The average American eats 17 teaspoons of added sugar daily. It’s killing us.

The average American eats 17 teaspoons of added sugar daily. It’s killing us.  https://t.co/G96TClEdZb

— The Guardian (@guardian) November 7, 2019

Removing fat from foods required substituting it with something else. In most cases, manufacturers chose sugar. Now, added sugar is all but impossible to escape in processed foods, which account for 58% of the average American’s daily calories. Whether you’re knowingly munching on a death-dealing candy bar like me (three teaspoons of sugar) or unwittingly adding canned sauce to your homemade pasta (also three teaspoons, only half of it from the tomatoes), it’s glucose all the way down. 

SOFT DRINK CONSUMPTION WILL AGE YOU AS FAST AS SMOKING

"Daily consumption of . . . half-liter of soda is linked with 4.6 years of additional biological aging . . . comparable to . . . smoking.”

Soft Drink Consumption Will Age You As Fast As Smoking - 10 Reasons To Avoid Them 
from HelathySustainableLiving

I am reviewing this article here in the midst of a Coronavirus pandemic, March 23, 2020.  And upon review, I think maybe I shouldn't have posted it at all.  One, I don't like the calls for government intervention into any market, and particularly not into the individual choices that people make as to what they want to put into their own bodies, and, yes, that goes for drugs too.  That's nobody's business but the person alone.  Though their family can advise, if someone wants to put junk into their bodies, who's to say who can stop them?  

From the start, the article calls for government intervention, 

The message to stop smoking issued by public health officials has been nothing less than paramount, repetitive and consistent in the last several decades. What about soft drinks? Daily consumption of just a half-liter of soda is linked with 4.6 years of additional biological aging, effects comparable to that of smoking, finds a new study.

Drinking Soda Ages You

The study found that drinking soft drinks is associated with cell aging, suggesting sugar-sweetened soda consumption might promote disease independently from its role in obesity.

The study revealed that telomeres--the protective units of DNA that cap the ends of chromosomes in cells--were shorter in the white blood cells of survey participants who reported drinking more soda. The findings were reported in the American Journal of Public Health.

The length of telomeres within white blood cells--where it can most easily be measured--has previously been associated with human lifespan. Short telomeres also have been associated with the development of chronic diseases of aging, including heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.

Telomeres, the protective units of DNA
that cap the ends of chromosomes in cells, 
were shorter in the white blood 
cells of people who reported drinking
more soda. 

"Regular consumption of sugar-sweetened sodas might influence disease development, not only by straining the body's metabolic control of sugars, but also through accelerated cellular aging of tissues," said senior study author Elissa Epel, professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

“This is the first demonstration that soda is associated with telomere shortness,” Epel said. “This finding held regardless of age, race, income and education level. Telomere shortening starts long before disease onset. Further, although we only studied adults here, it is possible that soda consumption is associated with telomere shortening in children, as well.”

The authors compared telomere length and sugar-sweetened soda consumption for each participant at a single time point, and that an association does not necessarily demonstrate causation. Epel is co-leading a new study in which participants will be tracked for weeks in real-time to look for effects of sugar-sweetened soda consumption on aspects of cellular aging. Telomere shortening has previously been associated with oxidative damage to tissue, to inflammation, and to insulin resistance.

Based on the way telomere length shortens on average with chronological age, the UCSF researchers calculated that daily consumption of a 20-ounce soda was associated with 4.6 years of additional biological aging. This effect on telomere length is comparable to the effect of smoking, or to the effect of regular exercise in the opposite, anti-aging direction, according to UCSF postdoctoral fellow Cindy Leung, ScD, from the UCSF Center for Health and Community and the lead author of the newly published study.

The average sugar-sweetened soda consumption for all survey participants was 12 ounces. About 21 percent in this nationally representative sample reported drinking at least 20 ounces of sugar-sweetened soda a day.

“It is critical to understand both dietary factors that may shorten telomeres, as well as dietary factors that may lengthen telomeres,” Leung said. “Here it appeared that the only beverage consumption that had a measurable negative association with telomere length was consumption of sugared soda.”

The finding adds a new consideration to the list of links that have tied sugary beverages to obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and that has driven legislators and activists in several U.S. jurisdictions to champion ballot initiatives that would tax sugar-sweetened beverage purchases with the goal of discouraging consumption and improving public health.

The UCSF researchers measured telomeres after obtaining stored DNA from 5,309 participants, ages 20 to 65, with no history of diabetes or cardiovascular disease, who had participated in the nation’s largest ongoing health survey, called the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, during the years 1999 through 2002. They found that the amount of sugar-sweetened soda a person consumed was associated with telomere length, as measured in the laboratory of Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, professor of biochemistry at UCSF and a winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her telomere-related discoveries.

A 15-year study found those who drank 300ml of a fizzy drink a day--slightly less than a standard can--were 40 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than men who avoid the drinks.

Consider the hard facts about soft drinks: soda consumption could lead to various health problems, and scientists are adding to the list seemingly every day. Here are 10 reasons to put down the cola and quit adding to the billions of gallons of soda consumed in the United States annually:

1) Dehydration.
Because caffeine is a diuretic, it leads to an increase in urine volume. So, when you drink a caffeinated soda to quench your thirst, you will actually become thirstier.

2) High calories.
A can of regular cola contains over 150 calories. Not only are these calories devoid of any nutritional value, but they also deplete your body of vital nutrients.

3) Caffeine addiction.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University say when people don't get their usual dose of caffeine from soda, they can suffer a range of withdrawal symptoms including headache, fatigue, muscle pain and inability to concentrate.

4) Acid.
The amount of acid in soda is enough to wear away at the enamel of your teeth, making them more susceptible to decay. In tests done on the acidity levels of soda, certain ones were found to have PH levels as low as 2.5. To put that into perspective, consider that battery acid has a pH of 1 and pure water has a pH of 7.

5) Money.
A person who drinks just 2 cans of soda a day will pay $206 over the course of a year to keep the habit going. If there is more than one soda drinker in the household, that yearly total could quickly double or even triple.

6) Weight gain. Researchers at the University of Texas say artificial sweeteners can interfere with the body's natural ability to regulate calorie intake. This could mean that people who consume artificially sweetened items are more likely to overindulge.

7) Artificial sweeteners.
Many people opt for diet sodas to cut out the calories, but some research shows the sweeteners may cause additional harm, such as cancer.

8) Mineral depletion.
Colas contain phosphoric acid and caffeine, which drain calcium from the bones. Also, because caffeine increases urine volume, more minerals end up leaving the body before having a chance to be properly absorbed.

9) Diabetes. Some scientists believe that the unceasing demands a soda habit places on the pancreas may ultimately leave it unable to keep up with the body's need for insulin -- which could eventually lead to diabetes. The daily consumption of soda does contribute to other problems, such as obesity -- a leading cause of diabetes.

10) A replacement for healthier drinks. In the 1950's, children drank healthier beverages and more water. Today that statistic has flipped and children are drinking more unhealthy beverages and less water.

Sources:
aphapublications.org
ucsf.edu

April McCarthy is a community journalist playing an active role reporting and analyzing world events to advance our health and eco-friendly initiatives.Soft Drink Consumption Will Age You As Fast As Smoking - 10 Reasons To Avoid Them

SUGAR DOESN'T FEED CANCER OR STIMULATE IT TO GROW . . . INSULIN DOES

"Sugar doesn’t feed cancer or stimulate it to grow . . . Insulin does."

Excellent discussion on how to treat cancer, all kinds of cancer, by focusing on methionine restriction.  Apparently, animal protein, and protein of all kinds, is high in methionine.  So the goal, according to Mark Simon, is to restrict production of methionine in order to restrict the growth of tumors and to shrink them.  One diet that helps achieve this is an all-fruit diet for 6 weeks.  Fruit has very little methionine.  Fruits also contain protein, and therefore contain methionine, so you'll want to consume fruits with lower levels of methionine.  What this restriction does is create an oxidative condition inside the cancer cells.  Remember that cancer cells do not do well in an oxygenated environment.  A lot of people take anti-oxidant supplements to fight cancer cells.  Turns out that anti-oxidants have a protective effect on cancer cells by protecting the protein outer layer of the cancer cell.  What you want to achieve, according to Simon, is to pierce through and break that hard protein shell on the cancer cell and oxidize it.  What confuses me a little is that a lot of fruits naturally contain anti-oxidants, like Vitamin C, E, and others.  If one is supposed to avoid anti-oxidant supplements, how then or why would a diet rich in fruit be beneficial whereas anti-oxidant supplementation would not?

Next, one will have to deal with the problems with eliminating the cancer tissue.  As the cancer cell tissue breaks up it is still toxic.  Perhaps no longer cancerous but still poisonous to your digestive system and blood stream where it has to pass through during elimination.

One product that Simon recommended was Sodium Selenite.  Most brands cost under $20 with some costing as little as $6.  It sounds like a powerful cancer treatment.  WiseGeek has this to say about Sodium Selenite:

Chemical selenium from sodium selenite has both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that the supplement is antimicrobial. Another is that of all the inorganic forms of selenium, including monoselenodiacetic acid and selenomethionine, sodium selenite has proven the most successful in thwarting cancer in lab tests. A disadvantage, aside from the alleged toxicity, is that the sodium-selenium compound is not as bioavailable as natural selenium.

What Sodium Selenite does, according to Simon, is it provides the enzymes necessary to break up cancer.  As part of the all-fruit diet, he highlights the powers of pineapple and papaya.

Life Extension points out the benefits of taking all 3 forms of selenium:

Generally, we ingest selenium from a variety of plant and animal sources in several different forms, each of which has its own unique suite of activities. The three forms of selenium most important in cancer prevention are sodium selenite, L-selenomethionine, and selenium-methyl L-selenocysteine.

These three compounds differ in the way your body handles them, and in their impact on your risk for cancer.31 For example, the organic selenium compound L-selenomethionine is better absorbed than inorganic sodium selenite.32 But inorganicsodium selenite more effectively increases genetic expression of the main selenium-containing antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase.33In general, the three selenium compounds complement one another in the ways they affect your body's expression of important proteins involved in cancer prevention and suppression.34 In addition, all three selenium compounds induce cell death in various cancer types, but each compound is better at destroying some cancers than others.34,35Within the organic compounds, differences exist. L-selenomethionine increases cancer cell death by apoptosis, for example, only in cells with an intact "suicide" gene called p53.34 Selenium-methyl L-selenocysteine, on the other hand, induces apoptosis in mutated cancer cells that lack this vital control mechanism.34The totality of this data indicates why both the organic forms of selenium (L-selenomethionine and selenium-methyl L-selenocysteine), plus inorganic sodium selenite, are required to kill off all incipient cancer cells that might be developing in your body.

Chris points out, too, that it isn't the sugars that makes a tumor or cancer to grow; it is something else.  Insulin does.  Insulin is a tumor-growth promoter.

Here are the show notes to Chris' video:

Show Notes

– Mark discusses his background

– Mark discovers research on methionine restriction to starve cancer cells  [2:37]

– The two steps of methionine restriction to trigger cancer cell death [4:50]

– The food group lowest in methionine [6:37]

– The powerful anti-cancer enzymes in pineapples and papayas [9:21]

– How enzymes lower inflammation [11:00]

– When fruit can be a problem [13:01]

– Sugar doesn’t feed cancer or stimulate it to grow, something else does [13:36]

– Foods that are high in tumor growth hormone IGF-1 [14:21]

– Key anti-cancer supplements for this protocol [15:06]

– The best forms of selenium to take for prevention and therapeutically [17:00]

– How selenium affects cancer cell metabolism [18:36]

– The importance of Vitamin K3 in this protocol [20:14]

– Oxidative therapy vs anti-oxidant therapy [21:23]

– How certain supplements can cancel each other out  [22:16]

– The benefit of water fasting [23:45]

– How quickly does this protocol work? [24:43]

– The danger of rapid tumor die off [27:37]

– Important detoxification methods to include [28:01]

– Pain medications promote tumor growth [30:19]

– How constipation keeps your body toxic  [32:19]

– His advice for cancer patients [32:43]

If you are interested in finding out more about the NORI Protocol, visit the Nutritional Oncology Research Institute website www.noriprotocol.com

Candice-Marie Fox used the NORI protocol to heal her stage 4 thyroid cancer.

Watch our interview here.

Another survivor who reversed her brain cancer with a high fruit diet is teenager Megan Sherow. Watch our interview here.

Check out all the natural survivors I’ve interviewed here.

If you’re looking for survivors of specific types of cancer, use the search bar at the top right of my site.

Sugar: What Is It Good For?

Still enjoying that piece of cake, that 1 chocolate donut, that mini-sized Snickers, that delicious lemon-lime tart? Exercise a little caution.  Here is what sugar does.