Sugar, obesity, IR, & Immune response

[Willy50]

I wanted to put this on THIS side of the forum.  It may not be about HCV per se..... but it may pertain to immune response, damage progression, success with treatment.

It is not possible to tie it all together in one post, but I think that this may be worth looking into this.

We are eating and drinking way more sugar in our diet.  This may cause our weight to go up, this may contribute to our becoming IR, which in part can lower our response to treatment.  I have not seen data or studies on it, but I infer that this same issue may also speed our damage progression.

Now.......if I were to start a thread as a newbie and ask how much booze I can drink..... while I have HCV, the whole forum will give them a stern lecture. .......and we are right to do it.

......the same might go for smoking pot.

Now...... how often do we talk about sugar intake?

I'm going to leave 2-3 links just for you to consider;
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Toxic Sugar: Should We Regulate It Like Alcohol?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/sugar-toxic-regulation_n_1248397.html?ref=health-news&ir=Health%20News
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Sugar: The Bitter Truth          (Utube)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
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I would also mention that if our diet is rapidly changing, and if damage is related to sugar/IR, then we might expect worse damage if we adapt to higher sugar intake.  

I know that Mercola is considered to be controversial by people.  This is his take on sugar; we don't have to agree on every point, but I just offer it for your consideration.
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The 76 Dangers of Sugar to Your Health

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/04/20/sugar-dangers.aspx

Anyway...... just a little something to think about.

willy
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[orphanedhawk]

I started using stevia back when I first did tx in 2006.
It's still the only thing I use to sweeten coffee or oatmeal.

cigger: Oatmeal is easy to make, hot water and oats!
Add some flax meal for your fat, and viola! Not sweet enough? Add stevia, maybe some fruit, and cinnamon or ginger.

Processed food not only have lots of additives and sugar but look at the salt content.

[pooh55811]

Thanks for posting, Willy. I have always felt sugar, especially corn sugar (high fructose corn syrup) which is in almost every commercial product one eats (not just baked goods and sweets, but in canned produce, cereal products includine baked products, drinks, hot dogs, lunch meats, sauces, literally almost everything commercially made).

There have been several studies on some indigenous groups (some Native America groups, some Indigenous Australian groups, and others) which show that when they switch from their normal diets to a Western diet high in sugars and processed foods, they gain a tremendous amout of weight and/or become diabetic. They also develop other diseases such as heart disease. When a group of Indigenous Australians returned to homeland and their normal diets and activity, their chronic illnesses improved dramatically.

Here is an interesting article on Indigenous people and the effect of the Western diet.

http://ncp.sagepub.com/content/25/6/585.full

[jules2551]

So I wonder about Sweet N Low and Splenda products?

Interesting topic!

Have a great day everyone

Jules

[Willy50]

This is one of those presentations in which one needs to possibly watch it a few times to catch more, but one of the I believe that the message is that we are eating more and more sugar; they are putting it in everything.  Yes, in bread, it is in my canned tomatoes, etc.  So #1 we are facing a higher intake of sugar than EVER before.

#2.... and this would be in CAPS, that HFCS.....High Fructose Corn Syrup if radically different than regular sugars.  It is metabolized differently;

"Fructose is not glucose"  43:00

"What the liver does to fructose is really unique" 43:05

----------------Fructose is not glucose-----------------------
1)  Fructose is 7 times more likely than glucose to form Advanced Glycation End-products (AGE's)

2)  Fructose does not Suppress ghrelin

3)  Acute fructose does not stimulate insulin (or leptin)

4)  Hepatic fructose metabolism is different.

5)  Chronic fructose metabolism promotes Metabolic Syndrome.

44:30
Chronic fructose exposure alone, nothing else, causes this thing we call the Metabolic Syndrome.....everybody knows what the metabolic syndrome is? This is the conglomerate of the following different phenomena; obesity, type 2 diabetes, lipid problems, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.  Those all cluster together.  44:40

This is worth a view.

This presentation is of import to regular, so called healthy people and .....i believe.... that it has even greater importance to people with liver disease.

Since our immune response may also be impacted by sugar this may further impact upon us.  This presentation does not really address that subject.
------------------------
a little more.......
51:24
Ethanol is a carbohydrate
CH3-Ch2-OH
But ethanol is also a toxin;

--------------------------------Acute Ethanol (alcohol) exposure------------------------
CNS Depression
Vasodiatation decreased blood pressure
Hypothermia
Tachocardia
Myocardial depression
Varial pupilary responses
Respiratory depression
Diuresis
hypoglycemia
Loss of motor control

ACUTE FRUCTOSE EXPOSURE.....
causes none of these

He talks about how alcohol affects the liver, and how alcohol causes cirrhosis at about 53:00

Basically, when you consume 120 calories of sugar a limited amount of those calories end up being metabolized in the liver.  OTOH, when you consume alcohol, about 4 times the amount of those calories end up being metabolized by the liver.

He then proceeds to explain who HFCS ends up being metabolized almost exactly the same as alcohol.

This is very serious if you are healthy.  If you have liver disease it is much more serious.  He does not go into this in the talk, but I urge people to spend the time and to start looking at the food one eats and the sugar type and quantity that you partake.

willy

[pooh55811]

"meanwhile I am sitting here eating Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies with my medication"

LOL, I had to laugh at that one. My cousin was telling me he lost about 25-30 pounds by diet change and his wife added that it was mostly by breaking off his relationship with Little Debbie products.  

[crigger]

I am glad you posted this. I was thinking I have been preaching at people to stop smoking and drinking meanwhile I am sitting here eating Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies with my medication.  One thing is saving my life while the other is killing me. I do know better but do it any way.It would be sad to get rid of Hepc. And end up with DM and heart disease .Thanks for a kick in Butt.

[suezeeque]

Your liver contains stored sugar.  Your liver will squirt out stored sugar throughout the day to keep you going while you aren't eating anything.  

I have T1 (autoimmune) diabetes and use an insulin pump.  I've been told that I have "hypoglycemic unawareness" caused by keeping my blood sugar very low (I don't want to lose my eyes, feet or kidneys!).  I don't experience the symptoms of hypoglycemia the way other people do.  Shaking, sweating, tunnel vision followed by unconsciousness.  I go straight to unconsciousness without the symptoms.

I wonder if, due to HCV, my liver isn't able to store sugar properly?  Causing me to "crash" immediately rather than gradually?

I know that alcohol consumption is incredible dangerous for those with T1 diabetes because it interferes with the liver's ability to respond to dropping blood sugar by releasing stores.

Hmmm...