Dr. Robert Lustig Explains Why Fructose Has More To Do With Obesity And Disease Than Carbohydrate
Filed under: Podcast — @ July 5, 2010
The best part about interviewing people who are a part of the diet, fitness and health industry is watching what concepts attract people to the message of healthy living. While it can sometimes seem that most people are apathetic when it comes to health, the truth is people are hungry for real deal information without any pretense or propaganda. So when a respected medical or nutritional professional comes along with ideas that run counter to what we have always believed and yet makes a compelling case, it’s nearly impossible to ignore what they have to say. That’s precisely what has happened to today’s podcast interview guest who has become a bona fide YouTube nutritional rock star in the low-carb community although he himself doesn’t believe in the concept of carbohydrate-restriction and originally declined all requests to appear on the podcast.
In Episode 378 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore,” we are pleased to welcome a neuroendocrinologist from The University of California San Francisco (UCSF) named Dr. Robert Lustig who presented a now-infamous lecture in July 2009 called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” that has been viewed nearly a half million times in less than a year! Every low-carb blog, forum, and web site out there has been promoting this 90-minute lecture like a madman and I knew right away Dr. Lustig would be an outstanding interview guest. However, when initially approached for an interview, his nearly immediate response was “I don’t believe in low-carb.” After appearing as a guest on Sean Croxton’s radio show earlier this year and being convinced by Sean that my podcast is about overall nutritional health, Dr. Lustig changed his mind and agreed to an interview to discuss his views on low-carb diets and fructose.
Listen to Dr. Robert Lustig share how he got interested in the subject of fructose, how the hormone leptin got him thinking about this issue, the glucose/insulin mechanism that determines whether it is used as energy or stored as body fat, his forthcoming studies on children and fructose, why he slightly disagrees with his research colleague Dr. Richard Johnson on fructose, what his impression of Gary Taubes’ Good Calories Bad Calories is and the possible corroboration on a book about sugar, why he did his lecture on sugar and his reaction to the overwhelming response it has received online, why he hasn’t sought any media attention as a diet guru, how the politics behind the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines have blacklisted him and other low-carb, high-fiber experts from being selected for the advisory committee, what the public should do in response to ill-advised diet recommendations, why he believes in “safe carb” over “low-carb,” the amylase vs. amylopectin debate, why glycemic load is more important than glycemic index, the fiber connection to glycemic load, the insulin resistance factor in obesity and disease, why low-carb diets work (the removal of fructose from the diet), his thoughts on whether a fructose-free diet can produce high insulin levels, why fruit juice is worse for you than sugary soda, why a high-fiber diet has long been viewed as healthy and how modern fiber intake is woefully inept, the customization of the diet that’s right for you known as nutrigenomics, why he doesn’t believe fructose is the sole cause of obesity (but it is the primary cause of the current obesity epidemic), his five reasons why being obese is not your fault, whether he changed his mind about anything since the 2009 lecture, why agave nectar and honey are no better for you than sugar, whether saturated fat is harmful to health, and the impact of nutrition on the growth development of a baby into an adult.
