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    The Case Against Sugar
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    The Case Against Sugar
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    The Case Against Sugar
    Audiobook11 hours

    The Case Against Sugar

    Written by Gary Taubes

    Narrated by Mike Chamberlain

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    From the best-selling author of Why We Get Fat, a groundbreaking, eye-opening exposé that makes the convincing case that sugar is the tobacco of the new millennium: backed by powerful lobbies, entrenched in our lives, and making us very sick.

    Among Americans, diabetes is more prevalent today than ever; obesity is at epidemic proportions; nearly 10% of children are thought to have nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. And sugar is at the root of these, and other, critical society-wide, health-related problems. With his signature command of both science and straight talk, Gary Taubes delves into Americans' history with sugar: its uses as a preservative, as an additive in cigarettes, the contemporary overuse of high-fructose corn syrup. He explains what research has shown about our addiction to sweets. He clarifies the arguments against sugar, corrects misconceptions about the relationship between sugar and weight loss; and provides the perspective necessary to make informed decisions about sugar as individuals and as a society.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
    Release dateDec 27, 2016
    ISBN9781524709068
    Unavailable
    The Case Against Sugar
    Author

    Gary Taubes

    Gary Taubes ist investigativer Journalist in den Bereichen Wissenschaft und Gesundheit sowie Mitbegründer der gemeinnützigen Organisation Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI.org). Er ist Autor der Bücher Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It und Good Calories, Bad Calories. Taubes ist Preisträger des Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research und hat für seine journalistische Arbeit zahlreiche weitere Preise verliehen bekommen.

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    Reviews for The Case Against Sugar

    4/5

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    • 4/5

      Nov 12, 2024

      A very compelling case that sugar may be the instigator of a number of Western diseases--not just diabetes, but heart disease, high blood pressure, even cancer and dementia.

      The author was honest about the limits of what science can definitively prove when it comes to dietary causes of disease. However, it does make a certain amount of sense that the increase of refined sugars and starches in the Western diet has correlated with the rise of many diseases.

      The sugar industry tried to point the finger at fat for a long time. It doesn't make sense, though, in light of the evidence the author presents, particularly about communities like the island of Tokelau, who had plenty of fat in their diet before, but only developed diabetes and heart disease when exposed to more sugar and simple carbs.

      I'm still going to finish the ice cream I just bought, though, and I'm glad Taubes acknowledges the adulthood in each of us to make these kinds of decisions for ourselves.
    • 3/5

      Jun 19, 2024

      This is actually a review of the Blinkist summary of Supercommunicators so not entirely fair to the original author. However, it's a way for me to get through a large number of books and identify those where I would really like to read the original. There was a time when sugar wasn’t an additive in the majority of processed foods. The history of sugar can be traced back thousands of years to the island of New Guinea and its native people, who were the first to plant sugarcane for cultivation. It was such a luxurious status symbol that it was included, along with pearls and other treasures, in gifts that the King of Spain would habitually receive. Sugar beets can be grown just about anywhere, and once a process was developed to extract beet sugar, the ingredient became a whole lot easier to come by.
      Then came the steam engine, which brought on the Industrial Revolution. As a result, a refinery in the 1920s could produce the same amount of sugar in a day that used to take a decade to produce in the 1820s.
      In the early nineteenth century, people primarily used sugar to sweeten tea, coffee or other hot beverages. But with the new methods of refining sugar, sweet foods like candy, ice cream, chocolate bars and soft drinks could be mass-produced at a low cost.
      One of the most revolutionary sugary products was Coca-Cola, which was invented in 1885 by John Pemberton, who originally promoted the drink as a “brain tonic.” It wasn’t until years later, when Asa Candler added more sugar and turned it into a soda, that it became the world’s most popular soft drink.
      There are different kinds of calories:calories from sugar are among worst for health.
      For a long time we’ve lived under two common misconceptions....One is that all calories are equal, and the other is that our calorie intake is the primary cause of unhealthy weight gain.
      Most of our hormones are hard at work extracting energy from our stored fat cells. However, researchers noticed one hormone that actually performed the opposite function: insulin....So, what causes high blood sugar levels, rising insulin levels and an increase in fat storage? Eating meals that are high in carbohydrates–especially sugar.
      Therefore, all calories are not created equal. Despite this evidence, the sugar industry has stayed on message and continues to push the low-calorie theory. And their persistence has been surprisingly effective,
      Sugar industry has been hard at work protecting its image and fighting competition.
      The sugar industry in 1928, created the Sugar Institute as part of their campaign to increase demand for sugar....The 1950s was the period in which the obesity rate in the United States began to increase and different dieting trends began to emerge. This is also when the sugar industry turned to the “a calorie is a calorie” theory and suggested that other foods be cut from one’s diet, not sugar.....So, between 1963 and 1969, the sugar industry honed in on this stipulation [other sweeteners caused cancer] and spent over $ 4 million on studies to remove the GRAS status for cyclamate.....By the end of the campaign of testing artificial sweeteners on rats, they did succeed in getting cyclamate banned.
      The sugar industry has spread lies about the dangers of other foods.
      You may have come across the popular assertion that saturated fat causes heart disease.
      In this case, the scientist Ancel Keys was the one who popularized the link between eating fatty foods and getting heart disease.....Keys had a conflict of interest: his research was sponsored by the sugar industry....During the twentieth century, heart disease steadily increased in Western nations, alongside obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
      When they looked at the changes that had been made to typical diets and foods in these countries, the answer was clear: sugar.
      Too much sugar leads to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.
      When your body becomes insulin resistant, this means that the hormone can no longer store or use the glucose in your bloodstream, because the cells have become resistant. This can lead to a vicious cycle since, to lower your blood sugar levels, you need introduce more insulin into your body....It is very likely that sugar is the cause of this resistance.....100 calories of sugar will provide different results than 100 calories of fat or protein, especially in terms of insulin release....Insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome are associated with just about every Western disease.
      Sugar linked to a variety of diseases common in Western countries, including cancer.
      In 1968, the diet of the Tokelau people consisted of coconut, pork, fish, chicken and breadfruit. Fat made up more than 50 percent of the calories and sugar only two percent, equal to about eight pounds of sugar per year. At this point, only three percent of the men and nine percent of the women were diabetic......But by 1982, with access to the mainland, the consumption of sugar had risen to 55 pounds per year. Now, 11 percent of the men and one out of every five women [I hate this change of measurement ..the figure is 20%]...who emigrated were diabetic. In addition, many were now obese and suffering from different Western diseases,
      Research showed that patients who had increased levels of insulin in their blood ran a higher risk of developing cancer.
      Final summary
      The key message in this book: There’s a strong case to be made that sugar is a principal underlying cause of many of the diseases currently plaguing Western nations. This is primarily due to the way sugar causes insulin resistance, which multiple studies have identified as a precursor to many other diseases. This isn’t a new discovery either, as doctors have warned against the consumption of too much sugar for years. Nevertheless, the sugar industry is a powerful voice that has worked for decades to silence the truth. Actionable advice: Try to live without sugar.
    • 5/5

      Sep 30, 2019

      It's better than a crime work: I started reading it and I couldn't put it down.
      This book will explains how not to become diabetic
      It's very simple: stop immediately eating sugar.
      Sugar is more dangerous than alcool and smoke combined.
    • 5/5

      Oct 31, 2018

      I'm convinced. Sugar is a slow but unpredictable killer, but we can't help but love it.
    • 1/5

      Jun 19, 2018

      A bitter disappointment, this. The author gives a very thorough and detailed history of the various scientific assessments of sugar as a contributor to diabetes. But that's about it, really. I was expecting more of an investigation into the sugar industry today, and what we can do to wean ourselves off of this terrible 'drug'.

      The prevalence of sugar and HFCS in our diet is one of the great challenges of our time. This was a lost opportunity to turn the tide of science towards a solution. Gary Taube addresses the symptoms, but not the cure.
    • 4/5

      Feb 3, 2018

      Well-written and meticulously researched, and I believe the subject is tremendously important.

      However, I thought the choice of what "crimes" of sugar to report was a bit unbalanced.
      The role of sugar in slavery and in the fabrication of cigarettes, interesting as they are in themselves, are not very relevant to the question whether we should investigate sugar further (which I feel is the main point of this book), nor to the question whether we should eat less sugar right now (which is almost as important). And if Taubes had left out those chapters, he would have had the time to go deeper into the subject of insulin resistance, which stays a bit vague. That is, he does make it very clear what the effects of insulin resistance are, but not what insulin resistance itself is. I had to look it up in Good Calories, Bad Calories.

      Nits picked. Well worth reading, but not as good as Good Calories, Bad Calories.
    • 4/5

      Jun 1, 2017

      A frankly terrifying study of the true causes of all "Western Diseases". Mr. Taubes makes the unpopular yet persuasive argument that sugar might very well be the primary cause of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, gout, Alzheimer's and cancer. He makes the analogy that sugar is to these diseases as cigarettes are to smoking.

      We all know sugar is bad for us, but the question is: How much is too much?