What do you think about a yoghurt that has a little added sugar to increase its palatability for children? It’s not going to ‘wreak havoc’ and it’s still full of sustenance. And now a child may actually eat it rather than something less desirable. Is sweetened yoghurt a bad food? Regards, Bill

I’m not sure I am the Eliza you are referring to but just in case

I have to say I do disagree with the basic sentiment of viewing foods as their macronutrient profile or caloric value in general, as food is so much more complex and beautiful than this. I would never exclude a high calorie food if it was nutrient dense, and would rarely consume a low calorie option if it was nutrient poor. I don’t count calories and I believe being on calorie restricted diets can damage the metabolism in the long-term. I believe in eating whole foods with plenty of fat (yes, even the maligned saturated fat if from good quality, grass-fed sources), protein and natural carbohydrates. I believe fruit absolutely has a place in the diet and have no problem with natural, unrefined carbohydrates and sugars. We are all biochemically individual, but I personally thrive with minimal grains in my diet and more meats and vegetables, I know others who thrive with lots of grains though and less animal products though. Using whole, unrefined foods as a base and experimenting with your own personal thresholds is really the only way.

My issue is with refined sugar and other refined, industrialised foods that wreak havoc on the balance of our body as a whole and do not provide us with any sustenance whatsoever.

Calorie-for-calorie sugar is no more fattening than starch, fat, protein or alcohol. Obesity only develops when total calorie intake exceeds requirements, so it’s not good science to say it was the sugar calories that did it (or to blame the fat calories as was done in the past). It’s the total calorie intake that matters. And the degree of obesity determines the type 2 diabetes risk, not the amount of sugar in the diet.

I hope you read my recent blog ‘Do calorie-rich foods make you fat’? The Harvard researchers insight was important: ‘Several dietary metrics that are currently emphasised, such as fat content, energy density and added sugars, would not have reliably identified the dietary factors that we found to be associated with long-term weight gain’. Obesity prevention strategies over the last 20 years have mostly failed and one of the reasons is that the experts have been pulling the wrong levers.

I think nutrient density is a much better measure of the quality of a carbohydrate-rich food than its sugar content. This approach bumps soft drinks (and many other poor quality foods) out of my recommendations for a healthy diet.

If you want to use sugar content as a measure of carbohydrate quality, you have to have a sound basis for doing so and, importantly, you have to apply it universally. Are you happy to assess fruit negatively on the basis of its sugar content? Regards, Bill

When we leave sensationalised news stories behind and look at the facts, sugar does have a lot to answer for. It is not only stored in the body as fat when it is not used, but also can directly effect nutrient absorption in the gut by feeding pathogenic gut flora (most notably Candida albicans) and thus effecting the health of the entire organism. This can happen even in a nutrient-rich diet if sugar is still over-consumed. I’d recommend reading Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr McBride for more information on gut flora and the detrimental effects of sugar on digestion.

In terms of obesity, it doesn’t just cause weight gain by being stored in adipose tissue when consumed in excess, it causes weight gain by slowly putting our delicate insulin/glucagon feedback mechanism out of balance and causing insulin resistance, which is a pre-cursor to Type-2 Diabetes and many hormonal disorders such a Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome in women which can lead to infertility.

Refined sugar in large quantities is not good gear.

It is a fallacy to say tooth decay is the only possible negative health repercussion of sugar is tooth decay. Many people think tooth decay occurs in the mouth when sugar comes into contact with the teeth, but this is not the case. Sugar actually wreaks havoc with our body’s blood calcium levels and thus causes our body to leech calcium from the teeth and bones in a desperate attempt to maintain stable Ca levels in the blood. So it is not just tooth decay, but also bone demineralisation that occurs as a result of excess sugar consumption. Bone demineralisation which is better known as osteoporosis.

Obviously it was shock tactics of 60 Minutes to compare sugar to cocaine, however sugar is still an addictive substance for many. Personally, I think inhibiting nutrient absorption, feeding candida, contributing to hormonal imbalances, and causing dental and bone demineralisation is a pretty good reason to avoid this processed, industrialised food.

I’d recommend “Primal Body, Primal Mind” by Nora Gedgaudus, “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Dr Weston Price, and “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon to anyone who wants to learn more about the detrimental effects of sugar (and all industrialised food such as highly processed – and highly toxic – seed oils).

As a final note, I respect the sentiment of not believing everything you see on TV when it comes to food, as most of the information you will find there is rubbish. Nutrition is a complicated thing, but when we look to what our ancestors ate to enjoy good health, it becomes a whole lot less complex and radiant health comes much easier!

One of the few concerns about the amount of sugar in our diet is ‘nutrient dilution’. For example, if one is eating a healthy, nutrient-rich diet and then replace some of these calories with soft drink (no nutrients), the total amount of calories in the diet may remain the same but it contains fewer nutrients, hence nutrient dilution. This would be a real problem for people with low nutrient intakes to start with.

But sugar intake is NOT consistently associated with nutrient dilution in modern western diets. Here is an extract from The European Food Safety Authority report on sugar and health (2010):

“A systematic review of 15 cross-sectional studies comprising children and adults shows that there are insufficient and conflicting data with respect to the relation between intake of added sugars and nutrient density, with no clear evidence of micronutrient dilution or a threshold for a quantitative amount of added sugar intake for any of the micronutrients … The association between added sugar intake and micronutrient density of the diet is mainly dependent on the intake patterns of the food groups from which added sugars in the diet are derived … The available data are not sufficient to set an upper limit for (added) sugar intake.”

The key point is that nutrient density is ‘mainly dependent on the intake patterns of the food groups’. If the sugar in a diet comes from soft drink, nutrient dilution occurs. But if the sugar in a diet is coming from a nutrient-rich beverage like chocolate milk the outcome is nutrient enrichment of the diet. Chocolate milk was removed from sale in some schools in the United States by people concerned about its sugar content. But the kids’ diets got worse as a result and the move was reversed.

The sugar content of a food is a poor measure of its nutritional quality. We would be much better off forgetting about sugar and focussing on the nutrient density of foods.
Regards, Bill

Julian, the commercial interest attack is the last resort of people who can’t argue a point scientifically. If you disagree with me, I respect that. But outline your case reasonably and scientifically.

I have been frank about who my current clients are. They have interests in carbohydrate-rich and fat-rich foods, and previous clients have had interests in protein-rich foods. Together this is called food. My advice to my clients on issues of carbohydrate quality is EXACTLY the same as that I have advanced in this blog.

Telling manufacturers of bread and cereals that people would be better off eating less carbohydrate is hardly an example of commercial bias. In relation to sugar in cereals, this is a minor issue – the amount of sugar coming from breakfast cereals in the typical Australian child’s diet is just 4% of total sugar intake.
Regards, Bill