David Gillespie - Alcohol Again

05 Jun 2012 1:46 AM

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Message # 945967

Deleted user

I am surprised that the posts I have read clear alcohol. According to Dr Robert Lustig (see his lecture on YouTube), alcohol is treated in the liver in the same way as fructose is. Of the 12 effects of alcohol on the body, something like 8 are the same as for fructose and the only different effects are what alcohol does to the brain. Dr Lustig concludes that "alcohol is sugar". So I was wondering on what basis alcohol is said to be ok on this web site.

PS: did you (David) and Dr Lustig collaborate at all? Apart from alcohol, the message is the same.

05 Jun 2012 11:52 AM

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Reply # 947050 on 945967

Deleted user

Hi Alison and welcome
I have wondered about alcohol too, I know that David says it's ok in moderation and my husband still drank his two wines a day when he came off sugar to get his cholesterol and sugar readings down. He not only got his readings down to normal in four months, but lost 6 kilos too, which he didn't need to do!

I read Professor Yudkin's books in the 1960s, and he used to say that a glass of wine a day was fine and he also hated sugar, back then.

The best place to ask David a question is on his Sweet Poison Facebook page, he answers quite quickly then.
cheers
Freda

Last modified: 05 Jun 2012 11:56 AM | Deleted user

06 Jun 2012 3:51 AM

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Reply # 949696 on 945967

Deleted user

Hi Freda, thanks for the suggestion. I've posted on Facebook and will see what happens. I've never been to the Facebook page before - interesting stuff there.

06 Jun 2012 5:20 AM

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Reply # 950023 on 945967

Anonymous

Alison Reece wrote:
I am surprised that the posts I have read clear alcohol. According to Dr Robert Lustig (see his lecture on YouTube), alcohol is treated in the liver in the same way as fructose is. Of the 12 effects of alcohol on the body, something like 8 are the same as for fructose and the only different effects are what alcohol does to the brain. Dr Lustig concludes that "alcohol is sugar". So I was wondering on what basis alcohol is said to be ok on this web site.

PS: did you (David) and Dr Lustig collaborate at all? Apart from alcohol, the message is the same.

You must be watching a different lecture to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

David discusses this subject quite clearly in Sweet Poison Quit Plan pp67-70. The effects on the liver of excessive ethanol consumption are similar to those from excessive fructose consumption (cirrhosis of the liver) but the mechanisms are rather different.

Dr Lustig treats this at about 05:00 in his lecture [ pp48-51 in the associated book ]. There is no conflict between the two explanations.

As long as you stick to ordinary wines, spirits and beers, and avoid the fortified versions and liqueurs, you will not be in danger of fructose related problems . . just alcohol related ones if you go overboard:-)

JohnN

Last modified: 06 Jun 2012 5:29 AM | Anonymous

08 Jun 2012 4:20 AM

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Reply # 957984 on 945967

Deleted user

Hi John, I reviewed the Lustig video "Sugar the Bitter Truth". He shows how a can of coke and a can of beer are metabolised in a very similar way, in the liver, and produce the same number of calories of fat. Following that he says "Fructose is ethanol without the buzz" and "you wouldn't think twice about not giving your kid a can of Budweiser but you don't think twice about giving him a can of coke. They are the same thing.". He's using alcohol to say why we shouldn't give kids sugar. However, if a can of soft drink a day is enough to make an adult obese, then so must a can of beer be. So, if we are trying to keep fructose below 10 or 20 gms per day, I was wondering why you wouldn't count gms of alcohol in that total. David has said that there are a number of differences in how alcohol is metabolised, so maybe some alcohol really is ok. I'd rather have a piece of dark chocolate than a glass of wine, though, so I've asked if they can be interchanged!

Maybe sugar is more addictive (as long as you're not an alcoholic).

You mention the book that goes with the video. I'd be grateful if you would provide more info as I haven't seen the book.

09 Jun 2012 1:44 AM

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Reply # 958837 on 957984

Anonymous

Hi Alison

OK, they metabolize in the same way and have the same effect on the liver. But a shot of alcohol comprises 120 calories (480kJ) whereas the daily average calorie intake in Australia is 3150 calories.

Which I guess is why the boffins recommend limiting your intake to 2 standard drinks a day. And if your kid consumed the same amount of beer per day as he does coke he would have serious alcohol related effects.

The point about alcohol being more or less harmless in relation to obesity is that it contains very little sugar. As David points out alcohol has it's own problems if consumed in excess. But "normal" consumption will not make you fat. David deals with this on p69 of Sweet Poison Quit Plan where he suggests that it is actually beneficial in reducing the effects of the fructose we ingest. Apart from the metabolism alcohol has other different effects on the body; like crossing the brain blood barrier.

The book is also called The Real Truth About Sugar. I bought my copy on Amazon. The author is Samantha Quinn. You can also buy it from the web site but it just links you back to Amazon. I don't recall buying the e-book but having bought the paperback, I can access the eBook by downloading the Kindle Reader, both for my PC and to my tablet. Ain't this fun :-)

So "eat drink and be merry" :-))

JohnN

09 Jun 2012 1:46 AM

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Reply # 958841 on 945967

Anonymous

In researching the above post I found a fascinating site with huge amounts of information about foods. It's American but I'm hoping we may have a similar site in Australia.

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/

JohnN

11 Jun 2012 6:08 AM

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Reply # 961015 on 945967

Deleted user

I too watched the Lustig video, and have looked at how the body metabilizes alcohol.

Also having dropped the fructose from my diet I think my alcohol consumption-almost exclusively red wine, is not assisting weight loss.

Basically is David saying all carbohydrates are the same?

Does this link assist at all?
http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa35.htm

12 Jun 2012 2:02 AM

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Reply # 962027 on 961015

Anonymous

Shane Hird wrote:I too watched the Lustig video, and have looked at how the body metabilizes alcohol.

Also having dropped the fructose from my diet I think my alcohol consumption-almost exclusively red wine, is not assisting weight loss.

Basically is David saying all carbohydrates are the same?

Does this link assist at all?
http://alcoholism.about.com/cs/alerts/l/blnaa35.htm

Well yes, except fructose. But alcohol is a special sort of CH because it is metabolised similarly to fructose. Have you got Sweet Poison Quit Plan? The sugar content of non-fortified wines is very low (P.68) He deals with it quite extensively pp68-70.

The link you show leads to a vey thoroughgoing article on the metabolism of alcohol. But I don't think it relates to our discussion much.

I think that if you limit your intake to two or three standard drinks a dy, you won't put on any weight from that source. BTW I use a small glass like a reduced red-wine glass, of 150ml which is equal to one standard drink of normal table wines. This makes keeping count easy :-) And never fill a glass which is not empty!

"Cheers"!

JohnN

12 Jun 2012 7:49 PM

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Reply # 963794 on 945967

Deleted user

Thanks John,

that's clarified it-& delivered good news!