Pg. 221 "Any food is a dessert if any form of sugar is one of the first three ingredients. Trader Joe's Beef and Broccoli (32 grams of sugar) is a dessert. Chinese chicken salad is a dessert. We, and especially our kids, are eating and drinking dessert all day long."
Pg. 224 "The brain is the biggest utilizer of energy, consuming 20 percent of all the glucose in your bloodstream at any given moment. Considering your brain weighs just three pounds or 2 percent of your body weight, that's a very big draw. But what does the brain do with fructose? Remember, the intestine and liver will clear the majority of fructose, but if you overwhelm their capacities with a 20-ounce soft drink, a sizable portion gets into the brain. Fructose alters brain metabolism in fundamental ways--not in neurons per se, but in astrocytes (the cells that nourish the neurons). And it's not feeding those cells, but rather driving two of the eight subcellular pathologies (glycation and oxidative stress). However, some of the ill effects of fructose in the brain can be counteracted by consuming more omega-3s."
Pg 225 "If you give a normal-weight five-year-old a cookie, what happens? He bounces off walls. Parents recognize this as the "sugar high," but it's actually the negative feedback system of energy balance at work. The cookie stimulated insulin release, which drove energy into fat tissue, which released leptin, which reached the hypothalamus, which activated the sympathetic nervous system, which led to increased energy expenditure, including involuntary contraction of muscles, aka fidgeting--all to maintain energy neutrality. But, the strange thing is, if you give an obese five-year-old kid a cookie, he's in the pantry looking for more cookies, and then back on the couch--because this kid's brain is leptin resistant. There is no sugar high."
Pg. 227 "Dietary sugar is composed of two molecules: glucose and fructose. Fructose, while an energy source (4 kcal/gram), is otherwise vestigial to humans; again, there's no biochemical reaction that requires it. However, fructose is metabolized in the liver in exactly the same way as alcohol. That's why, when consumed chronically and in high doses, fructose is similarly toxic and abused, unrelated to its calories or effects on weight. That's why our children now get the diseases of alcohol (type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease), without ever taking a drink."
Pg. 224 "The brain is the biggest utilizer of energy, consuming 20 percent of all the glucose in your bloodstream at any given moment. Considering your brain weighs just three pounds or 2 percent of your body weight, that's a very big draw. But what does the brain do with fructose? Remember, the intestine and liver will clear the majority of fructose, but if you overwhelm their capacities with a 20-ounce soft drink, a sizable portion gets into the brain. Fructose alters brain metabolism in fundamental ways--not in neurons per se, but in astrocytes (the cells that nourish the neurons). And it's not feeding those cells, but rather driving two of the eight subcellular pathologies (glycation and oxidative stress). However, some of the ill effects of fructose in the brain can be counteracted by consuming more omega-3s."
Pg 225 "If you give a normal-weight five-year-old a cookie, what happens? He bounces off walls. Parents recognize this as the "sugar high," but it's actually the negative feedback system of energy balance at work. The cookie stimulated insulin release, which drove energy into fat tissue, which released leptin, which reached the hypothalamus, which activated the sympathetic nervous system, which led to increased energy expenditure, including involuntary contraction of muscles, aka fidgeting--all to maintain energy neutrality. But, the strange thing is, if you give an obese five-year-old kid a cookie, he's in the pantry looking for more cookies, and then back on the couch--because this kid's brain is leptin resistant. There is no sugar high."
Pg. 227 "Dietary sugar is composed of two molecules: glucose and fructose. Fructose, while an energy source (4 kcal/gram), is otherwise vestigial to humans; again, there's no biochemical reaction that requires it. However, fructose is metabolized in the liver in exactly the same way as alcohol. That's why, when consumed chronically and in high doses, fructose is similarly toxic and abused, unrelated to its calories or effects on weight. That's why our children now get the diseases of alcohol (type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease), without ever taking a drink."
