Does sugar really make you fat?

Can sugar contribute to obesity? Yes.

Can a person eat a lot of sugar and stay slim? Also if.

Many thin people eat a diet high in refined sugar. Think of all the teenagers who live on sodas and fast food. Therefore, logically, sugar is not the only cause of obesity. Of my four children, my son, who never has to worry about his weight, eats more sugar than his siblings, but he stays slim without trying.

There is no doubt that eating more calories than the body consumes leads to obesity. But does the body care if the calories come from sugar or from a healthy balance of fruits and vegetables, meat and potatoes?

At least in many cases, it seems that the answer is no. When patients are admitted to the hospital, they are commonly given intravenous fluids, which are mainly sugar water. Many of these patients lose weight, despite taking most of their calories in the form of glucose. Cancer patients and other people with serious illnesses survive on tube feeding alone for months or years. Many of these patients lose weight, despite the high carbohydrate content of the liquid diet. The total calories ingested are simply insufficient to meet the needs of the body. The body feeds on itself to make up for improper diet and weight loss results.

On the other hand, patients who are already overweight or obese often develop cravings for sugar or simple carbohydrates and find that these foods tend to maintain or worsen the overweight condition.

Stays here? Do doctors and scientists understand what is happening?

A few years ago they thought they had the answer. The discovery of leptin deficiency in massively obese mice led scientists to believe they had the answer for overweight humans as well. Leptin tends to inhibit appetite. Lack of this hormone causes mice (and people) to eat voraciously. However, it turns out that most overweight people have more leptin than leaner people. The biological system that controls appetite and weight turns out to be much more complicated than previously thought.

The scientists discovered that certain humans carry the mutation that leads to leptin deficiency and obesity at a young age. Treating these children with leptin helps to considerably reduce their body weight.

But what about the middle-aged adult who has watched the spare tire inflate over the years? Currently we don’t have a good answer except to eat less and exercise more. Avoiding sugar isn’t a bad idea: it’s so hard to limit intake to a reasonable amount that total abstinence may be an easier answer. But other simple carbohydrates can be just as bad for the body: white bread, white rice, white potatoes, breakfast cereals, and pasta.

The healthiest diet is one that consists mainly of vegetables and fruits, however many find this unsatisfying. No matter what scientists discover, one pill cannot be the answer for modern man. We just need to exercise more and eat healthier. The very thought makes me hungry for a piece of cake. What is a person to do? I’m pretty sure if we were to grow our own food we’d all be skinnier, I know I would be. Can I use my teenagers as an excuse for now?

Copyright 2010 Cynthia J. Koelker, MD