Why Was Dr. Haendiges Fat

I am going to share with you the history of the obesity epidemic. There have been many resources published that contain this information. However, I am going to attempt a succinct summary.

So many people tell me that they have a slow metabolism and therefore they can not lose weight. In 99.99% of my patients that is NOT the case.

If you are interested in this history, I would suggest you read my resource material , The Omnivore's Dilemma, for the complete story. For now, I am going to paraphrase our history of Obesity. In 1966 the industrialization of the discovery of the oxidase process to convert glucose to fructose was really disastrous to our society. In addition, in the 1970's the USDA sought to decrease the price of food and make for more rapid production of food. Therefore, there was a major increase in corn for human consumption. In reality, you can see how this was needed. As our population grew, we certainly did need more food. In hindsight, it was the worst disaster in American dieting history. In conjunction with this, the medical powers to be began an all out assault on the dietary reduction in Coronary Artery Disease. The movement that gained the most momentum was in essence the wrong one. There was a huge push to decrease the saturated fat in our diet. This was the wrong push.

What the medical establishment did was to focus on the goal of reducing the LDL levels. Since this time, there have been several studies that have demonstrated little to NO-effect of low-fat diets on weight gain or Cardiovascular disease. There are, in essence, two types of LDL. There is the large buoyant Type A LDL that is driven by dietary fat and there is the Type B LDL that is driven by carbohydrate and fructose consumption. It is the Type B that is associated with an increase in Cardiovascular disease.

Also, there is ample research and evidence that the triglyceride epidemic is primarily related to fructose consumption. So, we have been told to stay away from fats and our society is plagued with a significant increase in Alzheimer's Disease, ADHD, Depression, and Cancers.

There has been such evidence that the AHA nutrition Committee was established to publish a policy statement on the negative role of sugars in the pathogenesis of CVD.

The metabolism of fructose is quite different from the metabolism of glucose. When you want to compare the effects of fructose on the liver, you really have to compare it to alcohol, without the buzz. When a person eats 120kcal of glucose, less than 1 kcal will contribute to adverse metabolic outcomes. However, when 120 kcal of sucrose, which is 60 kcal of glucose and 60 kcal of fructose, the entire 60 kcal of fructose reaches the liver. In reality 40 kcal of the original will contribute to disease. This is a huge increase of metabolic disease.

The real problem leads to the lack of satiety that High Fructose Corn Syrup and Fructose yields. This leads to an incredible over-consumption because there is no "reward" sensation given to the midbrain. Fructose also leads to a high rise in insulin and this mechanism alone causes most of the negative metabolic effects.

It is very clear that the effect of Fructose on our "pleasure center" in our brain does lead to Obesity, Depression, and Sugar craving and consumption in epidemic numbers. I challenge you to look at every label of all food products that you eat over the next week. I do challenge you to document every time you consume High Fructose Corn Syrup. You might want to get a large pad of paper!