The Trouble with Fructose

David Mendosa Living With It Medical Journalist Living with Diabetes and Author of Fitness and Photography for Fun, www.mendosa.com/fitnessblog After earning a B.A. with honors from the University of California,... Send Message Subscribe: David Mendosa

Thursday, November 15, 2007
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“Fructose is a strange sugar.” That’s what I wrote here in July 2006, and I still think that it’s strange. But I didn’t know the half of it when I wrote my earlier article about fructose. I didn’t know why it was so strange. And in this case the "why" is crucial. ...

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Why glycemic index is misleading
Joe Anderson
Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 11:37 PM
Glycemic index, as most of us know, relates to the height of the peak of glucose ("blood sugar") after consumption. Since fructose is not glucose, it doesn't register on the "blood sugar" test and the glycemic index is low. This confusion, which I once shared, has caused many people, and even companies making products for diabetic people to use fructose for sweetening. Fructose consumption is highly damaging, especially for diabetics. Research has strongly suggested that fructose is the base cause of type 2 diabetes since it induces insulin resistance, elevated fasting glucose levels, causes activation of the polyol pathway, probably causes fatty internal organs (e.g. non-alchoholic cirrhosis of the liver) and increases obesity.

Wow
Christopher Wheeler
Friday, November 16, 2007 at 08:03 PM

I still haven't finished the book yet. But this is REALLY interesting.

So it turns out that the advice given to me by the dietician, I shouldn't even be following.

On an unrelated note: I just finally got prescribed Byetta. I just took my first injection about 10 minutes ago.

re: Wow
David Mendosa
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 07:21 AM

Dear Christopher,

That's great! Keep us informed of your progress, please!

re: re: Wow
Christopher Wheeler
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 09:10 AM

I will definitely keep you informed!

I wasn't sure I'd get to start. I had an appointment on Tuesday, my 2nd with this particular doctor. I think I mentioned before that my previous doctor had told me he had never heard of Byetta on one visit, then the next visit with him he said that he wouldn't prescribe it because he felt it was a last resort drug, when everything else failed. I don't know what else he wanted.

So anyways, the doctor I met with this week is a 2nd year resident, and he said he's heard about it, but really didn't know much about it. Luckily I had done my research, so I was able to explain to him a little about how it works, as well as possible side effects I should be looking for. I think he felt that since I put so much time and effort in to it, I must really know what I am talking about and must really want it or something, so he went ahead and wrote the prescription, making me his FIRST patient on Byetta.

I'm glad I started now when I did too. Byetta has been listed on the Iowa Medicaid Preferred Drug List for the past 5 or 6 lists (4 lists a year). However, last week, they released the draft for the January 2008 PDL, in which they are planning to reclassify Byetta from "Preferred" to "Non-Preferred".

Anyways, sorry to take up so much room here. I will keep you updated for sure. I hope I can have as much success with this drug as you have.

re: re: re: Wow
David Mendosa
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 09:39 AM

Dear Christopher,

I think it's great that you are being so much in control of your diabetes and not leaving it up to your doctors -- who don't know as much about Byetta as you do!

re: re: re: re: Wow
Christopher Wheeler
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 09:41 AM

Thanks for interacting with your readers, we really appreciate it.

I was just wondering, what are your current stats since starting the Byetta? I know I just saw the two pictures side-by-side and you barely look like the same person!

re: re: re: re: re: Wow
David Mendosa
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 10:32 AM

Dear Christopher,

As a friend of mine recently said, I am half the man I used to be. In one sense, that's almost true. My weight has gone from 312 to 170. At my height of 6' 2.5" that's a BMI of 21.5 (http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-exercise/index-1688-143.html), which is a low normal weight. Still, I would like to bring my weight down to 160.

I haven't had my A1C tested since writing http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/17/8201/byetta-diatribe or had new numbers for cholesterol levels since reported in the "diaTribe" article.

I owe all of this to Byetta!

Nutri system contains hfc
Anne Atwood
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 09:50 PM
A friend of mine gained twelve pounds after following the Nutri system religiously. She had previously for the past year eliminated most hfc from her diet. She has been down on hfc for a while. She reads and researches the internet nightly. Anyways, she contributed the gain to putting hfc back on her plate with the Nutri system diet. She discontinued the food plan and lost the weight within two weeks time. She put the 12 pounds on in nine days!!

re: Nutri system contains hfc
David Mendosa
Saturday, November 17, 2007 at 10:01 PM

Dear Anne,

Wow! That's a lot. And I didn't know that about the Nutrisystem diet.

The Trouble with Fructose
Anonymous
Friday, January 04, 2008 at 09:26 AM

I'm not sure what you mean by the last paragraph. I'm prediabetic and am following a low glycemic diet for the most part. I eat 3-4 servings of fruits/day and alot of vegetables. I have also been using 1+ T agave almost daily - either in oatmeal or in hot lemon water. Should I cut back on my fruit and agave intake? I eat no processed foods so I'm not getting any hfcs or added fructose in my diet. By the way,I do think that I have the dawn effect and found your article and posts about it very interesting.
Thanks for all of the great information.

re: The Trouble with Fructose
David Mendosa
Monday, March 24, 2008 at 10:42 AM

Unfortunately, you are getting a lot of added fructose in your diet! The agave that you use is essentially pure fructose. You may also want to see a new article in the "Chicago Tribune" about it at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0323deardorffmar23,1,7478086.story

Best regards,

David

broken link
Nitpicker
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 04:10 AM

When I tried your link to the article you said you uploaded I got this:

Not Found

The requested URL /lustig_fructose.pdf was not found on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

Apache/1.3.34 Server at www.mendosa.com Port 80

--
I would have thought you would have a link checker running to let you know when any links were broken. Ah well, the attitudes and interactivity you foster is delightful, even in the face of some annoying flaws.

I'd prefer that each article were a single wiki page and that the comments were appended to the bottom of the page so I could read it all in a single pass. Lock down text which gets damaged by bad edits, but let us correct grammar, spelling, and even wording so the document can get better instead of just longer.

re: broken link
David Mendosa
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 10:39 AM

Thanks for writing. I just restored the link to Dr. Lustig's paper.

Best regards,

David

Taubes answers are not there
Nitpicker
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 04:21 AM

You said, "In addition, Taubes has agreed to answer our questions at HealthCentral.com about his new book." but they seem not to be there. Did he fail to answer or have the answers been lost?

How does one email Gary Taubes? I wonder if he or anyone here has a position on the HIV => AIDS fraud. (HIV isn't even an STD, HIV tests give many false positives, especially in Africa, and AIDS is still mostly confined to the original risk groups.)

re: Taubes answers are not there
David Mendosa
Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 10:52 AM

The link to Gary Taubes moved, and I just corrected it. Thanks for letting me know. The new link is http://www.healthcentral.com/diabetes/c/36758/17729/gary-taubes

He has not provided an email address as far as I know.

Best regards,

David

Sugar: The Bitter Truth
Ted Hutchinson
Wednesday, August 05, 2009 at 12:53 PM

Sugar: The Bitter Truth

Perhaps readers who come across this thread may like to be aware of the 80minute video in which Robert Lustig explains in detail the bio chemical processes involved in fructose metabolism.

It's well worth watching but as it's quite detailed it may require more than one viewing.