Autism: A Brain Under Attack

By Dr. Scott Olson

While the number of children with autism continues to climb, the reason for this devastating disease has remained a mystery.

A central mechanism (or a theory that explains the entire disease) has been elusive, but Russell Blaylock MD, author of Excitotoxins, has recently authored scientific articles that support the notion that autism may be the result of chronic microglial activation.

What exactly is chronic microglial activation? Let’s take a look.

What is in Your Head?

If you were to ask someone what their brains are made out of, their most likely answer would be to say that their brains are made out of nerves. This, it turns out, is not true.

Saying that the brains are made up of nerves is a little like saying that the universe is full of stars (ignoring the immensity of space that surrounds those stars). The trap is obvious: Stars are bright and interesting, and we tend to focus on them because they are shiny; the rest (we assume) is just empty space.

The same has been true of our brains: Nerves only make up 10 percent of the brain, yet have commanded all our attention. While the nerves are interesting and easy to see (just like the stars), it is the other 90 percent of the brain (mostly filled with cells called glial cells) that play a vital role in the brain functioning and development.

Understanding glial cells and how they react to conditions in our environment has lead Dr. Blaylock to his unified theory of brain destruction in general, and specifically to why the brains of autistic patients don’t work well.

Glia Cells

Glia or glial cells make up 90 percent of the brain. The term “glia,” is derived from the Greek word for glue and was coined by Rudolph Virchow, a Polish scientist, who observed the glial cells held the brain together. For many years, these glial cells were thought to be inert and non-functioning; they were simply thought to be the putty holding the whole messy tangle of nerves together in the brain.

In recent years, though, scientists have begun to sit up and notice the glial cells, and – in particular for those interested in autism – the microglial cells.

The microglial cells are a unique type of brain cell that make up 20 percent of the glial cells (or 15 percent of the entire brain mass). These microglial cells act as the immune system for the brain and this is important because when these microglial cells become chronically activated, the end result is destruction of brain cells.

Activated Microglial Cells

Normally the microglial cells are just sitting there in a passive mode, ready to protect the brain. In certain cases, though, these cells go crazy and become “activated.” When microglial cells become activated, it spells disaster for a brain, notably for developing brains.

When microglial cells become active, especially when they become chronically activated, they dump neurotoxins (or nerve toxins) into the brain. These toxins called excitotoxins (mostly glutamate and quinolinic acid) excite nerves to fire. When microglial cells continuously dump glutamate and quinolinic acid into the brain, the result – over the long term – is nerve cell death.

The blessing and problem with human brains is that they develop over a long period of time. The brain begins developing in the womb and continues largely until the child is around four years old. While this type of brain development has its advantages (it may be why we are as smart as we are), is also means that there are almost five years when childrens brains especially need to be protected from attack from excitotoxins.

Excitotoxins

The question that is probably running around in your head by now is how do you stop these excitotoxins?

Good question.

To understand how to stop excitotoxins from harming the brain, you have to take a detour to a scientific lab where excitotoxins were discovered. In 1969, John Olney, a scientist, discovered that the brains of experimental animals could be destroyed by giving them monosodium glutamate or MSG during key stages in development.

There are two things you should notice about what Olney discovered. The first is that monosodium glutamate is a substance that contains the exact same chemical (glutamate, an excitotoxin) that the microglial cells secrete when they become chronically activated.

The second thing you want to notice is that MSG is a food additive.

Now you can understand that there are two ways that brains can be destroyed by excitotoxins. The first is that excitotoxins can show up in our environment (in the foods we eat, the chemicals we are exposed to, the air we breathe…) and the second is excitotoxins can be released by chronically stimulating microglial cells.

These two ways, while different, are actually closely related. Many toxins in our environment can actually stimulate the microglial cells to become “primed” or ready for activation or act directly as excitotoxins.

Excitotoxicity

The toxins that tend to lead to chronic microglial activation or act as excitotoxins directly are these:
• Mercury: Mercury, a heavy metal, gets special mention because not only has it shown up in vaccines, but it is also used in dentistry, and is present in some foods (mainly fish and seafood).
• Other Heavy metals: fluoride, lead, cadmium, and aluminum and others.
• Gluten: a protein found in wheat and other grains.
• Casein: a protein found in milk products.
• Food Additives: The food additives that cause the most problems are those that contain glutamate and aspartate.

There are also some thoughts that gut dysbiosis may also lead to microglial activation. Gut dysbiosis is a general term for an imbalanced gut ecology and is often marked by an overgrowth of the yeast Candida.

What to do?

The simply answer is to protect our children’s brains for chemical and environmental insults.
• Avoid vaccinations: I know this is controversial and many people won’t agree, but there are many unknowns about the long-term health of children taking so many vaccinations. The upsurge in autism occurred somewhere in the 1990s, which coincided with an increase in the number of vaccines our children are receiving (the number of suggested vaccines increased from 10 to around 36).

You have two strategies if you don’t want to avoid vaccines altogether. The first is to wait until children are older; this allows their brains and immune systems to develop more before introducing vaccines. The other strategy is to pick-and-choose; you don’t have to have every vaccination, despite what some authorities are suggesting.

• Avoid food additives: While you might think it is easy to avoid MSG, it is not. MSG, or something like it, can be found it almost every prepared food you eat (notice I didn’t say all the food you eat, but almost every prepared food you eat). The foods with the most MSG-like food additives are soups, gravies, diet anything, including diet soft drinks, most frozen foods, sauces, salad dressing, and more. These food additives have names such as yeast extract, textured protein, soy protein extract, MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, vegetable protein, sodium or calcium caseinate and more. And, yes, these food additives show up in baby food as well. If you pick up a package and it has more than four ingredients, set it down and move to the next one.

• Avoid artificial sweeteners: NutraSweet® and Equal® contain aspartate (an excitotoxin) and should be avoided. Other artificial sweeteners are just as bad for your health and the health of our children.

• Keep your house clean: It goes without saying that you should avoid as many chemicals as possible and the house is a major source of many toxic exposures. There are many natural solutions to using chemical cleaners in your home.

Most of what I have suggested is for people who want to avoid the damage done by excitotoxins and is a good preventative. If you child already has autism, then following the above suggestions are likely to help, although some damage may be irreversible. Reports on the removal of gluten and dairy from the diet are encouraging, but need more study. A gluten and dairy free diet is certainly worth a trial to determine if dietary interventions will help.

Works consulted:

1. Millward C, Ferriter M, Calver S, Connell-Jones G. Gluten- and casein-free diets for autistic spectrum disorder. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Apr 16;(2):CD003498.
2. Blaylock RL. A possible central mechanism in autism spectrum disorders, part 3: the role of excitotoxin food additives and the synergistic effects of other environmental toxins. Altern Ther Health Med. 2009 Mar-Apr;15(2):56-60.
3. Blaylock RL. A possible central mechanism in autism spectrum disorders, part 2: immunoexcitotoxicity. Altern Ther Health Med. 2009 Jan-Feb;15(1):60-7.
4. Blaylock RL. A possible central mechanism in autism spectrum disorders, part 1. Altern Ther Health Med. 2008 Nov-Dec;14(6):46-53.
5. Whitehouse CR, Boullata J, McCauley LA. The potential toxicity of artificial sweeteners. AAOHN J. 2008 Jun;56(6):251-9; quiz 260-1.

Related reading:

Autism Awareness Month

Autism: 10 Strategies for Implementing Diet Changes

The Autism Diet Connection

Autism: 10 Tips for Everyone

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Is Fake Sugar Making You Fat?

By Dr. Scott Olsen, author of “Sugarettes”

How do artificial sweeteners cause obesity?

When people first start to think about a sugar-free diet, they think they should reach for artificial sweeteners. This may not be the best idea.

Here is the crux of the problem with artificial sweeteners: They don’t do what you want them to do: keep your weight down. Artificial sweeteners claim to be all the good taste without the calories, but behind this claim is another reality.

If you ignore the fact that all artificial sweeteners are chemicals foreign to your body and that they have been blamed for many health problems, you still want to avoid them if you are trying to lose weight.

Studies have shown that people using artificial sweeteners actually consume more calories than people who don’t. (1) The reasons behind this are simple: you are tricking your body when you eat these sweeteners and your body doesn’t like to be tricked.

When you eat something sweet (artificial or not) you set off a series of reactions in the body that eventually leads to an increase in insulin. Whenever insulin increases, blood sugar will drop.

So, imagine a situation where you are drinking a sugar-free soda, but no other calories: insulin goes up, your blood sugar goes down, and you then feel hungry. And what do you do when you feel hungry? You eat.

I also think that you are training your body to expect something sweet when you continue to eat artificial sweeteners. People who go on a true non-sugar diet have a readjustment of their tastes buds and adapt to a lower level of sweetness.

People who eat artificial sweeteners never do this. This means whenever full-calorie foods are around, at say, a birthday party, you will be tempted to eat them. This just continues your sugar addiction.

What kinds of sweeteners are HEALTHY for us to use?

The answer to this question is really: none. The reason why there are no sweeteners that are good for us is that sweeteners do not exist in nature (except for honey). All the problems mentioned above are due to super-concentrating a food and creating a sweetener and our bodies are simply not designed to handle.

There are two sweeteners that fall into the category of maybe-not-so-bad, and if you find that you simply cannot do without some form of sweetener, then you can turn to xylitol or Stevia. Of the two, Stevia is much better. Stevia is an herb that has no calories but still has a super-sweet taste.

It takes a while to learn how to cook with it because you only have to use a small amount, but it can be substituted in most places you use sugar. Stevia has the added bonus of actually helping to improve blood sugar control.(2) The only problem with using Stevia is that the addiction to super-sweet tasting foods remains and can lead to eating sugar again.

Xylitol is a sugar that doesn’t raise blood sugar as much as other sugars and has been shown to actually help with cavity prevention.(3) Once again, though, xylitol is a sugar and should be used in moderation.

References:

1.Lavin JH, French SJ, Read NW: The effect of sucrose- and aspartame-sweetened drinks on energy intake, hunger and food choice of female, moderately restrained eaters. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 1997 Jan;21(1):37-42.
2.Chen TH, Chen SC, et al. Mechanism of the hypoglycemic effect of stevioside, a glycoside of Stevia rebaudiana. Planta Med. 2005 Feb;71(2):108-13.
3.Tanzer JM. Xylitol chewing gum and dental caries. Int Dent J. 1995 Feb;45(1 Suppl 1):65-76.

Recommended Reading: Sugarettes

Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author, and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction.

The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which details the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies.

Dr. Scott also maintains a blog which highlights the latest in health and healthy living. Subscribe or stop by to check out his latest research on sugar addiction.

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Corn Syrup, Is it Really Just Like Sugar?

The Corn Industry is spending massive amounts of advertising dollars trying to convince us that high-fructose-corn syrup is just as “good for you” as sugar. But does it really matter? Let’s talk to Dr. Scott Olsen about the differences between sugar and high-fructose-corn-syrup.

In your medical opinion…what is worse: Sugar or high fructose corn syrup?

Dr. Olsen: This is a little like asking if you would rather be shot or stabbed: both are bad. There is a lot of stir in the media lately about high fructose corn syrup and how it is different than sugar and the research on corn syrup does show it behaves differently in our bodies.

What you need to know about fructose is that the body can’t use it, so whenever you consume fructose, the body has two choices. The first is that it can convert the fructose into glucose and then the body can use the glucose to power all its energy needs. The second choice is that the body can choose to store the fructose as fat.

There is some evidence that the body finds it easier to make that second choice: turning the fructose into fat. (11) Since our consumption of high fructose corn syrup has increased dramatically in the last few years along with the rate of obesity, it makes us wonder if fructose is to blame.

FRUCTOSE ALSO:

• Creates harmful proteins, called glycated proteins, much easier than glucose.(12)
• Leads to insulin insensitivity (and, therefore: diabetes and obesity as well).(13)
• Contributes to hypertension (high blood pressure).(14)

While avoiding both sugar and high fructose corn syrup is probably your best health choice, keeping high fructose corn syrup out of your diet is the next best step.

Notes:
11. Bray GA, Nielsen SJ, Popkin BM: Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Apr;79(4):537-43.
12. Colaco CA. Sugar and coronary heart disease, a molecular explanation. J R Soc Med. 1993 Apr;86(4):243.
13. Miller A, Adeli K. Dietary fructose and the metabolic syndrome. Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2008 Mar;24(2):204-9.
14. Johnson RJ, Segal MS, Sautin Y, et al: Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Oct;86(4):899-906.

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Press Release: Free Pre-Registration on 30 Day’s Sugar Free

Natural Medicine Press Release: 30 Day’s Sugar Free Challenge starts Jan 1st

Status: Available for immediate re-distribution, creative commons copyright.

Who: Dr. Scott Olson ND, the author of a new book, Sugarettes, claims that sugar is both addictive and harmful, much like cigarettes.

What: Dr. Scott is issuing a challenge to spend 30 Sugar Free Days to draw attention to the burgeoning health crisis created by sugar over-consumption.

When: January is typically a time to focus on weight loss, but the 30 Sugar Free Days Challenge is a call to take the next step and create a weight loss program that is also a health program. The challenge starts on Jan 1st 2009 and pre-registration is free.

Why: Sugar consumption has dramatically increased in the last decades. It is estimated that people in the developed world are now eating somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of a pound of sugar every day - for a total of over 150 pounds of sugar a year.

While most people deny eating that much sugar, 1/4 pound of sugar a day is actually fairly easy to achieve. Calculating daily sugar consumption requires knowing how much sugar is in a pound: 1 pound of sugar is equal to 120 teaspoons, and 1/4 pound of sugar is equal to 30 teaspoons.

Finding 30 teaspoons of sugar in a typical diet is easy.

For example, each 12-ounce soda contains 8 teaspoons of sugar; it takes only four (small) sodas (or one Super 42-ounce drink) a day to equal 1/4 pound. Not everyone drinks four sodas a day, but one or two are very common. When other sugars found in the diet are added to the soda, such as those found in donuts (8-10 teaspoons), jams (3 teaspoons per tablespoon), cookies (2-4 teaspoons per cookie), candy or other snacks, and the so-called “hidden sugars” found in salad dressing, bread, peanut butter and other foods are added, it is easy to see that large amounts of sugar are being consumed daily.

This sugar consumption is not without its consequences as sugar is at least partly responsible for our epidemic of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and premature aging.

How: Sign up at www.OlsonND.com for free professional coaching! Pre-registration before Jan 1st is FREE! Don’t forget to grab your copy of Sugarettes for more motivation on kicking the sugar habit once and for all.

Source: KitchenTableMedicine.com

Our press releases and “Kitchen Table Cliffnotes” are ALL “creative commons copyrighted” meaning unlike the rest of our KitchenTableMedicine.com content, you are free to copy and paste this press release directly to your blog or website to share with your own readers. We of course do simply request that you keep all links intact and give us credit by linking back to http://KitchenTableMedicine.com as the original news source. Thanks!

If you have a natural medicine press release that includes a special offer for kitchen table readers simply contact us.

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

3 Reasons to Care About Excess Sugar Consumption

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving Feast and did their best. If you are still struggling to get back on the Whole Foods Wagon I have invited Dr. Scott Olson, author of Sugarettes to chat with us about why we need to care about excess sugar consumption.

Hi Dr. Scott, why is the title of your latest book “Sugarettes”?

The name of my book came about as I was talking with a group of people about how destructive I felt sugar could be.

While I was talking, I was searching for an analogy to explain how drawn to sugar we are and how it destroys our health, when it occurred to me that cigarettes and sugar shared many common traits. I first said that sugar was like a “sugar-cigarette” and then the word “Sugarettes” stumbled out of my mouth.

That stumble began the year-long journey of research to uncover the truth about sugar addiction. What I did not realize at the time I first spoke the word “Sugarettes” was just how similar sugar and cigarettes really are: Sugar is every bit as addictive and harmful as cigarettes. As smoke fills a smoker’s lungs it slowly destroys lung tissue – so slowly that it is barely noticeable. Likewise, when sugar enters our blood stream it leads to weight gain, alters our blood sugar control mechanisms, and destroys our blood vessels – all so slowly that no one notices.

Why should we care about how much sugar we are consuming?

On the surface, it looks as if nothing is wrong with the sugar we consume: we hand it out to children, it is in most of the foods we eat, and we give it as gifts or reward ourselves for a job well done… it seems perfectly harmless. Think of the images you have in your mind when you think of sugar: sweet little girls, all sorts or woodsy creatures dancing about, sunshine, rainbows… the list is endless. All those sweet images, though, hide the underlying destruction that is going on in our bodies every time we eat sugar.

Sugar causes three main health problems:

#1 The first is that sugar contributes to obesity. High blood sugar, which is the result of eating large amounts of sugar, leads to the need for the body to store that extra sugar and that storage occurs as fat. The scientific support for link between sugar consumption and obesity is growing every day. Obesity leads to an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some cancers.

#2 The second problem has to do with the blood sugar regulation mechanisms in our bodies. Many people know that high blood sugar is controlled by insulin. Eating high-sugar meals leads to ever-increasing amounts of insulin in the body.

This perpetually high amount of insulin can lead to a condition known as insulin insensitivity.We know the diseases cause by insulin insensitivity as metabolic syndrome and diabetes. These two diseases, in turn, lead to a whole host of other diseases such as hypertension, kidney disease, peripheral vascular disease, cataracts, neuropathy, and in extreme cases: blindness and loss of limbs (amputation).

#3 The third major problem with sugar is that it is directly toxic to the body. While the science behind this destruction is a bit complicated, essentially what the sugar is doing is forming complexes with proteins in the body called glycated proteins.

The major proteins in the body that sugar forms complexes with are the protein in our blood vessels.Sugar is effectively destroying the blood vessel system throughout the body similar to the way smoke destroys the lungs of a smoker. Glycated proteins lead to all the problems we see in diabetics and people who consume sugar on a regular basis.

The blood vessels become destroyed by these glycated proteins and stop supplying essential parts of the body with oxygen and nutrients. In the kidneys this destruction eventually leads to kidney failure, in the eyes it leads to blindness, in the legs it leads to gangrene, in the heart it leads to heart attacks, in the brain it leads to strokes and so on…

Should we care about how much sugar we are consuming?

The answer is yes.

Thanks for being a guest at my kitchen table Dr. Olson!

Sign up for the 30 Sugar Free Days challenge that starts over at www.OlsonND.com on Jan 1st.

Grab your required reading assignment Sugarettes over at Amazon.com for inspiration and yes, I am making this required reading for all Americans.

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Are You a Sugar Zombie?

By Dr. Scott Olson

Author of Sugarettes.

If you were a normal zombie, you would rise up out of your grave and stumble off in search of your craving: flesh. Sugar zombies, however, typically rise from their couch and go off in search of their craving: sugar. Sugar zombies yearning for sugar can sometimes only be satisfied with a pure sugary treat, but remember, certain foods act like sugar in the body (such are grains, chips, crackers, French fries and others…) and these “foods that act like sugar” are sometimes what the sugar zombie are searching for.

A funny thing about sugar zombies is that they can sometimes eat sugar even when they are not hungry and have just eaten. Do you remember going to a restaurant and having a full meal, and yet you still ordered desert? True sign of sugar zombieness.

Most people, when asked, will admit to some kind of sugar addiction and zombie-like behavior, but they often don’t realize just how strong that addiction can be, nor do they realize how much sugar can do to destroy their health.

What Science is Discovering about Zombies

Science is beginning to take sugar addiction serious. They have investigated how animals (mostly rats) act when they become addicted to sugar. Let’s take a peek inside the laboratory and see what they found out:

• Rats who were allowed to eat as much sugar as they like, eat a ton of it. If fact, they will often eat more sugar than any other type of food. Sometimes, they become so addicted to sugar that they become rat sugar zombies and sugar is all they will eat.(1)

• What happens when you addict rats to sugar and then take it away? Typically, they shake, tremble, become anxious and their teeth can even chatter.(2) They can also become much more aggressive. If this sounds like the symptoms of a junkie (or a zombie), you are exactly right. These typical withdrawal symptoms, show up in all sorts of other addictions, including smokers, drinkers, and drug addicts.

• Scientists took the next step, they addicted rats to sugar, took it away and then they brought it back. Guess what happened? The rats binged on the sugar and ate much more than they previously did. If this sounds a bit like the last time you went on a diet and gained more weight than you lost, then you are a true sugar zombie. Binging when the addiction is removed and then brought back is a clear sign of addiction.(3)

• When rats are under stress, they eat more sugar.(4) Once again, I’m guessing that this sounds a bit familiar to you? Do you eat more sugar when you are stressed?

• Scientists have discovered that the brains of rats change when they become addicted to sugar and the changes in their brains are very similar to those of other addicts, including smokers, alcoholics and drug addicts.(5)

• To test if a substance is really addictive, scientists will give animals the addicting substance (alcohol, drugs, nicotine…) and then give them a drug called an opioid antagonist. What the opioid antagonist does is block the brain from sensing the pleasurable aspects of the addicting substance. When opioid antagonists are given to sugar addicted zombie rats, they experience withdrawal exactly like rats addicted to morphine, alcohol or cigarettes.(6)

But are Zombies Hurt By Sugar?

Here is the real question you want to get to: You are a confirmed sugar zombie, but what is wrong with that? Well, it turns out, a lot! Sugar harms your body in three ways: it increases your weight, it leads to problems with insulin and blood sugar control, and it has a toxic effect on our blood vessels.

Let’s take a look:

• Weight Gain: According to the scientific and medical communities sugar is really not associated with weight gain. These health professionals will tell you that sugar contributes to weight gain because it contains calories. This is true. But sugar also contributes to weight gain just because it is sugar. It works this way: Your body has certain basic energy needs and sugar (mostly glucose) is the fuel that runs your body. Once you have enough sugar-fuel for all your energy needs, your body tends to store all the extra sugar as fat (and sugar zombies eat meals that often create a large amount of extra sugar in the blood that will get turned into fat).(7)

• Insulin Resistance: Sugar contributes to insulin resistance whenever blood sugar levels in the blood spike too high too often. When blood sugar levels in the body rise, insulin in the body also rises. Consistently high amounts of insulin in the body will eventually lead to cells down-regulating (or removing) insulin receptors; this eventually leads to a condition called insulin resistance (were the cells of the body are resistant to insulin) and diabetes. Insulin resistance does not develop when blood sugar levels are kept low.(8)

• Toxic Effects: Surprisingly, sugar is actually toxic blood vessels in the exact same way cigarette smoke is toxic to the lungs. Sugar causes harm to the protein structure of the blood vessel walls, eventually leading to destruction. This destruction can be seen dramatically in diabetics who have kidney disease, eye disease, heart disease, tingling in hands and feet, and even blindness and loss of limbs – all due to the destruction of blood vessels. (9) This same destruction happens in sugar zombies who don’t have diabetes, only at a slower pace.

How to Break the Zombie Spell

Getting over sugar cravings is not easy, especially when you are a sugar zombie, but then getting over any addiction can be hard. Know that the efforts you make are well worth it as the destruction that sugar creates is enormous.

Try these tips to stop your zombie sugar cravings:

• Eat more often: while this seems backwards, eating more often is much better for your blood sugar, your metabolism, and your sugar cravings.

• Eat fruit: It is easy to overdo this, but focus on fruits that are low on the glycemic index and try to eat them after a meal where they affect blood sugar less.

• Brush your teeth: This is a trick many people use to stop cravings and it will help your zombie smile.

• Exercise: A simple walk is often enough to stop cravings as it gets you up and moving and away from your temptations.

Take these tips and walk away from your zombie life. Simply being aware that you are a sugar zombie will make a huge change in your life. Take your sugar craving seriously – as you would any other addiction: know that the road will be tough at times, but that you can do it. Your reward, on the other side of your addiction, is better sleep, more energy, less sugar zombie-like behavior and a healthier life.

Recommended Reading: Sugarettes

Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author, and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction.

The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which details the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies.

Dr. Scott also maintains a blog which highlights the latest in health and healthy living. Subscribe or stop by to check out his latest research on sugar addiction.

References:

1.Spangler R, Wittkowski KM, Goddard NL, et al: Opiate-like effects of sugar on gene expression in reward areas of the rat brain. Brain Res Mol Brain Res. 2004 May 19;124(2):134-42.
2.Colantuoni C, Rada P, McCarthy J, et al: Evidence that intermittent, excessive sugar intake causes endogenous opioid dependence. Obes Res. 2002 Jun;10(6):478-88.
3.Pelchat ML. Of human bondage: food craving, obsession, compulsion, and addiction. Physiol Behav. 2002 Jul;76(3):347-52.
4.Gosnell BA. Sucrose intake predicts rate of acquisition of cocaine self-administration. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2000 Apr;149(3):286-92.
5.Avena NM, Rada P, Hoebel BG: Evidence for sugar addiction: behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2008;32(1):20-39. Epub 2007 May 18.
6.Avena NM, Long KA, Hoebel BG: Sugar-dependent rats show enhanced responding for sugar after abstinence: evidence of a sugar deprivation effect. Physiol Behav. 2005 Mar 16;84(3):359-62.
7.Livesey G: Low-glycaemic diets and health: implications for obesity. Proc Nutr Soc. 2005 Feb;64(1):105-13.
8.Henriksen HB, Kolset SO: Sugar intake and public health. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen. 2007 Sep 6;127(17):2259-62.
9.Friedman EA: Advanced glycosylated end products and hyperglycemia in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. Diabetes Care. 1999 Mar;22 Suppl 2:B65-71.

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
©KitchenTableMedicine.com, LLC ™

Children are Eating their Weight in Sugar Each Year

By Dr. Scott Olson

Research shows children are eating their weight in sugar each year!

That bag of candy your child lugs home after a long night out trick-or-treating is certainly heavy, but, if your child is typical, that amount of sugar is only a small portion of what they are going to eat throughout the year.

Children, it appears, are eating their body weight in sugar every year.Recent research looking into what children are eating has found that they are eating more sugar than ever before and that the major source of all that sugar is exactly what you might guess: fruit juice and soda.

When all tallied, a typical child in America is eating somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 pound of sugar a day, that means somewhere between 100 to 150 pounds of sugar end up in their little bodies each year.

A study released by the journal, Pediatrics, looked into how much sugar children are getting from their drinks (soda and fruit juice); and here is what they found:

• Children get 10 to 15 percent of their total calories from these two drinks (soda and fruit juice).
• Children aged six to nineteen drank an average of 30 oz of soda or fruit juice every day.
• Two to five-year-olds drank an average of 15.5 oz of juice or soda a day.
• The size of an average drink a child consumes has climbed 46 percent (almost double) sine 1972.

It is astonishing to think that 10 to 15 percent of the calories these children are getting are coming from just soda and fruit juice, because that 10 to 15 percent doesn’t included added sugars from what they eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or the cookies, candies, ice cream or other sugary snacks they consume. It also doesn’t include the hidden sugars in crackers, chips, peanut butter or fast foods they eat.

Total sugar amounts become even crazier when adding all the additional foods they eat that act like sugar in their bodies such as starchy vegetable (such as potatoes) and many grains.

It is clear that our children are overdosing on sugar.

Really? A Half a Pound of Sugar a day?

Whenever I write that children (and, yes, adults too) eat between 1/4 to 1/2 pound of sugar a day, people always question the amount. Let’s see how easy it is to make eat that much sugar every day.
In order to make this calculation, you have to remember that 30 teaspoons of sugar is equal to 1/4 pound of sugar.

Look at how many teaspoons of sugar are in typical foods:

• Twelve ounces of soda contains 8 teaspoons of sugar, a 16oz soda contains 10.5 teaspoons.
• Breakfast cereals contain 4 to 6 teaspoons of sugar (more than that if they sprinkle sugar on top).
• Donuts contain between 8 to 20 teaspoons of sugar.
• Cookies have between 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar (each).
• For a more complete list, look here: Percentage Of Sugar In Common Foods.

Look how easy it is to get that 30 teaspoons (or 1/4 pound) of sugar:

• Three sodas almost gets you there.
• A few donuts would do the same.
• Breakfast cereal, a soda, peanut butter, a few cookies and desert means you hit your quota for the day.

Who’s Responsible?

The most surprising revelation in the article in journal, Pediatrics, was that fact that children are getting the bulk of this sugar at home. Most (55 to 70 percent) of sugar-sweetened beverages were consumed in the home, while only 7 to 15 percent in schools. Preschools and Daycare tilt the percentage away from parents as they typically hand out more sugary drinks than a regular school.

These results show that parents actually have a lot of influence over what their children are eating and need to consider these facts with every trip to the grocery store.

Is Everyday Halloween?

Yes, parents should be concerned about how much sugar their children are eating on Halloween, but this holiday is far from atypical when we are talking about sugar consumption. Kids are eating a lot of sugar every day.

The long-term affects of sugar-eating are many and children are especially susceptible to sugar as is shown by the incredible rise in childhood obesity and diabetes.

Parents can do a lot to determine the health of their children and help them to make better choices about sugar. Since the majority of the sugar eaten by children happens at home, it should be easy for parents to curtail its use. The first best step is to stop buying soda and fruit juice, which may cause a mini-revolt, but is in the best interest of everyone.

Reference: O’Connor TM, Yang SJ, Nicklas TA. Beverage intake among preschool children and its effect on weight status. Pediatrics. 2006 Oct;118(4):e1010-8. PMID: 17015497

~Dr. Scott Olson
Naturopathic Physician

Dr. Scott Olson is a Naturopathic doctor, expert in alternative medicine, author, and medical researcher. Spurred on by his patients’ struggles with sugar addiction, he was determined to discover how addictive and harmful sugar can be and ways to overcome that addiction.

The result of that study is his book Sugarettes, which details the addictive qualities of sugar and the harm that sugar does to our bodies.

Dr. Scott also maintains a blog which highlights the latest in health and healthy living. Subscribe or stop by to check out his latest research on sugar addiction.

Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD is a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor at Fountain Hills Naturopathic Medicine 16719 E Palisades Blvd, Suite 205, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268.

She believes we should utilize natural medicines to treat the root cause of disease rather than just treating symptoms, as symptoms are a message of imbalance sent from the body and will persist until they are properly addressed.

For appointments please visit http://FHnaturopathic.com for more information about Naturopathic Medicine services.
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