Is sugar making you fat?

For a very long time, dietary fat has been associated with excessive weight gain, and many people avoid fat in an effort to maintain a healthy body weight.  Ironically, however, at the same time that consumers became aware of fat content in foods, and the food industry responded by providing “fat free” processed foods, we saw the obesity problem rise to epidemic proportions.  This is not just a coincidence. 

In order to continue to make food taste appealing, the food industry had to replace the fat content with something else.  And they turned to sugar.  However, increased consumption of added sugars, in particular sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup, correlate closely with the rise in obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndromes over the last 100 years.  The physiological response to fructose, in particular, causes a stress on the body which stimulates fat accumulation, regardless of whether there was a simultaneous excessive intake of calories.  So this means that even where there is a calorie controlled diet in place, due to the way that our bodies process fructose digestion, fat cells can still be created and stored, leading to obesity. 

Even in cases where the consumption of fructose does not have the effect of fat accumulation, it may cause other metabolic syndromes.  A diet which includes high sucrose consumption, even with calorie restriction, has been shown to lead to fatty liver, hypertriglyceridemia (high levels of fat in the blood, leading to heart disease) and insulin resistance (Type 2 diabetes). 

Due to the reality of the modern diet, we are now at a greater risk of developing non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes than we are of contracting infectious diseases, and these non-communicable diseases contribute to 35 million deaths each year.  Even normal weight people are at risk, in a situation often referred to as “skinny-fat”. 

The only real way to avoid this is to remove processed, sugar-laden foods from our diets.  Consuming whole foods, lots of fruits, vegetables and grains and avoiding all sugar-sweetened beverages is the best known protection against metabolic syndrome.  The next time you are in the supermarket and you see products promoting their “fat-free” status, take a minute to look at the ingredients.  Just because they don’t contain any fat, does not mean that they are not making you fat, either in your liver or just in general.  

The importance of breakfast..

At a friends’ wedding recently, I got talking to another guest about my current passion – nutrition! For the most part we were in agreement about healthy eating, but there was one rather substantial exception.  We had very different views on the importance of breakfast. I feel quite strongly about how significant a role breakfast plays in our overall wellbeing, but I’ll quantify that by saying I don’t mean the kind of breakfast that comes from a cardboard box.  The other guest was of the opinion, however, that we don’t necessarily need breakfast and that anyone he knows who doesn’t eat breakfast, himself included, tend to be slim and healthy.  So I’ve decided to look at some fact based evidence, in the hope of changing some minds about this vital meal – the one where we literally break our ‘fast’.

The practice of eating breakfast has been around since the Middle Ages so it is far from a new phenomenon.  Eating a nutritional breakfast is associated with healthier overall food intakes, body mass index and lifestyle.  Recent studies have shown that breakfast improves cognitive function, intuitive perception and academic performance.

Furthermore, the results from a 2013 study showed that irrelevant of gender, those eating breakfast at least five times a week had significantly lower body weight, body mass index, waist circumference, body fat mass and percent body fat compared to infrequent breakfast eaters.  They also indicated that infrequent breakfast consumption is associated with higher body fat and abdominal obesity.  This was further emphasised by another study in Brazil, which found an association between breakfast intake and a decreased risk of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and found seldom breakfast eaters to have an increased risk of obesity. 

Another study linked regular breakfast consumption with an increased IQ in pre-school children.  Findings showed that children who regularly have breakfast on a near-daily basis had significantly higher full scale, verbal and performance IQ test scores compared to children who “sometimes” have breakfast.

So, when it comes to breakfast, it is clear to see that the evidence is there to prove its importance, but it is worth noting that a nutritional breakfast is best.  If you’re pushed for time in the mornings, pre-soak some porridge oats in almond milk and fruit or grab a handful of fresh fruit or a pre-made green smoothie.  Where time allows, avocado on wholemeal toast with tomato and rocket is divine, or some almond butter on buckwheat pancakes is delicious.  Either way, it is worth giving at least some thought to this important meal. It really will set you up for the day.