Five of 2013's newest health, diet and
exercise books. Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian
Fat Chance: The bitter truth about sugar by Dr Robert Lustig
Scientist Dr Robert
Lustig became a YouTube sensation in 2009, when a video in which he branded
sugar as poison gained more than 3m hits. Now he
has written
a book expanding on this claim, and it's frightening.
Lustig describes how we have been unable to address the worldwide obesity
crisis: while many overweight people manage to shed pounds, the number able to
keep the weight off permanently is extremely small. The problem has been put
down to us eating too much fat – but Lustig says the real culprit is sugar.
Globally our per capita
intake of sugar has increased by 50% in the past 50 years. And while all the
blame for the obesity crisis is being heaped on overweight individuals, the food
and drink industry is getting
away with filling us with ever more sugar.
Because sugar does not trigger the mechanism that tells our brain we need to
stop eating, we carry on regardless. The antidote, Lustig says, is fibre – to
move food more quickly through our bodies and tell the brain we are full – and
exercise. Lustig makes a compelling case for treating obesity in the same way
other public health crises have been handled, through higher taxes and reducing
availability. But it's a controversial view.He even suggests banning the sale of
fizzy drinks to children under 18.Dr Simon Coppack, a consultant for Barts Health NHS Trust, believes that Lustig ignores other factors: "There is no single cause for the obesity problem. It's fat as much as sugar, and alcohol – not to mention the lack of physical movement." I am not for a moment saying that sugar is good for you but to demonise it above all other causes is pushing it."
For you: if you need the motivation to step away from the sweets and start pounding the streets.
Read about the rest here
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