The Reinventing the Supermarket Podcast Series
#11 Dr. Robert Lustig – Fructose: Why Processed Sugars Are So Deadly
We are joined by paediatric endocrinologist Dr Robert Lustig. Dr Lustig is well known in the field of nutrition for his epic lecture titled Sugar: The Bitter Truth, which has attracted millions of views on youtube. The issue that Dr Lustig was calling to the world’s attention in that lecture is that when we think of sugar in terms of “calories”, we’re really missing the point. The problem with sugar is that it’s a major source of fructose, and fructose overconsumption is underpinning many of the deadly metabolic diseases of our time, including cardiovascular disease, hypertension, dementia, diabetes and yes, obesity. Dr Lustig is also the author of the acclaimed book Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease.
We live in an era in which, in addition to the societal obesity epidemic, there’s also an epidemic of babies being born with obesity, and also of young children developing the same constellation of diseases that we used to only attribute to alcoholism. These problems are not because unborn babies are lazy and gluttonous or because parents are giving their small children alcohol. These are issues being driven by sugar overconsumption and more precisely, by the fructose that’s in sugar. But how much is too much when it comes to sugar? And should obesity rates be the metric of success we use in the current war against sugar?
In this discussion we break out the difference between glucose and fructose and the deadly effects that fructose overconsumption causes in the human body.
Dr. Robert Lustig graduated from MIT in 1976, and received his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1980. He completed his pediatric residency at St. Louis Children’s Hospital in 1983, and his pediatric endocrine fellowship at UCSF in 1984. From there, he spent six years as a research associate in neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University. He has been on the faculty both at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and at the University of Tennessee and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. Dr. Lustig has authored 90 peer-reviewed articles and 50 chapter and reviews. He has mentored 22 pediatric endocrine fellows, and trained numerous other allied health professionals. He provides endocrinologic support to several protocols of the Children’s Oncology Group. He is the current chairman of the ad hoc obesity task force of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society, a member of the pediatric obesity practice guidelines subcommittee of The Endocrine Society, a member of the obesity task force of the Endocrine Society, a member of the pediatric obesity devices committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a member of the steering committee of the International Endocrine Alliance to Combat Obesity, and a member of the board of directors of the American Heart Association of the Bay Area. He is the author of many articles, chapters, and reviews on childhood obesity, including the volume “Obesity Before Birth” (Endocrine Updates, Springer, New York, 2010), and a book for the public, “Fat Chance: beating the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity, and disease” (Hudson Street Press, New York, 2012).
