When I saw Professor Lustig’s talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM) and followed up the literature I personally cut my sugar intake from average (almost all from fruit by the way) to low. Consistent with his claims, my cholesterol (particularly LDL), triglycerides, and inflammatory markers fell dramatically, to the point that my doctor told me this is good but we don’t want cholesterol any lower.
The authorities recommend limiting sugar intake. One issue is that modern processed foods are full of sugars, in part to make “low fat” foods tolerably palatable, so you are probably getting more than you think. Even some canned sardines I bought the other day has added sugar. Also be aware of the various euphemisms for sugar (HFCS, fructose, sucrose, etc).
I personally cut my sugar intake from average (almost all from fruit by the way) to low. Consistent with his claims, my cholesterol (particularly LDL), triglycerides, and inflammatory markers fell dramatically
It is pretty clear there is WIDE individual variation in response to low carbs.
Low-carb and paleo forums are full of people who eat none or very little sugar and their lipid panels horrify mainstream doctors. See e.g. this or this.
My physical and mental performance improved when I went from VLC to a more moderate 150ish grams a day. My HDL, Triglyceride, and c-reactive protein numbers are great, and my total cholesterol is 220, which is right in the middle of the lowest risk group. We see pretty much every hunter gatherer group using tubers extensively, along with some fruit, as a carb base.
As far as I know going VLC will (typically) push both your LDL and HDL numbers up and will drastically lower your trigs. CRP is an inflammation measure, not part of the lipid panel.
We see pretty much every hunter gatherer group
You mean “We see pretty much every tropical hunter gatherer group”. The Inuit/Eskimos obviously don’t.
My experience also. I formed the view, based on how I felt, that if I stayed on very low carb for much longer I would die, and a little bit of clean starch really made all the difference.
Low-carb and paleo forums are full of people who eat none or very little sugar and their lipid panels horrify mainstream doctors.
Indeed. Healthy nutrition is not a matter of making a single choice, and individuals vary greatly in their responses to foods and drugs. (As one example: Green tea puts my blood pressure -up-, quite a lot, up to 12 hours later).
Lustig is making two main points I think:
Carbs aint carbs. Fructose in its various forms is more like a saturated fat metabolically than a carb.
The safe dose of fructose is pretty low for most people.
I haven’t heard him advocate VLC.
The most important point is that carbs aint carbs.
Downvoted so I should say why.
Citation required.
When I saw Professor Lustig’s talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM) and followed up the literature I personally cut my sugar intake from average (almost all from fruit by the way) to low. Consistent with his claims, my cholesterol (particularly LDL), triglycerides, and inflammatory markers fell dramatically, to the point that my doctor told me this is good but we don’t want cholesterol any lower.
The authorities recommend limiting sugar intake. One issue is that modern processed foods are full of sugars, in part to make “low fat” foods tolerably palatable, so you are probably getting more than you think. Even some canned sardines I bought the other day has added sugar. Also be aware of the various euphemisms for sugar (HFCS, fructose, sucrose, etc).
inb4 I have no citation.
It is pretty clear there is WIDE individual variation in response to low carbs.
Low-carb and paleo forums are full of people who eat none or very little sugar and their lipid panels horrify mainstream doctors. See e.g. this or this.
My physical and mental performance improved when I went from VLC to a more moderate 150ish grams a day. My HDL, Triglyceride, and c-reactive protein numbers are great, and my total cholesterol is 220, which is right in the middle of the lowest risk group. We see pretty much every hunter gatherer group using tubers extensively, along with some fruit, as a carb base.
As far as I know going VLC will (typically) push both your LDL and HDL numbers up and will drastically lower your trigs. CRP is an inflammation measure, not part of the lipid panel.
You mean “We see pretty much every tropical hunter gatherer group”. The Inuit/Eskimos obviously don’t.
The Inuit are a fairly large outlier in dietary makeup.
Then it is all the more important to see how well or badly they do on their diet.
My experience also. I formed the view, based on how I felt, that if I stayed on very low carb for much longer I would die, and a little bit of clean starch really made all the difference.
Indeed. Healthy nutrition is not a matter of making a single choice, and individuals vary greatly in their responses to foods and drugs. (As one example: Green tea puts my blood pressure -up-, quite a lot, up to 12 hours later).
Lustig is making two main points I think:
Carbs aint carbs. Fructose in its various forms is more like a saturated fat metabolically than a carb.
The safe dose of fructose is pretty low for most people.
I haven’t heard him advocate VLC.
The most important point is that carbs aint carbs.
True, but then fats ain’t fats as well -- different fatty acids have rather different effect on humans. Which is also true of different amino acids...
Very low LDL is predictive of greater mortality, not less.
I was not clear; the inflammatory markers were super-low but LDL wasn’t. Just low enough.
I had had exteremely low LDL in the past and I did not want to feel that way again eg tendency to depression, low tesosterone etc.
To be clear I did not go very low carb. I continued to eat ~2 apples a day or equivalent, and several small potatoes or equivalent.