I have just seen the Ozzie documentary called “That Sugar Film”. It’s excellent. It follows a 30-something guy who changes his diet to reflect that of the average Australian, who generally eats 44 teaspoons of sugar a day! Shocking! The scariest part is that this isn’t in the form of actual table sugar, it’s HIDDEN sugar. YES, that means that in many people’s daily diet lurks 44 teaspoons of refined, toxic sugar.
The physiology is really well depicted. It explains how sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose. So when we flood our systems with sucrose from commercial products like fizzy drinks, sweetened dairy, cakes etc, our bodies metabolize the fructose in the liver where it gets stored as triglycerides. This is very harmful and is associated with an increased risk for heart and metabolic disease such as obesity, diabetes and even cancers.
It highlights the obvious changes (like dental cavities, weight gain and increased body fat) which become symptomatic after just 3 weeks! However the real value of this film is the way it shows the internal changes. This includes the increased triglyceride level, visceral fat (around the central organs), insulin and dopamine response triggering an addiction and psychological effects such depression. This film’s shock factor is huge!! But so is the effect of sugar 😉 it makes you think about every drop that you put into your mouth.
Remember: your body is your temple… You only have one chance at keeping it safe and healthy.