Sugar is a requirement or is it a ‘sweet poison’ or toxin? ‘Toxic Sweetness’ Featured by the Center for Advanced Medicine treating 300+ holistic and medical conditions in Phoenix at its Scottsdale, Arizona center. Call 480-240-2600.

Sugar – requirement for life? or a poison? Toxic Sweetness – the essence of hormesis.

“Hormesis is a term used by toxicologists to refer to a biphasic dose response to an environmental agent characterized by low dose stimulation or beneficial effect and a high dose inhibitory or toxic effect.”

Robert Lustig, MD made a YouTube video in 2009 called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”. There are several different versions of this presentation. In the one from 2009 some of the comments were less than enthusiastic:

-          This hour and a half professionally made presentation – made by someone with a doctorate in Pediatrics (aka a medicine doctor) – must not have a single piece of real research.

-          Get real! You don’t know of anyone like that because people don’t walk on the streets saying “I’m fat because of sugar!”

-          You have to cherry pick pretty hardcore to find these studies though dude. If I do a search on any journal collection or anything, the overwhelming majority of studies that come back with high carb being related to weight loss, improved fitness and better moods. And the notion that high carb diets lead to diabetes has been refuted by so many sources I’m pretty surprised that you post a link to an article on it, unless you are just refusing to be objective about it.

Dr Martha Grout MD, MD(H), the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine says, “Now in 2011, one of my patients just sent me a link to a video clip on the CBS News website, with Sanjay Gupta, MD as host -  “Is Sugar Toxic?” discussing the effects of sugar on our metabolism.”

View the CBS News Article, “Is Sugar Toxic”, click here>> http://goo.gl/y5jlc

Dr Grout continues, “So now it’s finally in the mainstream media.”

Dr. Lustig had written several articles, published in the peer-reviewed literature, discussing the relationship of sugar to addictive behavior. One of the hallmarks of addictive behavior is very indignant.

Denial that sugar could possibly be bad for us.

Denial that a high carbohydrate diet is unhealthy for most of us.

See video of Dr. Robert Lustig speaking, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth“, click here >> http://goo.gl/ZAgYt

The problem with addictions is that in order to get un-addicted, we have to eliminate the offending substance (alcohol, cocaine, heroin, Aspartame®, etc) from our diets.

Well, that’s really not a problem with the alcohol, or cocaine, or heroin. Nobody ever died of a deficiency of alcohol or cocaine.

With sugar, on the other hand, the issue is a little trickier.

Glucose is the molecule which the body breaks down (metabolizes) in order to create energy (in the form of ATP). That is the bottom line of metabolism. No glucose, no energy, no life. It’s as simple as that.

So, what’s a body to do? We have to have glucose. Glucose comes from sugar. Sugar is addictive. The hallmark of addiction is escalation. Every alcoholic in the world would love to be able to have just one drink. That’s not an option for the addict.

Addiction to sugar is no different.

View “Is Sugar Toxic” produced by CBS News, click here >> http://goo.gl/y5jlc

Those of us who run marathons are not obese. We load with carbohydrate, so that our muscles will survive the punishment of those 26 mile runs day after day, week after week. We crave those carbs. We require those carbs to function.

Those of us who are not so athletic and who eat lots of sugar are obese. Those of us who drink the most sugary drinks (even when sweetened with Aspartame®) are the most obese.

And then one day our bodies just stop working. The obese person develops diabetes, or has a heart attack, or loses their vision. The athlete whodid triathlons before work suddenly can barely get out of bed in the morning.

What tipped us over the edge? We were fat, but healthy, and then suddenly we were just fat, no longer healthy. Maybe we got an infection and went on antibiotics. Maybe we just crashed at the end of a race and never recovered. Maybe we have some huge emotional upheaval, and life was never the same, we just never got our health back.

So what happened?

When sugar is burned (another term for oxidation), it creates toxic compounds, known as advanced glycation end products (AGEs). The best known of these is used as a measure of blood sugar level – the Hemoglobin A1C. These AGEs are the mediators of most of the complications of diabetes – the heart disease, high blood pressure, kidney disease, destruction of the retina, neuropathy, and cancer.

See more information “Glucose, Advanced Glycation End Products, and Diabetes Complications: What Is New and What Works.”, click here >> http://goo.gl/1ZPa7

You have heard that cancer is caused by inflammation. Well, so are the complications of diabetes. And heart disease. And high blood pressure. And kidney disease. And…

Over 3500 years ago the Chinese were already saying that sugar is a highly inflammatory food – only they called it “hot”. How did they know?

And yet, we require glucose (sugar) to stay alive. Sugar is highly inflammatory and will kill us.

Our bodies are very clever, and well familiar with the principle of hormesis. They know that there is more than one road between the mouth and the energy production. We can make glucose from proteins. We can adapt to a lower supply of sugar. Three glasses of soda has an amount of sugar equivalent to about 30 servings of fruits. See Kimber Stanhope’s fascinating short video presentation:

View FREE CBS News video, “Fruit vs. Sugary Drinks”, click here >> http://goo.gl/L4dc3

Of course we have to make that choice. We can have the sugary drink, which tastes really good. We can deny its addictive power. We can close our eyes to the increased risk of diabetes or heart disease – after all, any addict knows that we can give up that drink any time we choose.

Or, we can read the literature, look at our contemporaries, consider the epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and realize that there can be a different choice. We can elect to choose between cans of soda or life-sustaining fruit.

Dr Grout reminds you,” We all have the choice.”

Hear Dr Martha Grout’s interview with ‘Unbreak Your Health’s’ Alan Smith. The podcast features Dr Grout’s book “An Alphabet of Good Health in a Sick World”, click here >> http://goo.gl/CbSAq.

Give Dr Martha Grout a call to schedule a time to come talk to us, see the facility, ask lots of questions, and make an informed decision.

The Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine treats over 300+ conditions. Contact Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine for a FREE consultation at 480-240-2600, or click here >> http://goo.gl/R2cGE.

Order Dr Martha Grout’s new book “An Alphabet of Good Health in a Sick World”

More information on Dr Grout’s book and to ORDER with a special offer, click here >>  http://goo.gl/tw6fU .

Hear Dr. Grout’s radio show interview on “Good Health in a Sick World”, (the actual interview starts at 4:14 minutes) click here >> http://goo.gl/gnihJ

Find, Follow, LIKE and See us everywhere at ‘AdvancedMedAZ’