FRUCTOSE IS A SILENT KILLER
Dr. Richard Johnson is professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, where he runs the kidney division and is in charge of transplantation and research in blood pressure. He has also written the best book on the market on the dangers of fructose called The Sugar Fix.
About 70 percent of his work involves research and, for a number of years, he has been studying the effects of fructose on the metabolic system in animals and cell culture, as well as in clinical studies.
Most of this research is focused on how fructose might cause obesity, high blood pressure, kidney disease, fatty liver, and other health-related problems.
Here, Dr. Johnson discusses how uric acid in your blood can wreak havoc on your blood pressure, insulin production and even kidney function.
- The majority of Dr. Johnson’s research has focused on how the number one source of calories in the American diet might cause obesity, high blood pressure, and a number of other common diseases.
- He didn’t start by looking at fructose however. It began when he realized that uric acid is a major component of obesity high blood pressure and kidney disease.
- He discovered that newly diagnosed adolescents with high blood pressure had elevated uric acid levels 90 percent of the time. By lowering uric acid in these obese, hypertensive adolescents, he was able to normalize blood pressure in 87 percent of all cases.
- The question was: What raises uric acid?
- It’s been known that meats and purine rich foods can raise uric acid, but it turns out that one of the most potent ways to raise uric acid is via fructose!
- You probably already know that fructose is a sugar, but you may not realize is that its distinctly different from other sugars as iti s metabolized through very specific pathways that differ from those of glucose, for example, and through its distinct metabolic action, uric acid is generated.
- In fact, fructose typically generates uric acid within minutes of ingestion.
- Look at what uric acid is, and how it is linked to fructose consumption.
WHAT IS URIC ACID – HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
Uric acid is a normal waste product found in your blood. High levels of uric acid are normally associated with gout, but it has been known for a long time that people with high blood pressure, overweight, and people with kidney disease, often have high uric acid levels as well.
It used to be thought that the uric acid was secondary in these conditions, and not the cause but Dr. Johnsons research indicates that it could be a lead player in the development of these conditions, rather than just a supporting actor, when its levels in your body reach 5.5 mg per dl or higher.
- At this level, uric acid is associated with an increased risk for developing high blood pressure, as well as diabetes, obesity and kidney disease.
- Interestingly, uric acid functions both as an antioxidant, and as a pro-oxidant once inside your cells.
- So, if you lower uric acid too much, you lose its antioxidant benefits. But if your uric acid levels are too high, it tends to significantly increase inside your cells as well, where it acts as a pro-oxidant.
- Dr. Johnson believes the ideal range for uric acid lies between 3 to 5.5 mg per dl. As already mentioned, above this range your risk of developing all the problems listed correlate quite well.
- In the following statement, Dr. Johnson explains just how closely tied uric acid levels are to fructose consumption:
- If you give animals fructose, they develop diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and fatty liver. And in most of these conditions, if we lower uric acid, we can prevent many of these conditions, [although] not completely.
- So lowering uric acid seems to benefit some of the mechanisms by which fructose causes disease.
- So a very important point is that if you take two animals and you feed one fructose and feed the other one the exact same number of calories but give it as dextrose or glucose, its only the fructose-fed animal that will develop obesity, insulin resistance, fatty liver, and high triglycerides, signs of inflammation, vascular disease, and high blood pressure.
This bears out in humans as well. Over the last 20 years, we have seen a dramatic increase in fatty liver disease throughout the world. Studies done by Dr. Johnson and a group of researchers at Duke University showed that people who develop fatty liver drink a lot more soft drinks and ingest far more fructose than the average person in the community.
This is why I have been so passionate about educating you on the dangers of fructose! I am thoroughly convinced that it is one of the leading causes behind the massive rise in needless suffering from poor health and premature death. Our family-owned company, Healthy Habits (www.HealthyHabitsWeb.com) has been preaching against fructose for many years.
HOW MUCH FRUCTOSE ARE YOU CONSUMING?
It is no secret that we are eating more sugar than at any other time in history. In 1700, the average person ate 4 pounds of sugar a year. By 1800, it was 18 pounds. By 1900 it was about 90 pounds.
Today, about 25 percent of all Americans consume over � pound of added sugars a day, according to Dr. Johnson’s research. That kind of consumption equates to more than 180 pounds of sugar per year! And it just so happens this statistic dovetails nicely with the statistics showing that one in four Americans is either pre-diabetic or has type 2 diabetes.
The two main sources of that sugar are high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and table sugar.
As a standard recommendation, I strongly advise keeping your TOTAL fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.
However, for most people it would actually be wise to limit your fruit fructose to 15 grams or less, as it is virtually guaranteed that you will consume hiddensources of fructose from most beverages and just about any processed food you might eat.
Since 55 percent of HFCS is fructose, one can of soda alone would nearly exceed your daily allotment. It is easy to see that anyone who is drinking three, and certainly four will easily exceed 100 grams of fructose per day.
ARE FRUITS GOOD OR BAD FOR YOU?
Keep in mind that fruits also contain fructose, although an ameliorating factor is that whole fruits also contain vitamins and other antioxidants that reduce the hazardous effects of fructose.
Juices, on the other hand, are nearly as detrimental as soda, because a glass of juice is loaded with fructose, and a lot of the antioxidants are lost.
It is important to remember that fructose alone isn’t evil as fruits are certainly beneficial. But when you consume high levels of fructose it will absolutely devastate your biochemistry and physiology. Remember the AVERAGE fructose dose is 70 grams per day which exceeds the recommend limit by 300 percent.
So please BE CAREFUL with your fruit consumption. You simply MUST understand that because HFCS is so darn cheap it is added to virtually every processed food. Even if you consumed no soda or fruit, it is very easy to exceed 25 grams of hidden fructose in your diet.
While 25 grams may seem like a lot, it is only about one ounce. So it is my strong recommendation that most people keep their fructose from fruit consumption below 15 grams per day.
If you are a raw food advocate, have a pristine diet, and exercise very well, then you could be the exception that could exceed this limit and stay healthy. In my experience that is far less than one in 1,000 people and probably closer to 1 in 10,000 people.
GREAT SUBSTITUTES
Healthy Habits has some great natural fructose substitutes such as Xylitol, Stevia and Liqui-Sweet.
THE BIA IS A GREAT WAY TO MONITOR
The BIA (urine/saliva test) connection to uric acid is the Ammonia Nitrogen reading (bottom # on the ureas). The higher your Ammonia reading, the higher your uric acid level in your blood and the more you are prone to heart disease, high blood pressure, gout, arthritis and pain, in general. Make it a preventative practice and do the BIA on a regular basis to monitor this reading and follow our guidelines to immediately reduce it if it is excessive. http://BIA.biri.org
This means your cells use the fat from coconut oil for energy instantly, instead of storing it for later use.