in starch and then we take away that starch and replaced it with sugar why do

we even see such unfavorable effects when we replace pasta or bread with a fructose sweetened beverage

or let's even say high fructose corn syrup sweetened

beverage well to answer that question we're gonna start first with the glucose

the grains that we eat and we call carbs are pretty much pure glucose and it goes

into our bloodstream slowly cause it takes a while for those enzymes in the

intestine to break it all down the glucose leads the intestine in what we

call the portal vein and that veins first stop is the liver if the liver

needs energy that liver is going to pull the glucose in if the liver has enough

energy most of the glucose bypasses the liver and is delivered to the rest

of the body it gets to be used by any other place in the body that needs

glucose now with fructose its different we're talking about fructose in the fructose

sweetened beverages are subjects consumed but we're also talking about

the fructose in sodas because high fructose corn syrup contains fructose

so fructose is in the intestine and it too is delivered directly to the liver however

there's an enzyme there that's always turned on so it takes any fructose it

can get its hands on even if the liver has enough energy

very little fructose gets delivered to the rest of the body so what we end up

is this fructose overload in the liver it needs to start storing it as fat when

you increase your levels of liver fat you're gonna have more fat heading out

into the blood with more fat heading out in the blood

you end up with higher levels of triglycerides and cholesterol both of them

risk factors for cardiovascular disease there's another problem we believe liver

fat decreases insulin's ability to do its job thats increases your risk of

diabetes

there's another problem when your insulin isn't working well it also

causes more fructose to be turned into fat and it is also going to

increase the amount of fat that liver sends into the blood there's another

problem this group that consumed fructose tended to gain that weight within

the abdominal cavity this is what we call visceral fat that makes us apple

shaped

so what we have is this vicious cycle going on that's really why

metabolic syndrome tends to be a group of problems they make this little

vicious cycle where one makes the other worse and they just go around in this

circle what we all need to do is get to the point where sugar is a special

occasion food it's not a staple and that's where we need to think about our

foods and what they can be doing to our health are you wondering how much sugar

you're eating click on this video to find out and be sure to subscribe to figure 1