Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Cooking in cast iron is not only a pleasure, but also a convenient and effective way to combat anaemia.

  • See today’s featured video for how to get the most out of your cast iron cookwear!

• Sugar isn’t exactly a health food

  • There are big differences between how we metabolize sucrose (a disaccharide of glucose and fructose) and how we metabolize fructose itself

    • Those big differences mean some different health risks (and some overlapping ones too)

    • Specifically, fructose is much worse for your liver and a little worse for your kidneys

  • Fruit, however, is healthy. The fiber content mitigates the effect of the fructose, which isn’t all that much anyway, even in quite “sugary” fruits like apples.

    • Add fruits with high polyphenol content, like berries, and you have a net positive impact on glycemic health

  • Fruit juice, however, removed most or all of the fiber and is now bad for you again

    • High-Fructose Corn Syrup is still far worse

  • Some natural sugars like honey and maple syrup contain nutrients that refined sugar doesn’t

  • Some natural sugars like agave syrup have a lower glycemic index (this is good)

• Sugar, overall, contributes to many health risks from metabolic disorders to cancer—see the bottom of today’s main feature for a quick rundown!

• Wouldn’t it be great to have a personal chef who prepares delicious meals packed full of nutritious superfoods?

  • Today’s sponsor, Thistle, deliver exactly that (fully-prepared ready-to-eat healthy tasty meals, not ingredient packs) to your home on your schedule.

Read on to learn about these things and more…

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Simple rules for cast iron care

Cast iron is great for cooking (and conveys health benefits), and/but taking good care of your cast iron (or carbon steel!) cookware starts with understanding the chemistry it relies on:

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🍫 MAIN FEATURE

From Apples to Bees, and high-fructose C’s

We asked you for your (health-related) policy on sugar. The trends were as follows:

• About half of all respondents voted for “I try to limit sugar intake, but struggle because it's in everything”

• About a quarter of all respondents voted for “Refined sugar is terrible; natural sugars (e.g. honey, agave) are fine”

• About a quarter of all respondents voted for “Sugar is sugar and sugar is bad; I avoid it entirely”

• One (1) respondent voted for “Sugar is an important source of energy, so I consume plenty”

So, where does the science stand?

There has, of course, been a lot of research into the health impact of sugar.

Unfortunately, a lot of it has been funded by sugar companies, which has not helped. Conversely, there are also studies funded by other institutions with other agendas to push, and some of them will seek to make sugar out to be worse than it is.

So for today’s mythbusting overview, we’ve done our best to quality-control studies for not having financial conflicts of interest. And of course, the usual considerations of favoring high quality studies where possible Large sample sizes, good method, human subjects, that sort of thing.

Sugar is sugar and sugar is bad: True or False?

False and True, respectively.

• Sucrose is sucrose, and is generally bad.

• Fructose is fructose, and is worse.

Both ultimately get broken down into glycogen (if not used immediately for energy), but for fructose, this happens mostly* in the liver, which a) taxes it b) goes very unregulated by the pancreas, causing potentially dangerous blood sugar spikes.

This has several interesting effects:

• Because fructose doesn’t directly affect insulin levels, it doesn’t cause insulin insensitivity (yay)

• Because fructose doesn’t directly affect insulin levels, this leaves hyperglycemia untreated (oh dear)

• Because fructose is metabolized by the liver and converted to glycogen which is stored there, it’s one of the main contributors to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (at this point, we’re retracting our “yay”)

Read more: Fructose and sugar: a major mediator of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

*”Mostly” in the liver being about 80% in the liver. The remaining 20%ish is processed by the kidneys, where it contributes to kidney stones instead. So, still not fabulous.

Fructose is very bad, so we shouldn’t eat too much fruit: True or False?

False! Fruit is really not the bad guy here. Fruit is good for you!

Fruit does contain fructose yes, but not actually that much in the grand scheme of things, and moreover, fruit contains (unless you have done something unnatural to it) plenty of fiber, which mitigates the impact of the fructose.

• A medium-sized apple (one of the most sugary fruits there is) might contain around 11g of fructose

• A tablespoon of high-fructose corn syrup can have about 27g of fructose (plus about 3g glucose)

Read more about it: Effects of high-fructose (90%) corn syrup on plasma glucose, insulin, and C-peptide in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and normal subjects

However! The fiber content (in fruit) mitigates the impact of the fructose almost entirely anyway.

And if you take fruits that are high in sugar and/but high in polyphenols, like berries, they now have a considerable net positive impact on glycemic health:

• Polyphenols and Glycemic Control

• Polyphenols and their effects on diabetes management: A review

• Dietary polyphenols as antidiabetic agents: Advances and opportunities

You may be wondering: what was that about “unless you have done something unnatural to it”?

That’s mostly about juicing. Juicing removes much (or all) of the fiber, and if you do that, you’re basically back to shooting fructose into your veins:

• Effect of Fruit Juice on Glucose Control and Insulin Sensitivity in Adults: A Meta-Analysis of 12 Randomized Controlled Trials

• Intake of Fruit, Vegetables, and Fruit Juices and Risk of Diabetes in Women

Natural sugars like honey, agave, and maple syrup, are healthier than refined sugars: True or False?

True… Sometimes, and sometimes marginally.

This is partly because of the glycemic load. The glycemic index scores tail off thus:

• table sugar = 65

• maple syrup = 54

• honey = 46

• agave syrup = 15

So, that’s a big difference there between agave syrup and maple syrup, for example.

Note, incidentally, that table sugar, sucrose, is a disaccharide, and is 50% glucose and 50% fructose.

The other more marginal health benefits come from that fact that natural sugars are usually found in foods high in other nutrients. Maple syrup is very high in manganese, for example, and also a fair source of other minerals.

But… Because of its GI, you really don’t want to be relying on it for your nutrients.

Wait, why is sugar bad again?

We’ve been covering mostly the more “mythbusting” aspects of different forms of sugar, rather than the less controversial harms it does, but let’s give at least a cursory nod to the health risks of sugar overall:

• Obesity and associated metabolic risk

• Main contributor to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

• Increased risk of heart disease

• Insulin resistance and diabetes risk

• Cellular aging (shortened telomeres)

• 95% increased cancer risk

That last one, by the way, was a huge systematic review of 37 large longitudinal cohort studies. Results varied depending on what, specifically, was being examined (e.g. total sugar, fructose content, sugary beverages, etc), and gave up to 200% increased cancer risk in some studies on sugary beverages, but 95% increased risk is a respectable example figure to cite here, pertaining to added sugars in foods.

And finally…

The 56 Most Common Names for Sugar (Some Are Tricky)

How many did you know?

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🌍 AROUND THE WEB

What’s happening in the health world…

• New Alzheimer’s drug raises hopes—along with questions

• GABA-modulating treatments could help tackle cognitive, affective symptoms associated with depression

• Researchers explore new nonaddictive means of fighting pain

• Consuming added sugars may increase risk of kidney stones

• Peppermint oil may be new option for pain relief after open heart surgery

• Simple interview technique could help detect early signs of dementia

• What actually is palliative care? And how is it different from end-of-life care?

More to come tomorrow!

📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us – by Susan Magsamen & Ivy Ross

The notion of art therapy is popularly considered a little wishy-washy. As it turns out, however, there are thousands of studies showing its effectiveness.

Nor is this just a matter of self-expression. As authors Magsamen and Ross explore, different kinds of engagement with art can convey different benefits.

That's one of the greatest strengths of this book: "this form of engagement with art will give these benefits, according to these studies"

With benefits ranging from reducing stress and anxiety, to overcoming psychological trauma or physical pain, there's a lot to be said for art!

And because the book covers many kinds of art, if you can't imagine yourself taking paintbrush to canvas, that's fine too. We learn of the very specific cognitive benefits of coloring in mandalas (yes, really), of sculpting something terrible in clay, or even just of repainting the kitchen, and more. Each thing has its set of benefits.

The book's main goal is to encourage the reader to cultivate what the authors call an aesthetic mindset, which involves four key attributes:

• a high level of curiosity

• a love of playful, open-ended exploration

• a keen sensory awareness

• a drive to engage in creative activities

And, that latter? It's as a maker and/or a beholder. We learn about what we can gain just by engaging with art that someone else made, too.

Bottom line: come for the evidence-based cognitive benefits; stay for the childlike wonder of the universe. If you already love art, or have thought it's just "not for you", then this book is for you.

Click here to check out Your Brain On Art, and open up whole new worlds of experience!

Wishing you good health in every way,

The 10almonds Team