The cause of our massive decline in medical well-being over the last 40 years or so is the enormous rise in the consumption of ultra-processed food that results in the massive excess intake of sugar in our diets, and most especially fructose. It is, in that case, really easy to tackle the cause of our ill-health. Simply stop the production of these foods that are designed to encourage excess food consumption by creating sugar addiction, which they are incredibly successful at doing.
Of the countries studied, the US had far and away the greatest consumption per head of HFCS, amounting to 55lb per year per year, says a report in the journal Global Public Health.
Hungary, Canada, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Argentina, Korea, Japan and Mexico were also high consumers.
UK consumption was very low at less than 1lb per person per year, placing it alongside Australia, China, Denmark, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and Uruguay.
But Professor Ulijaszek said the UK was a high consumer of total sugar at some 88lb per person per year. Sugar consumption, irrespective of the type, was strongly linked to diabetes, he added.
He said: ‘Although this syrup can be found in many of our processed foods and drinks, this varies enormously from country to country.’ He said there was relatively little fructose consumed in the UK, with Hobnob biscuits being an exception.
Is there no beginning to this man’s knowledge?
I enjoy it when a writer both abhors fructose and warmly encourages the consumption of honey.
Or, indeed, the consumption of lots of fruit. Or even of asparagus or peas.
Strange things these food taboos. It’s as well that the ancient Hebrews hadn’t heard of fructose, eh?
The Sage of Ely is truly a modern Intellectual.
He’s so thick he can be utterly wrong at both ends of an argument on multiple subjects at the same time.
A truly magnificent display!
88lb/year? Beginners! I get through at least 2 kilos of white refined a week. Half again my own weight in a year. And that’s before what I consume when I’m out. Very fond of caipirinhas & mojitos’s I am. Made the Brasilian way. Fresh lime juice, cachaca or cacique spirits & a big tablespoon of unrefined sugar stirred in. None of this girls’ drink lemonade with artificial sweeteners. These have bite. If you’re going to burn the candle at both ends & in the middle you need energy, alcohol & caffein. Diabetes? Fat bastards’ problem.
Moderation and personal responsibility. I wonder if these could be taught in schools in between reading and writing, maths and how to spot and approach a transgendered sex worker.
I might be lying about one of those…..
It’s all about lifestyle. Fell in last night at 3AM but dug out of bed at 7 to go to the spar at one of the hotels by Zara Montoya the pr0n star. Good fun she is, although I’m always wary of large bodies of water. There could be sharks. And I’m half way through my eighth decade. Why I’m in favour of assisted dying. Reassuring to know there’s a way off of the treadmill.
I can’t help noticing that the most significant correlations in the list of nations by life expectancy are wealth, warm weather and being Japanese/Chinese/Korean. Although wealth is clearly even more important than ethnicity as Hong Kong is top of the list and China is 65th.
As Britain has shit weather and less than 1% of the population is Japanese/Chinese/Korean, the best way for us to get healthier is to get wealthier.
Well it’s a fact. Death by starvation is a perfect cure for cancer.
If you aren’t dying of poverty or pollution, you must die of something, probably old-age related. D’oh!
I wonder if he eats lots of HobNob biscuits. All things considered it’s possible.
I’d be interested to what the recommendations are for those wanting to quit food addiction. You could hardly go cold turkey, could you?
BiS,
Sounds like the advice from Immortan Joe in Mad Max: Fury Road
“Do not, my friends, become addicted to water! You will only resent it’s absence!”
I get my fructose from totally-UNprocessed foods – oranges, pears, peaches. plums, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, dates, tomatoes …
I am confident that there is a beginning to Murphy’s knowledge (how to dress himself) but the extent of his knowledge is debatable. The Daily Wail’s is a bit better, but … the national consumption of Coca-Cola is highly correlated with income per head as is type 2 diabetes and there is NO reliable data on the consumption of fructose as there is no data on the consumption of wild fruit.
I cut down on *sucrose* sixty years ago when I was watching my weight and only partly reversed that when I stopped watching it but now I drink “Lucozade Sport” before a race – candidly anyone who says that is unhealthy is an idiot. My deliberate consumption of sugar is directly related to exercise that keeps me (relatively – i.e. “for my age”) healthy.
One may point out that Warren Buffet’s famous consumption of HFCS in his favourite “Cherry Coke” has not visibly damaged the lealth of the 94-year-old.
bis,
I’d be interested to what the recommendations are for those wanting to quit food addiction. You could hardly go cold turkey, could you?I’d be interested to what the recommendations are for those wanting to quit food addiction. You could hardly go cold turkey, could you?
Eating portion sizes appropriate to your metabolism and activity and living with the hunger until you get used to it.
He’s been reading too many American websites. HFCS isn’t really a thing over here. I mean, it’s not unknown, but since the sugar tax I’ve been paying close attention to what’s being used as a substitute, and it’s mostly acesulfame potassium (E950), which tastes absolutely foul, and sucralose (E955), which is more palatable but gives you the squits in high doses.
That would sort the “addicts” out, right enough…
Murphy in his ridiculous puritanical mode about evil foods reminds me of Stanley Green, the Passion Proteins man I used to see on Oxford Street in the 80s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Green
Stanley was however harmless and polite, sometimes charming, when I spoke to him, very far from the hectoring cvnt from Ely.
Sucrose (table sugar) is 50% fructose and 50% glucose (joined by an ethyl bond). HFCS 42 contains 42% fructose. HFCS 55 contains 55% fructose. So a high sucrose diet (as in the UK) is also a high fructose diet. Spud is not completely wide of the mark….
Why I’m in favour of assisted dying.
“Assisted dying” is for wimps. Dying with dignity is opening your arteries in a hot bath, as the ancient Romans did.
@ Theophrastus
BUT a medium-/high fructose diet is not a high sucrose diet
Marius: Bigot! I identify as a HongKonger. That will clearly increase my life expectancy.
As it turns out, the high life expectancy areas also have a lack of extant documentation, e.g. city hall was bombed out of existence some years ago.
“Yeah, I’m John Smith and I’m 125”.
Welfare fraud, anyone?
john77
BUT a medium-/high fructose diet is not a high sucrose diet
A medium-/high fructose diet is not necessarily a high sucrose diet, but it can be if you are getting your fructose from sucrose.
M,
Indeed, and covered in a recent episode of The Studies Show.
@ Theophrastus
I was (I hope clearly) referring to a diet where virtually all the sugar came from eating fruit
I suspect that the decline in the mental well being of younger people today is at least in part caused by cnuts like spud.
Despite living lives in the UK better than at least 90% of the world’s current population and better than 99.999% of all the people who have ever lived, spud’s monotonous monologue is about how terrible and awful things are and how we’re living lives of oppressed misery with only doom waiting for us.
Andrew: Haven’t there been studies that have shown the decline in mental health of youngsters is down to the all-pervasive doom-mongering forced on them?
Theo. Romans kept slaves to clear the mess up after them. My slaves have more important things to do.
Haven’t there been studies that have shown the decline in mental health of youngsters is down to the all-pervasive doom-mongering forced on them?
Clearly, the Daily Terriblegraph is clearly attempting to turn older Britons loopy, with its continual diet of crises.
Welfare fraud, anyone?
My mother has 3 pensions; she’s definitely getting her card from the monarch….
Okay, Ritchie is largely right on this one.
I know: I’m scared too. Nonetheless, blood glucose above the minimal required level – the teaspoonful the body makes for itself – is toxic, and quite ruinous to the body due to glycation (full-blown diabetes being just the extreme end of a spectrum of broad and inevitable damage.) Whilst fructose is also damaging in its own pernicious way: non-alcoholic fatty liver disease being quite prevalent these days.
@ wat dabney
That I might get non-alcoholic fatty liver disease from eating fresh fruit is the sort of allegation I should expecr from Murphy.
For avoidance of doubt my latest medical inspection states that I have not done so.
Comments are closed.