Too much sugar? Experts doubts on guidelines by WHO

• comments
• 
• 

A new industry-funded study published in a prominent medical journal, questions the calling of the World Health Organization and the U.S. Dietary Guidelines to limit the consumption of sugar in daily diet.

According to NPR, author Bradley Johnston, a clinical epidemiologist of the Hospital of Sick Children in Toronto, said, "overall, I would say guidelines are not trustworthy."

"There is no question that sugar should be limited in diets of children and adults, but there is no convincing evidence to support cutting of consumption to 10 percent or 5 percent, or any specific threshold", Johnston added. "What is happening is that guideline panelists are making strong recommendations based on low-quality evidence"

The review made by Bradley Johnston was based on the WHO and the U.S. Dietary Guidelines that urges the public to limit sugar intake, to consume no more than 10 percent of our daily calories from added sugar in our diet.

However, Dean Schillinger, a physician at the University of California and an advocate for diabetes prevention efforts, said, "when you look at the evidence, science is clear. Nearly all experimental studies that are examined whether eating sugars contributes obesity and Type 2 diabetes, shows a cause-and-effect relationship."

On the article posted in Merola, Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology in the University of California, explains that the human body can safely metabolize at least six teaspoons of added sugar a day but consuming over three times or more from six teaspoons would lead to debilitating chronic metabolic diseases that many people are struggling with.

As a pioneer in decoding sugar metabolism, Dr. Lustig also elaborated some effects in consuming too much sugar.

According to him, over consumption of sugar may result to liver overload and eventually damages the liver. Sugar may trick the body and turns off the body's appetite system and deters the stimulation to produce insulin and leptin. It also causes metabolic dysfunction like weight gain, decrease HDL and increase LDL, elevated blood sugar and triglycerides and high blood pressure; and increase in uric acid levels.