Category Archives: metabolic syndrome

Stress Reduction and Health

Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) has been demonstrated to have beneficial effects relative to several physiologic measurements in humans. These include improved immune status, decreased inflammation as measured by blood tests, improved DNA repair (increased telomere length), and alterations in metabolic activity in areas of the brain that are viewed as beneficial relative to stress, anxiety and pain as measured by functional MRI scan of the brain (fMRI). Similarly other forms of meditation have been studied relative to cardiovascular risk in humans. The results indicate that stress reduction from meditation can decrease the “composite risk of death, heart attack and stroke” by 48% in patients who have experienced a previous heart attack. (1)

“A selected mind-body intervention, the TM program, significantly reduced risk for mortality, myocardial infarction, and stroke in coronary heart disease patients. These changes were associated with lower blood pressure and psychosocial stress factors. Therefore, this practice may be clinically useful in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.”

This degree of protection exceeds the benefits of statin drugs in patients who have had a heart attack and exceeds the risk reduction accomplished by cardiac rehabilitation exercise programs.

A review of studies on the effects of meditation on cardiovascular disease reported: (2)

Psychosocial stress is a nontraditional risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that may respond to behavioral or psychosocial interventions. …. Randomized controlled trials, meta-analyses, and other controlled studies indicate this meditation technique reduces risk factors and can slow or reverse the progression of pathophysiological changes underlying cardiovascular disease. Studies with this technique have revealed reductions in blood pressure, carotid artery intima-media thickness, myocardial ischemia, left ventricular hypertrophy, mortality, and other relevant outcomes. The magnitudes of these effects compare favorably with those of conventional interventions for secondary prevention

Dr. Dean Ornish utilized both meditation and yoga training in his lifestyle intervention program along with moderate exercise, smoke cessation and elimination of junk food (low fat vegan diet). The results demonstrated reduced coronary artery plaque within 2 years. Although many have attributed this to the vegan low fat diet, I have suggested in the past that the beneficial results were accomplished by stress reduction, exercise, smoke cessation, and elimination of junk food (especially refined sugar, flour, trans-fats and refined vegetable oils)

Our culture is not attuned to the regular practice of meditation or yoga. When I recommend stress reduction with these techniques to my patients few pursue it despite providing them with detailed descriptions of the physical benefits demonstrated by medical studies. One does not need to become a Buddhist in order to benefit from the practice of meditation. In the early 1970s the first stress reduction clinic utilizing MBSR(Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) and Yoga was established at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center by Jon Kabat Zinn PhD. Since then many studies have documented the benefits of stress reduction relative to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, chronic pain management, depression and anxiety.

Patients who have experienced their first major depressive episode can reduce the risk of a subsequent major depressive episode by 50% simply practicing MBSR regularly.

Unlike drugs, angioplasty, coronary stents, surgery, and injections, meditation and yoga have no potential negative side effects or complications. They simply require time, practice and a modest amount of training. Inexpensive self-help books, CDs and on-line resources are available to get started. Measurable physiologic benefits are experienced within a few weeks. Blood pressure drops, stress hormones decrease, blood sugars come down, insulin sensitivity improves, immune cells work better, sleep improves, suffering from chronic pain decreases, and functional status improves. That’s a considerable amount of benefit achieved by simply sitting quietly and observing your breath as it moves in and out of your body.

Meditation and yoga are two ways to reduce stress. For a healthy life to achieve stress reduction we must examine many areas. What aspects of daily life can increase and decrease stress and our physiologic response to stress?

Important factors to consider include social isolation, physical and social contact with friends/family/pets, meaningful work, laughter and humor, time spent outdoors, exercise, proper sleep habits and exposure to natural rather than artificial light. These all play significant roles in governing our stress levels, physiologic response to stress and the attendant changes in health.

Social isolation is harmful while regular contact with family and friends is beneficial. Caring for a pet seems to reduce blood pressure and enhance longevity. Engaging in meaningful work for pay or as a volunteer is essential for health, longevity and happiness. Spending time outdoors regularly and cycling your daily activity with the sun (circadian rhythm normalization) are essential to health and stress reduction. Laughter and social interaction provide healing while rumination over problems causes illness. All of these aspects to healthy living deserve attention but if you are ill, overweight, suffer chronic pain, disability or substance abuse then meditation and yoga can have profoundly beneficial effects. When combined with a Paleolithic diet and adequate restorative sleep, stress reduction techniques provide a powerful healing pathway.

Below is a long list of links to articles related to stress reduction, meditation, and yoga in the areas of chronic pain, cardiovascular disease, cancer, pre-natal care, anxiety disorders, depression, insomnia, smoke cessation, burnout, immune function, inflammation, migraine, blood pressure control, traumatic brain injury and even psoriasis.

Read to your heart’s content.

Bob Hansen MD

(1) Stress reduction in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: randomized, controlled trial of transcendental meditation and health education in Blacks.

(2) Psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease Part 2: effectiveness of the Transcendental Meditation program in treatment and prevention.

Here is the long list of other references. I have tried to group them in categories. There is allot of overlap between categories so my classification is somewhat arbitrary.

Asthma

Yoga intervention for adults with mild-to-moderate asthma: a pilot study.

Cardiovascular Disease:

Stress reduction in the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: randomized, controlled trial of transcendental meditation and health education in Blacks.

Usefulness of the transcendental meditation pro… [Am J Cardiol. 1996] – PubMed – NCBI

A randomised controlled trial of stress reduction for hypertension in older African Americans.

Effect of meditation on endothelial function in Black Americans with metabolic syndrome: a randomized trial.

Is there a role for stress management in reducing hypertension in African Americans?

Trial of stress reduction for hypertension in older African Americans. II. Sex and risk subgroup analysis.

Yoga for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction for prehypertension.

Yoga Nidra relaxation increases heart rate variability and is unaffected by a prior bout of Hatha yoga.

Influence of psychosocial factors and biopsychosocial interventions on outcomes after myocardial infarction.

Trial of relaxation in reducing coronary risk: four year follow up.

When and why do heart attacks occur? Cardiovascular triggers and their potential role.

Emotional stressors trigger cardiovascular events.

How brain influences neuro-cardiovascular dysfunction.

CNS effects:

Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation

Central and autonomic nervous system interaction is altered by short-term meditation

Neruoimaging and EEG

Neural mechanisms of mindfulness and meditation: Evidence from neuroimaging studies.

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate

Mechanisms of white matter changes induced by meditation

Meditation’s impact on default mode network and hippocampus in mild cognitive impairment: a pilot study.

Mindfulness starts with the body: somatosensory attention and top-down modulation of cortical alpha rhythms in mindfulness meditation.

Effects of mindfulness meditation training on anticipatory alpha modulation in primary somatosensory cortex.

Cancer:

Increased mindfulness is related to improved stress and mood following participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program in individuals with cancer.

Impact of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) on attention, rumination and resting blood pressure in women with cancer: a waitlist-controlled study.

A non-randomized comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and healing arts programs for facilitating post-traumatic growth and spirituality in cancer outpatients.

One year pre-post intervention follow-up of psychological, immune, endocrine and blood pressure outcomes of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in breast and prostate cancer outpatients.

Impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on sleep, mood, stress and fatigue symptoms in cancer outpatients.

Keeping the balance–an overview of mind-body therapies in pediatric oncology.

Randomised controlled trials of yoga interventions for women with breast cancer: a systematic literature review.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction in relation to quality of life, mood, symptoms of stress and levels of cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and melatonin in breast and prostate cancer outpatients.

A pilot study evaluating the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction on psychological status, physical status, salivary cortisol, and interleukin-6 among advanced-stage cancer patients and their caregivers.

Can diet in conjunction with stress reduction affect the rate of increase in prostate specific antigen after biochemical recurrence of prostate cancer?

Meditation, melatonin and breast/prostate cancer: hypothesis and preliminary data.

Diabetes

Mindfulness-based stress reduction is associated with improved glycemic control in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a pilot study.

Immune System:

Alterations in brain and immune function produced by mindfulness meditation.

Insomnia and Sleep Physiology.

Mind-body interventions for the treatment of insomnia: a review.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction compared with cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of insomnia comorbid with cancer: a randomized, partially blinded, noninferiority trial.

Experienced mindfulness meditators exhibit higher parietal-occipital EEG gamma activity during NREM sleep.

I-CAN SLEEP: rationale and design of a non-inferiority RCT of Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the treatment of Insomnia in CANcer survivors.

New insights into circadian aspects of health and disease.

Irritable Bowel

Mindfulness-based stress reduction for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms: a randomized wait-list controlled trial.

Pain:

A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation.

The validation of an active control intervention for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

[Mindfulness-based therapeutic approaches: benefits for individuals suffering from pain].

Mindfulness-based stress reduction, mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, and Zen meditation for depression, anxiety, pain, and psychological distress.

Mindfulness starts with the body: somatos… [Front Hum Neurosci. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI

Altered anterior insula activation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditators.

Differential effects on pain intensity and unpleasantness of two meditation practices.

Self-directed Mindfulness Training and Improvement in Blood Pressure, Migraine Frequency, and Quality of Life.

Effectiveness of mindfulness meditation (Vipassana) in the management of chronic low back pain.

Mindfulness meditation in the control of severe headache.

The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain.

An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation: theoretical considerations and preliminary results.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction for chronic pain conditions: variation in treatment outcomes and role of home meditation practice.

Psych, Depression, Anxiety, Burnout, Students

Mindfulness meditation practices as adjunctive treatments for psychiatric disorders.

Reducing psychological distress and obesity through Yoga practice

Yoga and social support reduce prenatal depression, anxiety and cortisol.

Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-Being [Internet].

Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Tai chi training reduces self-report of inattention in healthy young adults.

Mindfulness for teachers: A pilot study to assess effects on stress, burnout and teaching efficacy.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Low-Income, Predominantly African American Women With PTSD and a History of Intimate Partner Violence.

Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for generalized anxiety disorder.

Three-year follow-up and clinical implications of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Enhanced response inhibition during intensive meditation training predicts improvements in self-reported adaptive socioemotional functioning.

Intensive meditation training improves perceptual discrimination and sustained attention.

Home-based deep breathing for depression in patients with coronary heart disease: a randomised controlled trial.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction lowers psychological distress in medical students.

Yoga and exercise for symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with poststroke disability: a randomized, controlled pilot trial.

The effect of yoga on coping strategies among intensive care unit nurses.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction and health-related quality of life in a heterogeneous patient population.

Developing mindfulness in college students through movement-based courses: effects on self-regulatory self-efficacy, mood, stress, and sleep quality.

Differential effects of mindful breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and loving-kindness meditation on decentering and negative reactions to repetitive thoughts.

Psychological and neural mechanisms of trait mindfulness in reducing depression vulnerability.

A narrative review of yoga and mindfulness as complementary therapies for addiction.

The acute effects of yogic breathing exercises on craving and withdrawal symptoms in abstaining smokers.

Yoga and massage therapy reduce prenatal depression and prematurity.

Mind-body interventions during pregnancy for preventing or treating women’s anxiety.

Misc. and General

Mindfulness-based interventions for physical conditions: a narrative review evaluating levels of evidence.

Evaluation of a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for caregivers of children with chronic conditions.

Empirical explorations of mindfulness: conceptual and methodological conundrums.

Mindfulness meditation: do-it-yourself medicalization of every moment.

Becoming conscious: the science of mindfulness.

Meditate to medicate.

Mindfulness in medicine.

Cultivating mindfulness: effects on well-being.

Mind-body medicine. An introduction and review of the literature.

Tai chi chuan in medicine and health promotion.

Tai chi/yoga effects on anxiety, heartrate, EEG and math computations.

Mindfulness Research Update: 2008.

Development and preliminary evaluation of a telephone-based mindfulness training intervention for survivors of critical illness.

A randomized controlled trial of Koru: a mindfulness program for college students and other emerging adults.

Hair Cortisol as a Biomarker of Stress in Mindfulness Training for Smokers.

A review of the literature examining the physiological processes underlying the therapeutic benefits of Hatha yoga.

Body Awareness: a phenomenological inquiry into the common ground of mind-body therapies.

Cortical dynamics as a therapeutic mechanism for touch healing.

Establishing key components of yoga interventions for musculoskeletal conditions: a Delphi survey.

Hatha yoga on body balance.

Yoga might be an alternative training for the quality of life and balance in postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Becoming conscious: the science of mindfulness.

Organ Transplant

Mindfulness meditation to reduce symptoms after organ transplant: a pilot study.

Post Traumatic Brain Injury

A pilot study examining the effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction on symptoms of chronic mild traumatic brain injury/postconcussive syndrome.

Psoriasis

Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction intervention on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and photochemotherapy (PUVA).

Telemorase, DNA, Genes

Rapid changes in histone deacetylases and inflammatory gene expression in expert meditators.

Can meditation slow rate of cellular aging? Cognitive stress, mindfulness, and telomeres.

Intensive meditation training, immune cell telomerase activity, and psychological mediators.

Contemplative practice, chronic fatigue, and telomerase activity: a comment on Ho et al.

Toward a unified field of study: longevity, regeneration, and protection of health through meditation and related practices.

Carbohydrate Restriction for Diabetes I and II

Abstract

“The inability of current recommendations to control the epidemic of diabetes, the specific failure of the prevailing low-fat diets to improve obesity, cardiovascular risk or general health and the persistent reports of some serious side effects of commonly prescribed diabetic medications, in combination with the continued success of low-carbohydrate diets in the treatment of diabetes and metabolic syndrome without significant side effects, point to the need for a reappraisal of dietary guidelines.”

Here are the opening paragraphs.

“The benefits of carbohydrate restriction in diabetes are immediate and well-documented. Concerns about the efficacy and safety are long-term and conjectural rather than data-driven. Dietary carbohydrate restriction reliably reduces high blood glucose, does not require weight loss (although is still best for weight loss) and leads to the reduction or elimination of medication and has never shown side effects comparable to those seen in many drugs.

Here we present 12 points of evidence supporting the use of low-carbohydrate diets as the first approach to treating type 2 diabetes and as the most effective adjunct to pharmacology in type 1. They represent the best-documented, least controversial results. The insistence on long-term random-controlled trials as the only kind of data that will be accepted is without precedent in science. The seriousness of diabetes requires that we evaluate all of the evidence that is available. The 12 points are sufficiently compelling that we feel that the burden of proof rests with those who are opposed.

“At the end of our clinic day, we go home thinking, ‘The clinical improvements are so large and obvious, why don’t other doctors understand?’ Carbohydrate restriction is easily grasped by patients: because carbohydrates in the diet raise the blood glucose, and as diabetes is defined by high blood glucose, it makes sense to lower the carbohydrate in the diet. By reducing the carbohydrate in the diet, we have been able to taper patients off as much as 150 units of insulin per day in eight days, with marked improvement in glycemic control – even normalization of glycemic parameters.”

— Eric Westman, MD, MHS [1].

Here is the link to the whole article.

Dietary Carbohydrate restriction as the first approach in diabetes management. Critical review and evidence base

Peace and good health.

Bob Hansen MD

The bacteria in your gut are essential to your health Part II, obesity, metabolic syndrome and dysbiosis

Lose weight, control blood sugar, reduce inflammation

1 Reply

The Duke University Lifestyle Medicine Clinic prescribes a nutritional program based upon a very simple concept, limit carbohydrate intake and multiple problems improve. This approach is so powerful in controlling blood sugar that diabetic patients must reduce their medication before adopting the nutritional program in order to avoid very low blood sugars.

Compared to a low-fat diet weight loss approach, it is better or equal on every measurement studied. Here is what happens on the carbohydrate restricted program when compared to a low fat diet (American Heart Association diet). The carbohydrate restricted diet results in

Greater reduction in weight and body fat
Greater reduction in fasting blood sugar
Reduction in the amount of saturated fat circulating in the blood despite a higher intake than a low fat diet
Greater reduction in insulin with improved insulin sensitivity
Reduction in small LDL (low fat diets increase small LDL which is considered to be associated with more heart attacks and strokes)
Increase in HDL (low fat diets decrease HDL, decreased HDL is associated with increased risk of heart attack and stroke)
Greater reduction in Triglycerides
Reduction in the ApoB/ApoA-1 ratio (low fat diets do the opposite, and the opposite is considered to increase risk of heart attack and stroke).
Reduction in multiple markers of inflammation
Spontaneous reduction in caloric consumption without counting or restricting calories (people automatically eat less as a result of restricting carbohydrates, low-fat diets require counting and restricting calories in order to lose weight)
Increased consumption of non-starchy vegetables

All of these beneficial effects are accepted by the medical community as reducing cardiovascular risk .

The improved metabolic outcome can occur even without weight loss simply by substituting fat for carbohydrate.

“The key principle is that carbohydrate, directly or indirectly through the effect of insulin, controls the disposition of excess dietary nutrients. Dietary carbohydrate modulates lipolysis, lipoprotein assembly and processing and affects the relation between dietary intake of saturated fat intake and circulating levels.” see here

Yet despite these proven effects, the proponents of low-fat diets refer to the carbohydrate restriction approach as a “fad diet”. In his excellent discussion of this term, Richard Feinman points out that historically, a carbohydrate restriction approach is actually the longest standing and proven approach to the treatment of obesity compared to a low-fat diet which is a relative newcomer. He describes how a low-fat diet more closely meets the dictionary’s definition of a “fad”.

Multiple Studies have compared carbohydrate restriction to low fat diet approaches and the results are consistent. In addition to the advantages cited above, carbohydrate restricted approaches when compared to low-fat diets reveal that symptoms of “negative affect and hunger improved to a greater degree” compared with those following a low fat diet”. (see here)

When one analyzes the carbohydrate restricted diet (CRD) approach employed by many centers, including the Duke Interventional Medicine Clinic, one finds great similarity to a paleolithic diet.

They both eliminate or dramatically reduce

sugar-sweetened foods and beverages,
grains, flour foods and cereal foods
legumes (paleo completely, CRD to a large extent)
processed-refined vegetable oils
dairy (paleo completely, CRD to a large extent)

Fruits under a CRD are limited to small amounts of berries initially and this is liberalized over time as weight loss is achieved and metabolic parameters are improved. This is consistent with a paleolithic approach that recognizes that fruits and vegetables grown today have been bred to provide much higher sugar and starch content compared to the pre-agricultural fruits and vegetables that early hominids consumed for hundreds of thousands of years.

A carbohydrate restricted nutritional approach to treat obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome appears to be a valid and arguably superior remedy to a growing problem in the developed world. Yet despite this strong and convincing scientific data, dietary fat-phobia has impaired the utilization of this proven therapeutic modality.

Peace,

Bob Hansen M.D.

Sugar II

1 Reply

In my first post about sugar I discussed increased cardiovascular risk associated with consumption of added sugar, sweetened foods and beverages. This post will discuss other risks including childhood obesity and adult obesity, diabetes and Metabolic syndrome.

The marketing efforts directed at young children by soda producers and fast food restaurants is astounding. You can view a video produced by a concerned mother here.

Some highlights of the video include:

1:14 How her daughter’s obsession with one particular person made her realize what was happening.
2:20 Can you guess how much money the food industry spends marketing to kids?
3:15 There’s even a term for the way they make children more annoying.
3:55 Find out just how many thousands of ads kids see if they watch a regular amount of television.
4:30 Here’s why just turning off the TV isn’t a solution.
4:50 Learn which school supplies are now sponsored by junk food.
5:54 Find out how companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi are straight-up conning school communities to buy their products.
6:47 Here’s what she finds most upsetting.
8:10 And here’s how they get even more information about kids.
9:30 She talks about the life and death consequences that hang in the balance with this issue.
10:24 We’re seeing the most depressing innovations in health care now thanks to the food industry.
12:00 You’ll never believe where McDonald’s wanted to advertise.
13:01 Find out who’s fighting these food behemoths and saving generations to come.

So what’s all the fuss? Where is the data to support a connection between sweetened beverages, sweetened foods and obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome?

Let’s start with a study by Gitanjali Singh and associates from Harvard School of Public Health reported here, the Epidemiology and Prevention/Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism 2013 Scientific Sessions. I read about this on Medscape published on-line. You must establish a user name and password to access these reviews, written for physicians and health professionals.

They reported that drinking large amounts of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) was associated with an increased body-mass index (BMI). Increased BMI is associated with deaths from diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, so the authors calculated deaths associated with consumption SSBs from diabetes, CVD and cancer.

The researchers found that in 2010

“132,000 deaths from diabetes, 44,000 deaths from CVD, and 6000 deaths from cancer in the world could be attributed to drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks, fruit juice, or sports beverages.”

“As part of the Global Burden of Disease study, the researchers obtained data from 114 national dietary surveys, representing more than 60% of the world’s population.

Based on data from large prospective cohort studies, they determined how changes in consumption of sugary drinks affected BMI, and next, how elevated BMI affected CVD, diabetes, and 7 obesity-related cancers (breast, uterine, esophageal, gallbladder, colorectal, kidney, and pancreatic cancer). Using data from the World Health Organization, they calculated the number of deaths from BMI-related CVD, diabetes, and cancer for men and for women aged 20 to 44, 45 to 64, and 65 years and older.”

Mexico had the highest number of deaths and Japan the lowest number of deaths attributed to the risk factor of sweetened beverage consumption. The USA had an estimated 25,000 deaths per year associated with drinking sugar sweetened beverages.

Medscape quoted Rachel K. Johnson, Ph.D. an AHA spokesperson.

“The evidence base that sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with excess weight gain is well established; what these investigators have done is to take it a step further by saying the excess weight gain that is attributable to sugary drinks actually increases the risk of death from diabetes, CVD, and cancer,”

The obesity literature is in agreement that consuming beverages with calories does not result in a decrease in an equivalent amount of calories from solid food consumption. In fact studies of humans demonstrate that sugar sweetened beverages increase the total amount of calories consumed by an amount equal to the calories in the beverage. This is added calories that do not produce satiety. This is why my Manifesto recommends drinking only water, coffee, tea, and no sweetened beverages.

Here is a discussion about sugar added beverages vs sweetened solid foods.

Consumption of Added Sugars from Liquid but Not Solid Sources Predicts Impaired Glucose Homeostasis and Insulin Resistance among Youth at Risk of Obesity.

“a higher consumption (10 g/d) of added sugars from liquid sources was associated with 0.04 mmol/L higher fasting glucose, 2.3 pmol/L higher fasting insulin, 0.1 unit higher homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and 0.4 unit lower Matsuda-insulin sensitivity index (Matsuda-ISI) in all participants (P < 0.01).”

Translation, just 10 grams (1/3 ounce) of added sugar from beverages increased fasting blood sugar, increased fasting insulin, worsened Insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the precursor to diabetes. This is a chronic inflammatory state.

How much sugar is in a can of coke? Look here. How Much Sugar in Sodas and Beverages? 39 grams in a 12 oz bottle of coke, 79 grams in a 7-Eleven 32 oz Big gulp, 128 grams in a 7-Eleven 44 oz Super Gulp. 77 grams in a 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew, But it only takes 10 grams a day to cause harm.

” liquid added sugars were a risk factor for the development of impaired glucose homeostasis and insulin resistance over 2 y among youth at risk of obesity.”

But let’s look at another study.

A meta-analysis published in 2010 reported that consumption of just one or two sugar-sweetened beverages per day is associated with a 26% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and a 20% increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Abstract

They concluded:

“In addition to weight gain, higher consumption of SSBs (sugar sweetened beverages) is associated with development of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. These data provide empirical evidence that intake of SSBs should be limited to reduce obesity-related risk of chronic metabolic diseases”

Malik VS, Popkin BM, Bray GA, et al. Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes: A meta-analysis. Diabetes Care 2010: 33:2477–2483.

At the time of this study publication, cities and states were introducing legislation for “soda taxes” on sugar-sweetened beverages. There were also attempts to make sodas and sugar drinks ineligible for food stamp purchases. See the discussion here.

That same year the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study Carbohydrate quantity and quality and risk of type 2 diabetes in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition–Netherlands (EPIC-NL) study

We investigated the associations of dietary glycemic load (GL), glycemic index (GI), carbohydrate, and fiber intake with the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

They followed 37,846 participants for a mean follow up period of 10 years.

They concluded:

“Diets high in GL, GI, and starch and low in fiber were associated with an increased diabetes risk. Both carbohydrate quantity and quality seem to be important factors in diabetes prevention. “

There is plenty of low quality carbohydrate in the sodas featured above. And there is no fiber to slow the absorption of the sugar. You might as well start an IV and deliver 128 grams of super-gulp sugar directly into the blood.

In 2010 a Health Policy Report concerning the consumption of sweetened beverages was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Public Health and Economic Benefits of Taxing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages – NEJMhpr0905723

They open up by stating:

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages

has been linked to risks for obesity, diabetes,

and heart disease.

A meta-analysis showed positive associations between intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and body weight-associations that were stronger in longitudinal studies than in cross-sectional studies and in studies that were not funded by the beverage industry than in those that were.

They go on to discuss how a meta-analysis funded by the beverage industry was interpreted as showing no evidence of an association between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and body weight,

“but it erroneously gave large weight to several small negative studies: when a more realistic weighting was used, the meta-analysis summary supported a positive association”

The authors site several studies linking sugar sweetened beverages to obesity in children and adults. Please click on the link above and go to page two for charts demonstrating the historical trend in sugared beverage consumption.

Since that publication multiple studies, discussions and policy statements have appeared in the medical literature. If you perform a PubMed search with “tax AND sugar” you will get 8 pages of citations. Here are some of them.

Evidence that a tax on sugar sweetened beverages reduces the obesity rate: a meta-analysis.

This one concluded that:

Six articles from the USA showed that a higher price could also lead to a decrease in BMI, and decrease the prevalence of overweight and obesity.

More studies from the search “sugar AND tax”.

Overall and income specific effect on prevalence of overweight and obesity of 20% sugar sweetened drink tax in UK: econometric and comparative risk assessment modelling study.

A substantial tax on sugar sweetened drinks could help reduce obesity.

Building a strategy for obesity prevention one piece at a time: the case of sugar-sweetened beverage taxation.

The potential impact on obesity of a 10% tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in Ireland, an effect assessment modelling study.

The sugar-sweetened beverage wars: public health and the role of the beverage industry.

A typology of beverage taxation: multiple approaches for obesity prevention and obesity prevention-related revenue generation.

Taxing sugar-sweetened beverages: the fight against obesity.

Sugar tax and obesity.

Intended and unintended consequences of a proposed national tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to combat the U.S. obesity problem.

Despite all of this discussion there has not been a “sugar tax” on sweetened beverages and here are several reasons.

Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages: results from a 2011 national public opinion survey.

“Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages including non-diet sodas, sport drinks, and energy drinks has been linked with obesity. Recent state and local efforts to tax these beverages have been unsuccessful. Enactment will be unlikely without public support, yet little research is available to assess how to effectively make the case for such taxes.

The objectives were to assess public opinion about arguments used commonly in tax debates regarding sugar-sweetened beverages and to assess differences in public opinion by respondents’ political party affiliation.

Findings indicated greater public agreement with anti- than pro-tax arguments. The most popular anti-tax argument was that a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages is arbitrary because it does not affect consumption of other unhealthy foods (60%). A majority also agreed that such taxes were a quick way for politicians to fill budget holes (58%); an unacceptable intrusion of government into people’s lives (53.8%); opposed by most Americans (53%); and harmful to the poor (51%). No pro-tax arguments were endorsed by a majority of the public. Respondents reported highest agreement with the argument that sugar-sweetened beverages were the single largest contributor to obesity (49%) and would raise revenue for obesity prevention (41%).”

So the relationship between sugar sweetened beverages and diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome seems well established but as a public policy issue there has been no traction on taxation remedies. And as the video above demonstrates, Coke and Pepsi have more than a foot in the door in our school systems and our homes (TV adds).

You can make a difference. vote here Tell the Soda Industry to Use Their Influence to Combat Childhood Obesity

A future post will discuss artificial sweeteners (diet beverages) which unfortunately also have a dismal track record.

Until next time,

Peace

Bob Hansen MD

Practical Evolutionary Health

How food, exercise, sleep and stress affect your health, longevity, and happiness. How have we deviated from our evolutionary makeup?

Category Archives: metabolic syndrome

Stress Reduction and Health

Carbohydrate Restriction for Diabetes I and II

Abstract

The bacteria in your gut are essential to your health Part II, obesity, metabolic syndrome and dysbiosis

Lose weight, control blood sugar, reduce inflammation

Sugar II

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