Scan barcode
A review by simonea
Sweet Poison, Why Sugar Makes Us Fat by David Gillespie
4.0
David Gillespie has written quite a controversial book. In Sweet Poison he claims that sugar is not just a little bad for you, but as bad as poison. A poison that is not recognized as such at the moment and with which millions of people infuse themselves every single day. Day in, day out…
I’m a bit skeptical when people say that sugar is bad, our bodies run on glucose, don’t they? The idea of Sweet Poison is, though, that not all sugars, but only fructose is to blame for our first-world problems. As the author argues, fructose is two-fold bad news. Unlike fat and glucose, no natural feedback loop is in place for fructose. The absence of this feedback loop makes our ability to tell when we’ve had enough fail. Furthermore, as fructose is broken down, it increases the level of fatty acids in our blood and is basically directly converted to fat. So, all diet plans can go out the window. Instead of avoiding too much (saturated) fat, we should avoid sugar. Fructose is the new fat, apparently.
I do think he read up on a lot of the academic research that is normally inaccessible for the general public. The danger is, however, that when looking for specific information, you only find that what suits your hypothesis. The world of food is not black and white, so neither is the research. By claiming that it is, one is either acknowledging just that what fits the hypothesis or demonstrating a poor capability of literature research. So while I think that the book is definitely thought provoking, I have to agree that Gillespie is just telling a story. Sure, for some parts of it there is scientific evidence. That does not mean though that you can take these bits and pieces and glue them together in a scientifically accurate story. Because that’s exactly what you get, a story without a complete foundation of evidence. That also doesn’t mean that what he’s saying is not correct. I would be very interested to see the future research on this topic. I did a quick search already and indeed saw some evidence of detrimental effects of fructose. The research doesn’t cover the whole story yet, however. So in the end future research is necessary to shed light on these matters.
In the end, Sweet Poison was definitely an interesting read. While the evidence might not be completely watertight (yet), I do agree that consuming the amounts of sugar we currently do, can never be good for us. David Gillespie makes it interesting by telling his own story and what made it hard for him to cut down on sugar and lose weight. He makes it clear that he’s by no means one of those perfect diet gurus. One has to be careful though and not take his advice to the letter. Keep thinking for yourself too. Everything in moderation and do what feels good!
See full review here
I’m a bit skeptical when people say that sugar is bad, our bodies run on glucose, don’t they? The idea of Sweet Poison is, though, that not all sugars, but only fructose is to blame for our first-world problems. As the author argues, fructose is two-fold bad news. Unlike fat and glucose, no natural feedback loop is in place for fructose. The absence of this feedback loop makes our ability to tell when we’ve had enough fail. Furthermore, as fructose is broken down, it increases the level of fatty acids in our blood and is basically directly converted to fat. So, all diet plans can go out the window. Instead of avoiding too much (saturated) fat, we should avoid sugar. Fructose is the new fat, apparently.
I do think he read up on a lot of the academic research that is normally inaccessible for the general public. The danger is, however, that when looking for specific information, you only find that what suits your hypothesis. The world of food is not black and white, so neither is the research. By claiming that it is, one is either acknowledging just that what fits the hypothesis or demonstrating a poor capability of literature research. So while I think that the book is definitely thought provoking, I have to agree that Gillespie is just telling a story. Sure, for some parts of it there is scientific evidence. That does not mean though that you can take these bits and pieces and glue them together in a scientifically accurate story. Because that’s exactly what you get, a story without a complete foundation of evidence. That also doesn’t mean that what he’s saying is not correct. I would be very interested to see the future research on this topic. I did a quick search already and indeed saw some evidence of detrimental effects of fructose. The research doesn’t cover the whole story yet, however. So in the end future research is necessary to shed light on these matters.
In the end, Sweet Poison was definitely an interesting read. While the evidence might not be completely watertight (yet), I do agree that consuming the amounts of sugar we currently do, can never be good for us. David Gillespie makes it interesting by telling his own story and what made it hard for him to cut down on sugar and lose weight. He makes it clear that he’s by no means one of those perfect diet gurus. One has to be careful though and not take his advice to the letter. Keep thinking for yourself too. Everything in moderation and do what feels good!
See full review here