IS THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC DUE TO SUGAR?!
It is clear that we have an obesity problem in the United States. Many individuals have a tendency to blame their least favored macronutrient for the epidemic. Sugar frequently takes the spotlight as the supposed villain among macronutrients... but what's the reasoning behind this portrayal?
Many people claim that the rise in sugar intake is strongly correlated with obesity, and often show a graph representing the increase in both sugar and obesity from 1900 to the year 2000 showing a similar rise. There are 2 problems with this argument.. Frist, if you continue to plot two variable AFTER the year 2000, you'll see that overall sugar intake actually declines, whereas obesity keeps on climbing. Second, and most importantly, even if a correlation were to exist (which it doesn't), it DOES NOT indicate causation.
In order to determine if sugar has an independent risk on obesity, we must turn to the research (yay science for saving the day!!). And when you look into the data, you see that it is not that simple. Here are a few meta analyses and systematic reviews showing that sugar may not cause any poor health outcomes when calories are controlled, and that any harm from overconsuming various forms of sugar is similar to overconsuming other macronutrients (ie. fat). (to view the studies referenced below, simply enter the PMID number into the search engine on pubmed.com).
Go check out the kickback science episode titled: “What’s Worse, Sugar or Fat? Low Carb Vs Low Fat Debate” to learn more! In this episode, we review the research surrounding a Low Carb vs a Low Fat diet.. We talk about obesity, whether or not sugar and/or fat are bad for you, which diet approach is better, the evolution of the "anti fat" and "anti sugar" communities, and more!
Also.. WHAT I AM NOT SAYING is that a low carb diet doesn't work, and that you should eat as much sugar as possible... I am simply clearing up the state of the research!
REFERENCES:
PMID: 28003201, 23321486, 28536126, 22351714, 26170502
