The dangers of high fructose corn syrup Dr Robert Lustig

The dangers of high fructose corn syrup: Dr. Robert Lustig

Thank you. Thank you, Bobby, and thank all of you for coming. You know, to some extent, this is sort of like déjà vu all over again. You know, having done this four years ago and it really did change my life, and hopefully, it changed a few people’s lives in the audience and certainly around the world. I still get emails from that video today. You know, people who have seen it for the first time.

That video, we are going to refer to it to some extent tonight because I am not going to redo the biochemistry, there is no point in doing it twice. What we are going to talk tonight about is primarily physiology. So, in a sense, the two videos will end up being complementary on YouTube, and hopefully, people who watch it will end up watching both. So, keep that in mind.
All right, A lot has happened in four years and the data just keeps rolling in, and unfortunately for us, all the data is pretty awful, so you will see why as we go, and I will try to delineate that as we go.

First, I have no disclosures, no food industry is putting me up to this, and be sure of that.
All right, so here is the past, this is 2001, six million kids are seriously overweight. Well with all the media attention, all the NIH money, all the clinical programs, and Michelle Obama’s vegetable gardens, we are now up to 20 million. Here is the present.

Currently, there are 30% more obese people on the planet than undernourished people, and this has happened only within 15 years because 15 years ago, it was exactly the opposite, and it is occurring in countries that still have undernutrition.

So how do you explain that other than, other than to say that cannot be behavior, that is got to be an exposure? This looks like any standard pandemic: influenza, typhoid, etcetera. This looks like a microbial phenomenon rather than a behavioral phenomenon.

We are going to go there. 366,000,000 diabetics are walking the earth. That is 5% of the world’s population, and they are chewing through all the healthcare resources. This was just three months ago. Diabetes cost the US $245 billion.

Now, if we could recoup even a fraction of that, we would not even need healthcare reform. In fact it’s been suggested that we would not even need financial reform. OK, 41% rise in five years, this is going up so fast, it makes your head spin. And here is the future if we do nothing, Experts predict 165,000,000 Americans, 42%, will be obese by the year 2031. One hundred million Americans, which will be 33%, will have diabetes by 2050. But fear not, because Medicare will be broken by 2026. So, as the Soup Nazi once said, “No health care for you.” Well, the fact of the matter is, I am going to be 69 in 2026 and I want my frigging’ Medicare, and so should you.

The point is we must do something different, and you know the adage, right? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Well, I am here to tell you for the last 30 years we have done the same thing over and over again, and there has been no change in the result. So, we must rethink this. We must reframe the argument, and that is what we are going to try to do tonight, and I am going to do it right now. So, here is the way people view this issue.

This is a Venn diagram of all the adults in America, 30% obese over here and 70% normal weight over here, and everybody assumes that the problem is this group over here because 80% of the obese population is sick in some fashion with type 2 diabetes, lipid problems, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, polycystic ovarian disease, etcetera, etcetera.

So, if you do the math on this, that is 80% of 30% of 240 million, that is 57 million sick, and it is those 57 million that are bankrupting the country and so, it is the obese person’s fault only and that is the way everyone views this.

This is wrong. This is a mistake. This is a disaster because it is not correct. Here is the real story.

In fact, 20% of the obese population is completely metabolically normal. They have normal insulin dynamics, they do not get sick, they will live a completely normal life, died at a completely normal age, cost the taxpayer nothing, and they are just fat.

Conversely, up to 40% of the normal-weight population have the same metabolic dysfunction that the obese do. They are just normal weight, and so they do not even know they are sick until it is too late because normal-weight people get type 2 diabetes, they get hypertension, they get dyslipidemia, they get cardiovascular disease, they get cancer, they get dementia, etcetera, etcetera, and so, when you do the math on that, that is another 67 million. So that is outclassing the obese. And so, the total is 124,000,000, that’s more than half of all of America.
Now, you may remember HIV, remember HIV?

When did HIV become a public health crisis? No, not in the 80s, in 1991. 1979 patient zero, so we first learned about the diagnosis. Throughout the entire 80s. It was all about the gays and the addicts, and it was always well, it is their problem, their responsibility, their behavior, their fault, and then something happened in 1991.
Does anybody know where it was?

Magic Johnson got HIV and suddenly everybody went holy. Holy Mother, you know what? And everybody realized, you know what? Everyone is at risk and suddenly it became a public health crisis.
So, when does a personal responsibility issue become a public health crisis? And that is what we are going to talk about tonight because this is a public health crisis.

The Public Health Crisis

Here is the slide that demonstrates the phenomenon.

So here are two equally weighted adult men. Which one is healthy and which one is sick?

Does anybody know? The one on the bottom is sick, right? He is sick. Why? All that visceral fat, all that fat surrounding the organs. See this guy over here? He is got big love handles, but you know, so what?

In fact this is perfectly healthy. It is no problem. Because subcutaneous fat is kind of good for you. Some studies show more subcutaneous fat and more longevity. Whereas this stuff, this is the bad stuff. This is the poison stuff over here. So, the fact is, standing on a scale does not tell you where your fat is, what does?

Well, your waist circumference is a good start, and then there are some lab tests you can do as well. The bottom line is there are a lot of normal-weight people who have this phenomenon is called TOFI, thin on the outside, fat on the inside. Probably some right here in the audience and they get type 2 diabetes, they get dyslipidemia, they get hypertension, etcetera, etcetera.
You get the picture?

Everyone is at risk because everyone is exposed. The question is, what is it you are exposed to?

Because obesity is not the problem. It never was. They want you to think it has the problem, but it is not the problem. What is the problem? Metabolic syndrome is the problem. The cluster of diseases that I have just described to you because that is where all the money goes. Obesity costs almost nothing. Metabolic syndrome is 75% of all healthcare costs today, and there is the list right there. Everybody with me now? OK. Do I have your attention? OK. So how does this work?

This is a redundancy from the previous YouTube video, so I apologize for that. It has to do with how you view the question of obesity and what does it mean. So of course, obesity obeys the first law of thermodynamics, and I do not argue that the total energy inside a closed system remains constant. It is a law. OK. If I did not believe in the first law of thermodynamics, you would have me ridden out on a rail. I would be the ultimate heretic and zealot, and I would be discredited. Of course, I believe in the first law of thermodynamics. It is a law. The question is, as I have learned from my legal training, whose truth? Which interpretation? The Supreme Court always comes down 5-4 on everything, right? Right. True. OK, because there are two interpretations. I mean, that is what the Supreme Court is for, is interpreting the law. The law is the law, but the interpretation is something else. So here are the two interpretations. If you eat it, you better burn it, or you going to store it. If that is true, then this is a matter of energy balance. Energy balance. That is what everyone will tell you, and it is the result of two aberrant behaviors. Calories in, gluttony, calories out, sloth. And that is what everybody assumes, that if you are obese, well, you must eat too much or exercise too little or both. And therefore, it is your fault.

And that is what we believe and to this day, we still do not have insurance for obesity, although just today, you know that the AMA finally said obesity is a disease. This is funny because in 2004, HHS said obesity was a disease. It took the AMA nine years to catch up with HHS and figure that out. So, the dogma is based on this dogma. The dogma is that if you eat more than you burn, you will gain weight. If you eat less than you burn, you will lose weight because all calories are the same. A calorie is a calorie. This is the biggest pile of you know what there is. This is not true. But if you believe it, then the corollary of a calorie is that this is free will. You get to choose what you put in your mouth. It is personal responsibility because if you are obese, well, you chose to be gluttony and sloth. That is your problem and diet and exercise will fix it. That is what everyone believes from a calorie is a calorie. And who says that a calorie is a calorie? Well, the food industry says a calorie is a calorie, and that is because it serves them well. So, this is fiction. This is Coca-Cola is coming together a video on YouTube released just before the Super Bowl that says beating obesity will act by all of us based on one simple common-sense fact: all calories count, no matter where they come from, including Coca-Cola and everything else with calories. A calorie is a calorie. Why pick on Coca-Cola? Why pick on Burger King? Why pick on any individual? Because it serves them well because it diffuses the issue. So, is that what we have gotten? We have just got a caloric bacchanalia. Oh, sorry. Wait, this is wrong. That is better. OK, indeed we are all eating more. I will not argue that. 187 calories per day more for men, 335 calories per day more for women, and 275 calories more per day for teen boys than 25 years ago. We are all eating more. I will not argue that. Of course, we are. The question is why? So, you would say, well, therefore. This is the evolution of fast food over here. 1957 we have the original White Castle Hamburger, 210 calories right there, one ounce. Over here we have today’s Bob’s Big Boy at 600 and 1018 calories. And of course, amid the obesity epidemic, Hardee’s had the temerity to offer us the Thick Burger at 14120 calories. And of course, you can go to Carl’s Jr. and get the $6 burger, which is 2000 calories. That is the entire caloric allotment for the day, and people are proud to go do it. Right. How has anybody here had a Trenta? Trenta. Yes. No. OK, so that is this guy over here. So, it is not hot coffee. It is a cold coffee drink flavored with, you know what? And it is 916 CCs. Well, your stomach is 900 CCs. It is bigger than your stomach. So, you would say, well, there is your answer. QED. It is all over, right? How about this? I love this. This came in the mail: “Free fried chicken sandwich from KFC with the purchase of a 30-ounce drink.” The food has gotten so cheap, we are giving it away. That is where we are, OK? Or is it the opposite side of the equation? Is it an activity famine? So, this is a study that was done looking at physical activity here on the Y axis against age from 9 years old to 19 years old for white girls and black girls. And you can see that by the time they hit age 15, the black girls are just lying prostrate on the floor. Because there is no physical activity whatsoever, so you say, well, there is your answer. That is why everyone is obese because they are eating too much and they are exercising too little: gluttony and sloth, diet, and exercise, just like common sense tells you. Well, you know what? I do not believe in common sense. I believe in data and that is why we do research, because education consists mainly of what we have unlearned. If everything that we knew were true, there would be no reason for the research, would there? I would never have to do any research because everything we knew was already right. Everything we learned 10 years ago is already wrong, and everything we know today will be wrong 10 years from now. And that’s why you do research. And the fact is, the research tells us something very different.

So, is this behavior? Is its personal responsibility? What do you think? There are six reasons to doubt this. Number one,

no child chooses to be obese. The quality of an obese child’s life is the same as a patient on cancer chemotherapy. Why would anyone choose this? Children are ostracized. Number two, does diet work? Now everybody knows somebody who lost weight on a diet. And then, of course, they gained it all back. And that is what all the data shows and the number of people who can maintain their weight loss for any length of time is vanishingly small. And if it were not true, you would not be sitting here listening to me because you would say, well, well, I do not have to listen to him. Does exercise work? So here are studies of exercise, and this is the identity line here, and you can see when compared with no treatment, exercise resulted in very small weight loss across the board. One BMI point vigorous exercise, 1.5 BMI points. Considering we are all 7 to 8 BMI points more than we should be, you know. That are not going to cut it. Because exercise does not cause weight loss. Does not cause weight loss. What does exercise do? It causes muscle gain. And that’s good because muscle has mitochondria, mitochondria burn energy. So, you stay insulin sensitive because you have a place to put your energy instead of in your liver where it causes problems. So, exercise is the single best thing you can do for yourself. But if you think it is going to show up on the scale, think again. So, when you stand on the scale, what are you measuring? Measuring four compartments at once. Bone, more is better. Muscle, more is better. Subcutaneous fat, more is better. I just showed you. And finally, visceral fat, more is worse. Now the visceral fat usually encompasses about four to 6% of your total body weight, so when you stand on the scale, what are you measuring? You do not know. You cannot possibly know. So, we have all these doctors telling their patients, well, if you would only exercise, you would lose weight. And then of course, they do not because they have built muscle, which is good, but it does not show up on the scale. And then they get depressed because oh, I was doing this to lose weight and it did not work. And so, I might as well stop because obviously it does not work for me. This is the single most egregious thing doctors do to their patients today, and as far as I am concerned, that’s almost malpractice. Because the data say otherwise. Number three, this is not just about America, and it is not just about the UK. It is not just about Australia. Yes, we are the three fattest countries and we spend the least amount of our GDP on food. That is true, but it is going on everywhere. Every country, every single country on the planet has shown an uptick in obesity. Some have shown an uptick in diabetes, and some have shown a downtick. But for obesity, everybody has gone up. Does not matter where you look, every country has shown an increase. Number four, the poor are disproportionately affected and they do not have access to choices. They cannot even leave their house for fear of crime. How they going to exercise? How they going to let their kids out to go play in the yard when they might, you know, face a stray bullet? They do not have supermarkets, they live in food deserts. So, if you do not have a choice, how can you call it personal responsibility? You know, this is one of the most egregious pejorative statements that there is. Number five, the prevalence of obesity is going up in the group that you can least ascribe personal responsibility to: toddlers. The two to five-year-old group is going up the fastest. You want to say that that’s personal responsibility. So, you say it is the personal responsibility of the parent, right, for letting them have the sugar pops and the, you know, and the sodas and the fruit juices and everything that the parents’ fault except for one thing. We even have an epidemic of obese 6-month-olds and they do not diet and exercise. So, any hypothesis you want to proffer, you must explain this as well, and it is even worse than that because we have obesity in newborns. Newborns’ birth weight has gone up by 200 grams all over the world, all over the world over the last 25 years. And when you do DEXA scans to figure out what the body composition is, it is all fat. It is all fat, so these babies are laying down fatter before they are ever born and fat cells want to get filled. That is why we have obese 6-month-olds. Because everybody is laying down more fat. So, the question is, how? Why? Why are they laying down more fat today?