The Pillars of Health:The Prelude: Preview "Fat Intake and Weight Gain"

The Pillars of Health:The Prelude: Preview "Fat Intake and Weight Gain"

Magnesium Low

Answering Nazek:
Disorders of Magnesium Balance (1)
Introduction Magnesium is the most abundant intracellular divalent cation and, after calcium, the most common divalent cation in the body. The majority (99%) of magnesium residing inside cells. Consequently, plasma magnesium concentration does not reflect total body magnesium. Magnesium plays an important role in neuromuscular coupling, largely through its interaction with calcium. Disorders of magnesium primarily reflect hypomagnesemia, with cardiac arrhythmias and other features similar to those of low calcium. Among the causes of hypomagnesemia are malnutrition, chronic alcoholism, kidney abnormalities and malabsorption. [Is she taking any laxatives?]
Magnesium Intake and Distribution Magnesium is found in many foods, including green vegetables and meat products, and the normal diet is usually more than ample. Approximately 5 mg/kg per day of magnesium is required for normal magnesium balance. Factors that control gastrointestinal magnesium absorption are unclear, but about one-third of ingested magnesium is absorbed.
Magnesium Excretion The distal nephron (part of the kidney), however, is the major site of fine regulation of magnesium excretion. Loop-acting diuretics predictably have a potent magnesium-wasting effect. [Is she taking any ‘Water Pills?], [One-Alpha should only be given to patients suffering from kidney disease. Is that the case here?]
Role of Magnesium The major role of magnesium is as a cofactor for hundreds of identified enzymes that produce or require ATP, such as kinases, ATPase, and adenylyl cyclase. Disorders of magnesium may lead to impaired energy production, substrate utilization, and synthetic processes.
Hypomagnesemia (Low magnesium) ESSENTIALS OF DIAGNOSIS
• Plasma [Mg2+] <1.7 style="color: rgb(255, 102, 102);">The numbers given satisfy this criterion.] • Cardiac arrhythmias, refractory potassium deficiency. [What was her potassium level?] • Features suggestive of hypocalcemia: tetany, weakness, increased deep tendon reflexes, altered mental status, and seizures. [Are there any symptoms like these?]
[Please provide also the laboratory reference levels for any result mentioned as this varies between laboratories.]
References
1. Bongard FS, STAT!Ref, Teton Data Systems. Current critical care diagnosis & treatment. 3rd ed. New York ;London: McGraw-Hill; 2008.

[Above doesn’t replace the input of a medical professional who interviews the patient and carries out a physical examination followed by a discussion of care – that is the premier method of obtaining medical advice at this time of medical science development].

Sleep Deprivation

My son’s friend expressed some medical concerns about sleep as follows:

"After a grueling term in school, entailing 14 weeks of little to no sleep, she slept around 15 hours a night for 3 days. She was fine until the 3rd day as she was hit with major dizziness. She thought it might've been low blood pressure so she started downing candy and sweets but that didn't help. After 2 or so weeks of trying different sleep patterns: forcing herself to sleep 5 hrs a night, or 8 hrs, or 10... It got better but it's still lingering."

Dear young lady,

Those 14 weeks of sleep deprivation are very detrimental to your health for the following reasons:

· You disorganized your natural sleeping rhythm which is regulated around the light and dark cycle of the day.[1]

· You decreased the opportunity for your body to produce many necessary hormones efficiently which are required for your well-being. Specifically growth hormone, thyroxin and increased other hormones such as cortisol putting your body in a ‘hyper-alert mode’ which is unsustainable long term.

· You increased your risk of hypertension[2-4], diabetes[5], depression[6], cancer[7], coronary artery disease[8-10], obesity[11], and increased risk of death[12].

· You decreased your ability to retain knowledge[13].

· And so on.

I believe you are getting the point I am trying to make. Sleep is too important to ignore. Please see the chapter on sleep for more information.

The dizziness happened because your brain chemicals, brain hormones, neurotransmitters and body hormones were in disarray so you had a lot of melatonin lingering around trying to get you to sleep and all the other systems were off whereby your serotonin was on the low side and trying to catch up and get back into a synchronized organized balance. (This paragraph is an assumptive description as to date we can't say definitively how exactly all these phenomena transpire).

The return to a good balance is by maintaining a lifelong 8 – 9 hours of sleep regularly every night and that is better if implemented at the same time every night.

The lingering of the dizziness for you should not last too much longer because I am under the assumption you are close in age to my son and in basically good health. Caution: if you continue doing the “sleep deprivation thing” you will exhaust your reserves and possibly end up with depression or fibromyalgia.

Oh, and by the way, the candy or sweets will just perpetuate the whole condition and increase the possibility of some of the risks I described above.

I am surprised you didn’t also have a headache during your recuperation.

I hope you get better soon. [Above doesn’t replace the input of a medical professional who interviews the patient and carries out a physical examination followed by a discussion of care – that is the premier method of obtaining medical advice at this time of medical science development].

DA Jan. 10, 2010

References

1. Wyatt JK, Cecco AR-D, Czeisler CA, Dijk D-J. Circadian temperature and melatonin rhythms, sleep, and neurobehavioral function in humans living on a 20-h day. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 1999 October 1, 1999;277(4):R1152-63.

2. Gangwisch JE, Heymsfield SB, Boden-Albala B, et al. Short Sleep Duration as a Risk Factor for Hypertension: Analyses of the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Hypertension. 2006 May 1, 2006;47(5):833-9.

3. Goncharuk VD, Heerikhuize JV, Dai J-P, Swaab DF, Buijs RM. Neuropeptide changes in the suprachiasmatic nucleus in primary hypertension indicate functional impairment of the biological clock. The Journal of Comparative Neurology. 2001;431(3):320-30.

4. Cappuccio FP, S. Stranges, et al. Gender-Specific Associations of Short Sleep Duration With Prevalent and Incident Hypertension: The Whitehall II Study. Hypertension. October 2007;50(4):693-700.

5. van Cauter E, U. Holmbäck, et al. Impact of Sleep and Sleep Loss on Neuroendocrine and Metabolic Function. Hormone Research. 2007;67(Suppl. 1):2-9.

6. Vgontzas AN, Bixler EO, Lin H-M, et al. Chronic Insomnia Is Associated with Nyctohemeral Activation of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis: Clinical Implications. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2001 August 1, 2001;86(8):3787-94.

7. McClain J. Association between physical activity, sleep duration, and cancer risk among women in Washington County, MD: A prospective cohort study., 2008.

8. Liu Y, Tanaka H. Overtime work, insufficient sleep, and risk of non-fatal acute myocardial infarction in Japanese men. Occup Environ Med. 2002 July 1, 2002;59(7):447-51.

9. Schwartz S, W. M. Anderson, et al. Insomnia and heart disease: a review of epidemiologic studies. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 01-OCT-1999;47(4):313-33.

10. Shankar A, W.-P. Koh, et al. Sleep Duration and Coronary Heart Disease Mortality Among Chinese Adults in Singapore: A Population-based Cohort Study. Am J Epidemiol. 2008;168(12):1367-73.

11. Spiegel K, Tasali E, Penev P, Cauter EV. Brief Communication: Sleep Curtailment in Healthy Young Men Is Associated with Decreased Leptin Levels, Elevated Ghrelin Levels, and Increased Hunger and Appetite. Ann Intern Med. 2004 December 7, 2004;141(11):846-50.

12. PATEL SR, N. T. AYAS, et al. A Prospective Study of sleep duration and mortality risk in women. Sleep. 2004;27(3):440-4.

13. Grunstein R. Insomnia. Diagnosis and management. Aust Fam Physician. 2002;31:1-6.

My Brutal Stance on Sugar

Please note that “sugar” in this context is concerning the processed forms of sucrose (table or cooking sugar) in addition to high fructose corn syrup. The former comes mainly from cane, beets or dates. The latter comes from corn.

Sucrose is a disaccharide (a double molecule made up of glucose and fructose)^[*11], and high fructose corn syrup is composed of 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose in similar percentages to sucrose^[*12].

Both of said products enter the body and from the intestine will be absorbed as glucose molecules, and fructose molecules. Glucose will actually be in the blood stream from mouth to blood within 12 minutes on an empty stomach^[*13]. Fructose will have to take a longer pathway and be transformed into glucose first. This latter process from mouth to blood stream is about 45 minutes on an empty stomach. Their ultimate fate is stimulation of insulin secretion, cell entry and storage as glycogen (animal starch) to a limited degree but mostly as triglycerides (fat). The only portion of glucose from above intake process which doesn’t get stored would be the molecules that get burned off directly in muscle and brain which don’t require insulin to enter the cells. Always remember: insulin is a storage hormone and doesn’t play much of a role in energy production, if any at all. The net effect of this hormone is storage of carbohydrate, protein (from other protein sources which are absorbed as amino acids), and fat^[*14].

Therefore from above take the message: if you don’t burn off the sugar quickly then it will be stored, mostly as fat. So unless you are underweight then that isn't desirable.

Also from above you may deduce that if you are able to control your refined sugar intake and burn it off expediently then there is less danger from its intake. This is true, but there is another aspect here which I would like to explain which makes the principle of intake control much more complicated.

The aspect I am alluding to is the addictive properties of refined sugar. Addiction, is defined as the repeated compulsive use of a substance despite negative health consequences, and can be produced by a variety of different drugs^[*15].

The phenomenon of addiction is associated with the reward system in the brain, and particularly within an area in the brain designated the nucleus accumbens. The best studied addictive drugs are opiates (such as morphine and heroin), cocaine, amphetamine, ethyl alcohol, cannabinoids from marijuana, and nicotine. I firmly believe, with very little doubt, that refined sugars should be added to these substances.

All of them (the substances in the previous paragraph) affect the brain in different pathways, but all have in common the fact that they increase the amount of dopamine (a chemical in the brain which functions as a signaling messenger) available to act on receptors in the nucleus accumbens, which will translate into the feelings of joy, comfort, calm, and other “feel good” sensations. In a nutshell, they rapidly stimulate the reward system of the brain.

This rapidly rewarded activity (refined sugar intake) will also establish another phenomenon whereby there is an immediate reward (feel good sensation) in the brain as soon as the sugary food is in the mouth. This is accomplished by what is called a conditioned reflex. (A conditioned reflex is a reflex response to a stimulus that previously elicited little or no response, acquired by repeatedly pairing the stimulus with another stimulus that normally does produce the response. In Pavlov's classic experiments, the salivation normally induced by placing meat in the mouth of a dog was studied. A bell was rung just before the meat was placed in the dog's mouth, and this was repeated a number of times until the animal would salivate when the bell was rung even though no meat was placed in its mouth. In this experiment, the meat placed in the mouth was the unconditioned stimulus (US), the stimulus that normally produces a particular innate response. The conditioned stimulus (CS) was the bell-ringing. After the CS and US had been paired a sufficient number of times, the CS produced the response originally evoked only by the US. The CS had to precede the US. This is so-called classic conditioning^[*16].)

Therefore from the preceding take the message: if you eat refined sugars regularly then you (most people) will become addicted to it even to the degree it elicits “a reward in the brain” as soon as it enters the mouth (possibly even before that). Hence you will enter into “the repeated compulsive use of a substance despite negative health consequences”^[*15].

Another aspect to fear with long-term addiction would be the development of tolerance, i.e., the need for increasing amounts of a drug (refined sugar) to produce a “high”. So you may end up eating larger and larger quantities of refined sugars over time.

Also don’t ignore the fact that withdrawal from substances a person is addicted to produces psychological and physical symptoms^[*16]. An easy test to see if you are addicted to refined sugar is to stop eating all products containing it for a minimum of 7 (seven) days, and observe your uncomfortable feelings, sensations, craving, restlessness, lack of concentration, anxiety, and others if you are addicted. The addicted person will have varying degrees, different combinations, and/or other symptoms of withdrawal, as the previous sentence was a non-exclusive, non-encompassing statement.

The direct dangers of refined sugars are:

• Inhibition of release of adrenaline^[*17] by the impact of rapid release of insulin, which is an element, I believe in the development of atherosclerosis^[*18] (artery clogging).
• With regularity of carbohydrate (refined sugars are refined carbohydrates) intake (which is not burned off) the overall (absolute magnitude) output of insulin increases until the pancreas gets overwhelmed and exhausted^{[*19, 20]} and diabetes mellitus type 2 will probably ensue (this is an elemental part of the development of this disease).
• Unless burned off rapidly then storage of the substance will be in the form of fat. Obesity will result.
• Becoming addicted to refined sugars (which doesn’t appear to occur with sugars present in fresh fruit).

The Corn Refiners Association in the United States claims: “No single food or ingredient is the sole cause of obesity. Rather, too many calories and too little exercise is a primary cause^[*21].” From above you may see this is not the whole story as relates to the role of sugar in obesity or the dangers of sugar.

In summary: if you are disciplined enough to keep your intake of refined sugars to a minimum and burn off physically what you take in, then go for it. If you are not, like most of the human race, then my recommendation is drop it from your diet.

The Book Contents

Acknowledgments
Disclaimer
Chapter 1: The Pillars
Chapter 2: Sleep
Chapter 3: Good Nutrition
Chapter 4: Sufficient Physical Activity, Or Exercise
Chapter 5: Avoiding Harmful Substances
Chapter 6: Hereditary Factors And Other Yet Undiscovered Factors
Chapter 7: Atherosclerosis (Coronary Artery Clogging With Cholesterol)
Chapter 8: Hypertension (Abnormal Persistent Blood Pressure Elevation.)
Chapter 9: Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
Chapter 10: Depression
Chapter 11: Fibromyalgia
Chapter 12: Headache
References (in alphabetical order)
Appendix: The Diet

Updates and Referencing for the Updates

Updates and referencing for the updates will be listed hereafter. The number of the update will be within brackets and preceded by an asterisk. The updates will be within the text of the different chapters and the font color will be orange. [This post was actually put up May 9, 2008 but recorded as if posted April 30, 2008 to keep the archives accessible within one month.]

[*1] Updated on this site April-25- 2008.

[*2] Updated on this site May-05- 2008 relying on knowledge from me, and: Barter P, Gotto AM, LaRosa JC, Maroni J, Szarek M, Grundy SM, et al. HDL Cholesterol, Very Low Levels of LDL Cholesterol, and Cardiovascular Events. New England Journal of Medicine 2007 September 27, 2007;357(13):1301-10. And: Canner PL, Berge KG, Wenger NK, Stamler J, Friedman L, Prineas RJ, et al. Fifteen year mortality in Coronary Drug Project patients: long-term benefit with niacin. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 1986 December 1, 1986;8(6):1245-55.

[*3] Updated on this site May-07-2008. Welch GN, Loscalzo J. Homocysteine and Atherothrombosis. New England Journal of Medicine 1998 April 9, 1998; 338(15):1042-50.

[*4] Updated on this site May-07-2008. Albert CM, Cook NR, Gaziano JM, Zaharris E, MacFadyen J, Danielson E, et al. Effect of Folic Acid and B Vitamins on Risk of Cardiovascular Events and Total Mortality Among Women at High Risk for Cardiovascular Disease: A Randomized Trial. JAMA 2008 May 7, 2008; 299 (17):2027-36.

[*5] Updated on this site May-07-2008. Lonn E. Homocysteine-Lowering B Vitamin Therapy in Cardiovascular Prevention--Wrong Again? JAMA 2008 May 7, 2008; 299(17):2086-7.

[*6] Nissen SE, Wolski K. Effect of Rosiglitazone on the Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Death from Cardiovascular Causes. NEJM. June 14, 2007 2007;356(24):2457-2471.

[*7] Nathan DM. Rosiglitazone and Cardiotoxicity -- Weighing the Evidence. NEJM. July 5, 2007 2007;357(1):64-66.

[*8] Home PD, Pocock SJ, Beck-Nielsen H, et al. Rosiglitazone Evaluated for Cardiovascular Outcomes -- An Interim Analysis. NEJM. July 5, 2007 2007;357(1):28-38.

[*9] Drazen JM, Morrissey S, Curfman GD. Rosiglitazone -- Continued Uncertainty about Safety. NEJM. July 5, 2007 2007;357(1):63-64.

[*10] Bolen S, Feldman L, Vassy J, et al. Systematic Review: Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Oral Medications for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Ann Intern Med. September 18, 2007 2007;147(6):386-399.

[*11] Online Database: William F. Ganong M. Review of Medical Physiology - 22nd Ed. (2005). 2005. Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division. Available at: http://online.statref.com/document.aspx?fxid=16&docid=563. STAT!Ref Online Electronic Medical Library. Accessed 5/31/2008

[*12] Association CR. What is High Fructose Corn Syrup. http://www.hfcsfacts.com/. Accessed 5/31/08.

[*13] Slama G, Traynard PY, Desplanque N, et al. The search for an optimized treatment of hypoglycemia. Carbohydrates in tablets, solution, or gel for the correction of insulin reactions. Arch Int Med. March 1, 1990 1990;150(3):589-593.

[*14] Online Database: M. WFG. Review of Medical Physiology - 22nd Ed. (2005). 2005. Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division. Available at: http://online.statref.com/Document/DocumentBodyContent.aspx?DocId=392&FxId=16&Scroll=26&Index=0&SessionId=C80857LQYYAPFMWN&local=true. STAT!Ref Online Electronic Medical Library. Accessed 5/31/2008

[*15] William F. Ganong M. Review of Medical Physiology - 22nd Ed. (2005): Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division; 2005 SECTION III. Functions of the Nervous System CHAPTER 15. Neural Basis of Instinctual Behavior & Emotions; MOTIVATION & ADDICTION; Available at: http://online.statref.com/document.aspx?fxid=16&docid=303

[*16] M. WFG. Review of Medical Physiology - 22nd Ed. (2005): Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division; 2005 SECTION III. Functions of the Nervous System CHAPTER 16. "Higher Functions of the Nervous System": Conditioned Reflexes, Learning, & Related Phenomena; Available at: http://online.statref.com/document.aspx?fxid=16&docid=

[*17] Aldoori D. The Pillars of Health:The Blog. Chapter 3: Good Nutrition. May 2, 2008; Link Accessed May 2, 2008.

[*18] Aldoori D. The Pillars of Health: The Prelude. Chapter 7: Atherosclerosis (Coronary Artery Clogging With Cholesterol). May 2002; http://thepillarsofhealth.blogspot.com/2008/04/chapter-7-atherosclerosis-coronary.html.

[*19] William F. Ganong M. Review of Medical Physiology. SECTION IV. Endocrinology, Metabolism, & Reproductive Function. Twenty-Second ed: Lange Medical Books/McGraw-Hill Medical Publishing Division; 2005:347-348.

[*20] Mayfield JA, White RD. Insulin Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes: Rescue,Augmentation,and Replacement of Beta-Cell Function. American Family Physician. 2004;70(3):489-500.

[*21] Association CR. Corn Refiners Association Statement - "The Sugar Fix". http://www.hfcsfacts.com/SugarFixStatement.html. Accessed 5/31/08.

Appendix: The Diet

General Rules

· No sweets, pastries or candies period (in other words: no sucrose or high fructose corn syrup). No foods made out of flour except for two slices of bread daily (rye and whole wheat preferred) or two medium size potatoes or ¾ cup cooked rice or ¾ cup pasta, or lasagna, or 1 slice pizza, etc.
· Salt is necessary to taste as long as ceiling is 5 gm (1 tsp) per day (barring having a condition like heart or kidney failure). This ceiling needs to be higher in hotter environments.
· Every main meal should have protein in it of some sort.
· No red meat or pork unless organic (because of additives and hormones in the USA). Good protein sources would be fish, chicken, turkey and/or eggs. However you want to prepare the food is acceptable including frying or mixing with condiments (mayonnaise for example). Fats and oils are necessary and no limit on their intake if they are non synthetic.
· Snacks: vegetables (no limit on vegetables raw or cooked as snack or otherwise), or fruit (for diabetic up to 2 pieces sweet fruit if diabetic condition is controlled, otherwise only one piece per day). Good snacks are nuts such as cashews, peanuts, and walnuts and so on (barring having a condition like diverticulosis). Peanut butter not okay unless sugar free.
· Desserts: fruit, dried or raw. Another option is sugar free ice cream [*1].
· Portions should be as desired if you are at a healthy weight; smaller size if you are overweight and target feeling a little hungry (the feeling in your stomach and not in your mind) for a few hours daily.
· This regimen isn't suitable for those with certain medical conditions i.e. always check with your doctor.
· Drink water or another sugar free fluid aiming to maintain your urine color at barely yellow.
· Regular sleep is essential for your health, including targeting a healthy weight. Aim for 8-9 hours regularly per 24 hours. Also you need regular exercise. Aim for some form of exercise, which will result in you sweating for 5-15 minutes five times weekly (this is the minimum). Walking is what I advise most of all.
· Avoid harmful substances such as tobacco products and alcohol.
· Feeling hungry is good, but not to the point of feeling dizziness or weak. Use your stomach as a guide to eat and don’t go by what your mind tells you to do. Don’t feel bad though that your mind is telling you to go eat that donut or great looking garlic bread… Even after you are healthier and excessive craving goes away there will still be some residual desire (in most people) to have carbohydrates (even if you aren't hungry). That comes from instinct.
· Number of meals: can be any number as long as you do it regularly number wise and time wise.
· Remember: getting healthy requires your commitment, and like any lifestyle change, it’s not very easy at first (actually it is downright hard). Once you have attained the desired healthy goal then you may stray from the “path” occasionally and not more than 1-2 times per month. For diabetics though no refined sugar ever.

· Notes: above are general guidelines and the calorie requirements vary for all humans and therefore consultation with your doctor will ultimately get you to the right intake. Every human being has their own unique healthy weight which they will attain when following the healthy life styles noted above. Any allergy inducing food product must be avoided.

My Brutal Stance on Sugar:(Added 9th of June, 2008)

Please note that “sugar” in this context is concerning the processed forms of sucrose (table or cooking sugar) in addition to high fructose corn syrup. The former comes mainly from cane, beets or dates. The latter comes from corn.

Sucrose is a disaccharide (a double molecule made up of glucose and fructose)^[*11], and high fructose corn syrup is composed of 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose in similar percentages to sucrose^[*12].

Both of said products enter the body and from the intestine will be absorbed as glucose molecules, and fructose molecules. Glucose will actually be in the blood stream from mouth to blood within 12 minutes on an empty stomach^[*13]. Fructose will have to take a longer pathway and be transformed into glucose first. This latter process from mouth to blood stream is about 45 minutes on an empty stomach. Their ultimate fate is stimulation of insulin secretion, cell entry and storage as glycogen (animal starch) to a limited degree but mostly as triglycerides (fat). The only portion of glucose from above intake process which doesn’t get stored would be the molecules that get burned off directly in muscle and brain which don’t require insulin to enter the cells. Always remember: insulin is a storage hormone and doesn’t play much of a role in energy production, if any at all. The net effect of this hormone is storage of carbohydrate, protein (from other protein sources which are absorbed as amino acids), and fat^[*14].

Therefore from above take the message: if you don’t burn off the sugar quickly then it will be stored, mostly as fat. So unless you are underweight then that isn't desirable.

Also from above you may deduce that if you are able to control your refined sugar intake and burn it off expediently then there is less danger from its intake. This is true, but there is another aspect here which I would like to explain which makes the principle of intake control much more complicated.

The aspect I am alluding to is the addictive properties of refined sugar.

Addiction, is defined as the repeated compulsive use of a substance despite negative health consequences, and can be produced by a variety of different drugs^[*15].

The phenomenon of addiction is associated with the reward system in the brain, and particularly within an area in the brain designated the nucleus accumbens. The best studied addictive drugs are opiates (such as morphine and heroin), cocaine, amphetamine, ethyl alcohol, cannabinoids from marijuana, and nicotine. I firmly believe, with very little doubt, that refined sugars should be added to these substances.

All of them (the substances in the previous paragraph) affect the brain in different pathways, but all have in common the fact that they increase the amount of dopamine (a chemical in the brain which functions as a signaling messenger) available to act on receptors in the nucleus accumbens, which will translate into the feelings of joy, comfort, calm, and other “feel good” sensations. In a nutshell, they rapidly stimulate the reward system of the brain.

This rapidly rewarded activity (refined sugar intake) will also establish another phenomenon whereby there is an immediate reward (feel good sensation) in the brain as soon as the sugary food is in the mouth. This is accomplished by what is called a conditioned reflex. (A conditioned reflex is a reflex response to a stimulus that previously elicited little or no response, acquired by repeatedly pairing the stimulus with another stimulus that normally does produce the response. In Pavlov's classic experiments, the salivation normally induced by placing meat in the mouth of a dog was studied. A bell was rung just before the meat was placed in the dog's mouth, and this was repeated a number of times until the animal would salivate when the bell was rung even though no meat was placed in its mouth. In this experiment, the meat placed in the mouth was the unconditioned stimulus (US), the stimulus that normally produces a particular innate response. The conditioned stimulus (CS) was the bell-ringing. After the CS and US had been paired a sufficient number of times, the CS produced the response originally evoked only by the US. The CS had to precede the US. This is so-called classic conditioning^[*16].)

Therefore from the preceding take the message: if you eat refined sugars regularly then you (most people) will become addicted to it even to the degree it elicits “a reward in the brain” as soon as it enters the mouth (possibly even before that). Hence you will enter into “the repeated compulsive use of a substance despite negative health consequences”^[*15].

Another aspect to fear with long-term addiction would be the development of tolerance, i.e., the need for increasing amounts of a drug (refined sugar) to produce a “high”. So you may end up eating larger and larger quantities of refined sugars over time.

Also don’t ignore the fact that withdrawal from substances a person is addicted to produces psychological and physical symptoms^[*16]. An easy test to see if you are addicted to refined sugar is to stop eating all products containing it for a minimum of 7 (seven) days, and observe your uncomfortable feelings, sensations, craving, restlessness, lack of concentration, anxiety, and others if you are addicted. The addicted person will have varying degrees, different combinations, and/or other symptoms of withdrawal, as the previous sentence was a non-exclusive, non-encompassing statement.

The direct dangers of refined sugars are:

· Inhibition of release of adrenaline^[*17] by the impact of rapid release of insulin, which is an element, I believe in the development of atherosclerosis^[*18] (artery clogging).

· With regularity of carbohydrate (refined sugars are refined carbohydrates) intake (which is not burned off) the overall (absolute magnitude) output of insulin increases until the pancreas gets overwhelmed and exhausted^{[*19, 20]} and diabetes mellitus type 2 will probably ensue (this is an elemental part of the development of this disease).

· Unless burned off rapidly then storage of the substance will be in the form of fat. Obesity will result.

· Becoming addicted to refined sugars (which doesn’t appear to occur with sugars present in fresh fruit).

The Corn Refiners Association in the United States claims: “No single food or ingredient is the sole cause of obesity. Rather, too many calories and too little exercise is a primary cause^[*21].” From above you may see this is not the whole story as relates to the role of sugar in obesity or the dangers of sugar.

In summary: if you are disciplined enough to keep your intake of refined sugars to a minimum and burn off physically what you take in, then go for it. If you are not, like most of the human race, then my recommendation is drop it from your diet.