Sugar: Hiding in plain sight - Robert Lustig

1,312,051 views ・ 2014-03-31

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:08
Sugar is playing hide and seek with you.
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You'd think it would be pretty easy for you to win,
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considering all the sugar in
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sodas, ice cream, candy, and big white bags labeled sugar.
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People get about half of their added sugars
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from those drinks and treats,
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so it might seem like sugar
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is hiding in plain sight,
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but like someone in the witness protection program,
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the other half is hidden in places you'd least suspect.
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Check the ingredients on ketchup, bologna,
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spaghetti sauce, soy milk, sports drinks,
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fish sticks, and peanut butter.
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You'll find sugar hiding in most of those products.
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In fact, you'll find added sugars
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in three-quarters of the more than 600,000 items
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available in grocery stores.
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But how is sugar hiding?
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Can't you just look on food labels?
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It's not that easy.
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Just like your friend Robert
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might go by Bob, Robby, Rob, Bobby, or Roberto,
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added sugar has a lot of aliases.
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And by a lot, we don't mean five or six,
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try fifty-six.
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There's brown rice syrup, barley malt,
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demerara, Florida Crystals, muscovado,
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and, of course, high fructose corn syrup,
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sometimes called HFCS, or corn sugar.
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Even sugar's tricky nicknames have nicknames.
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Grape or apple concentrate has the same effects on your body
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as its 55 sugary twins.
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And even though organic evaporated cane juice sounds healthy,
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when you evaporate it,
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you get sugar!
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Chemically speaking, it's all the same.
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And even trickier,
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when multiple added types of sugars
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are used in one type of product,
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they get buried down in a long list of ingredients,
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so the sugar content might appear to be okay,
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but when you add them all together,
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sugar can be the single biggest ingredient.
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Currently, the FDA doesn't suggest
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a recommended daily limit for sugar,
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so it's hard to tell if this 65 grams in a bottle of soda
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is a little or a lot.
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But the World Health Organization recommends
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limiting sugar to just 5% of your total calories,
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or about 25 grams per day.
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So, 65 grams is well over twice that amount.
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But just what is sugar?
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What's the difference between glucose and fructose?
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Well, both are carbohydrates
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with the same chemical composition
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of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
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But they have very different structures
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and behave quite differently in our bodies.
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Glucose is the best source of energy
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for nearly all organisms on Earth.
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It can be metabolized by all organs in the body.
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Fructose, on the other hand,
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is metabolized primarily in the liver,
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and when your liver gets overloaded
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with sweet, sweet fructose,
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the excess is metabolized to fat.
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Fresh fruits actually contain fructose,
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but it's naturally occurring
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and doesn't cause an overload
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because the fiber in fruit slows its absorption.
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This gives your liver the time it needs
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to do its job.
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It's sugar that makes cookies chewy
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and candy crunchy.
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It even turns bread crust a beautiful, golden brown.
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It's also a great preservative;
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it doesn't spoil or evaporate,
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so the foods it's added to are easier
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to store and ship long distances
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and tend to be cheaper.
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That's why sugar is hiding everywhere.
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Actually, it might be easier to list the foods
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that added sugar isn't hiding in,
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things like: vegetables, eggs, meats,
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fish, fruit, raw nuts, even your kitchen sink.
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Simply choosing water over soda, juices, and sports drinks
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is a great way to avoid hidden added sugar.
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At the very least,
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try to pay attention to food labels,
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so you can keep your sugar intake at a healthy level.
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Because in this game of hide and seek,
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every time you don't find added sugar,
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you win!
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