FoodGate: The Problem with the US Food System

You can’t fix healthcare until you fix health. You can’t fix health until you fix the diet. And you can’t fix the diet until you know what’s wrong. What went wrong? FoodGate.

Endocrinologist Robert Lustig, Dentist Cristen Kearns and Health Policy Expert Laura Schmidt team up to explore how the US food system has led to higher rates in obesity and related metabolic diseases in the last 50 years.

Preventable disease rates keep going up, even while behaviors have improved: smoking rates are down, cholesterol and blood pressure are down, and physical activity is up. We should be reaping a health benefit, but we’re not. The primary reason: we’re eating too many refined carbohydrates and too much sugar.

How did the food system come to encourage this? Pharmaceutical companies benefit from long-term drug treatment of metabolic diseases. Organizations such as the Sugar Association and the Beverage Association fund questionable scientific studies to convince the public that obesity and sugar are not related. These efforts include funding aggressive marketing campaigns to influence public policy. According to Schmidt, they spent 31 million dollars in a single election to convince voters in San Francisco and Oakland not to support a soda tax.

But there is hope. Research into the effects of too much sugar is getting attention, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Lustig and others. There are many parallels between this issue and smoking. According to Schmidt, we’re about where we were in 1970. The tide is slowly shifting, but we have a long way to go. Policy-makers are just now beginning to recognize the negative consequences of an unhealthy populace on healthcare costs and future social security benefits. Lustig advises, “You want social security? Stop drinking soda and tell all your friends to do so, too.”

Watch FoodGate: The Break-in, the Cover-up, and the Aftermath.

The Hacking of the American Mind

8232We first met Dr. Lusting in 2009 when UCTV presented his “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” lecture. That viral video now has over 7 million YouTube views, and more every day.

His latest program, “The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains,” coincides with the publishing of his new book of the same title.

In this half-hour interview, Lustig, a UCSF endocrinologist, explores the reward system in our brains – serotonin, cortisol, and dopamine – chemicals that drive our pleasure-seeking behaviors including overeating, drug use, and that ever-present cell phone. But he goes beyond just neural pathways and brain chemistry to impute the underlying economic machine that creates industries that profit off processed foods full of sugar.

He recommends a “four Cs” solution — connect, contribute, cope, and cook — urging a slowed-down lifestyle for the sake of our health and happiness.

In addition to the interview “The Hacking of the American Mind”, you may enjoy these short videos:

The Difference Between Happiness and Pleasure
Corporate Responsibility vs. Individual Responsibility
Are All Calories the Same?
Responsibility of the Food Industry
Processed Food and Pleasure

For a deeper dive, watch the video that started it all and other programs with Dr. Robert Lustig:
Sugar: The Bitter Truth
The Skinny on Obesity
Fat Chance: Fructose 2.0

Learn the Facts About Sugar

8232A dangerous white powder is in the news – sugar.

We’ve heard so much about the harmful effects of sugar lately, that it may be hard to distinguish facts from fiction, and it’s left many consumers with more questions than answers. That’s a problem because, let’s face it, when we’re talking about possibly reducing something we consume (and enjoy) on a daily basis, not knowing the facts can keep us from making necessary changes in our diets.

To get the facts, health scientists at UCSF developed SugarScience.org to learn more about the latest research findings on sugar and its impact on health. Their goal? To help you make healthy choices based on clear, unbiased, scientific evidence.

So far, the evidence is clear: too much added sugar doesn’t just make us fat – it can also make us sick. Americans consume an average of 66 pounds of sugar per year. Because it’s so easily digestable, too much sugar overwhelms the liver and can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even liver disease and failure.

“The news is hard to hear,” admits Professor Laura A. Schmidt, UCSF School of Medicine. “It’s tough stuff. Just like smoking back in the 50’s, you grew up thinking everybody does this, it’s benign. Now the scientific community is in the hard position of saying something you love and think is benign is harmful to your health.”

How much is too much? The American Heart Association recommends that we don’t exceed the following guidelines for daily added sugar intake:

Women: 6 teaspoons (24 grams)

Men: 9 teaspoons (36 grams)

Kids: 3-4 teaspoons (12-16 grams)

Preteens & Teens: 5 teaspoons (20 grams)

Once you start to look for added sugar, you’ll find it everywhere. SugarScience.org has uncovered 61 different names for sugar in the products we consume. Imagine my dismay when I discovered that my favorite salad exhausted my entire recommended daily allowance of sugar.

But even small changes can make a big difference.

Perhaps the simplest change you can make is to stop drinking “liquid sugar.” Sugary drinks such as sodas, sports drinks and even fruit drinks are particularly harmful. If we could eliminate sugary drinks, we’d collectively cut out 37% of our sugar consumption. And there’s evidence that artificial sweeteners inflict the same kind of damage as real sugar.

But life can still be sweet. “Added sugars” don’t include the sugars we find in fruits, berries, and vegetables. That’s because when we eat them, we also get their natural good fiber, which makes the sugar harder to digest and keeps it from overwhelming the liver.

Learn more about sugar and SugarScience.org. Watch Learn the Facts about Sugar – How Sugar Impacts Your Health today.

Health Matters with Dr. David Granet

33With the holiday season upon us, health becomes an ever-increasing issue as we battle stress, diet, and our environment. Dr. David Granet of Health Matters welcomes a variety of professionals from the health and medical fields to discuss a broad array of health related topics. Each program in the series provides current and valuable information on how to improve health and well-being. Recent episodes have focused on the negative effects of insufficient sleep, and the importance of urgent and innovative care for stroke patients.

25617The CDC has declared insufficient sleep to be a national health epidemic. Why are we not getting enough and how can we change our behaviors? Sean P.A. Drummond, PhD, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program and Cognitive Behavioral Interventions Program in the VA San Diego Healthcare System, joins host Dr. Granet to discuss the ramifications of insufficient sleep and ways to improve your sleep health.

25841Every 45 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke. What are the warning signs and how do you know if you are at risk? In the most recent episode of the series, Innovations in the Treatment of Stroke, Dr. Alexander Khalessi, Director of Endovascular Neurosurgery and Surgical Director of Neurocritical Care, gives insight on how to recognize a stroke, preventative measures, and innovative surgical treatment options.

For more programs regarding health, visit the Health Matters series page.

Join the conversation @UCTelevision, @UCSDTV, @dgranet, @DeptVetAffairs, #HealthMatters

More from Medicine of Cycling!

Meet Dr. Prentice Steffan, chief medical officer for Slipstream Sports, which owns Garmin-Sharp Professional cycling team. He was the first American physician to care for a team of cyclists in the Tour de France.

The Medicine of Cycling series gives an inside look at a day in the life of a world tour cycling team doctor, through Steffan’s experience being the team doctor during the week-long bike race, Paris Nice.

Learn more about how he keeps his pro-team safe, in “A Day in the Life of a World Tour Cycling Team Doctor.”

A common injury among many cyclists, and athletes in general, is the concussion. The Medicine of Cycling series hears from Eric Freitag, a licensed psychologist and board certified clinical neuropsychologist about the risks and ramifications of concussions.

Freitag co-founded the California Concussion Coalition with the hope of spreading awareness and education about concussions and their proper treatment.

Watch “Concussions and Sports” for Freitag’s expert advice on how to recognize, treat, and understand concussions and the way they affect the brain.

Check out other videos in the the Medicine of Cycling series.

Want more on the Medicine of Cycling? Visit their website!