HFCS often do not exist in grocery stores in low-income neighborhoods. This is a disgrace, and we need to get that changed.
    Vote with your ballots. Write your Congressmember, Senator, and State Legislators and tell them to ignore the Big Food lobbyists and their unhealthy demands. Help members of your community be aware of the dangers of sugar, so they too can vote with their dollars and ballots.
    Change comes from the bottom. Eventually, the people at the top start to take notice and meet the grassroots halfway.
    Re: Robert G, I think Dr. Lustig meant juice made from concentrate and with large amounts of sugar (eg. MinuteMaid)–not fresh-squeezed juice, which has been around as long as the fruit it comes from.

  16. Dr.Lustig is doing everyone a favor except the companies that push it. Like soda giants (You know who). Read the amount of sugar in a can of C or P. They say about 30-50 grams. How much is a gram of sugar? How much? I only recently discovered how much a gram of sugar is when I was putting a tab of sugar in a Medium Cup of Coffee at my local Dunkin Donuts “Store”. I accidentally read that it had 1 that’s one gram of sugar in it. Imagine tearing 40 packs of sugar or fake sugar into a cup of coffee!! Think about it. Drink a can of soda and you are drinking what they say on the can, 30, 40 maybe 50 tabs, packets or grams of sugar. I am a widower to sugar for no reason. She died at age 61. I am three yearsars older and now 67. I had 2 Strokes and Three Heart Attacks in the last 2 years. My health went down hill so fast because of not knowing what a gram of sugar looks like. I HAVE A COLLEGE DIPLOMA IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. No mention was ever made in high school or college what 1 gram (One Gram of Sugar is). It’s one packet or tab of Dunkin Donut sugar. You don’t think sugar is a killer and addictive, keep drinking and eating it. Thank you and thank you Dr. Lustig.
    HAL

  17. To all of the “nay sayers” that most likely are employed by our broken food industry I can say this with great certainty. I studied this video and stopped eating sugar completely for 2 weeks. I ate lots of fiber which takes some effort today because it is taken out of just about ALL processed foods. The result was remarkable! 15 pounds just fell off of me! I stopped craving sugar. I felt better than I ever have. What Dr. Lustig has made public is absolutely true and fascinating. NOW Why would ANYONE get on a blog attempt to discredit this man when his efforts will save millions of lives IF YOU ARE NOT CORRUPTED BY MONEY! SHAME ON YOU! MAY KARMA TREAT YOU AS YOU DESERVE!

  18. The problem with juice is the fiber is taken out so it cannot bond with the sugar/carbs which would prevent it from being metabolized into toxic compounds in the body.

  19. John, so glad to hear your amazing story! That’s totally awesome that you lost 15 pounds in only 2 weeks just by eliminating sugar and that you feel so much better! Congrats! Are you planning on staying off sugar?

Comments are closed.