A Universal Mechanism

I was looking over this major study that was published last month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  The authors looked at how the glycemic index and glycemic load of foods affected disease risk.  The abstact contains a pretty powerful statement:

"The findings support the hypothesis that higher postprandial glycemia is a universal mechanism for disease progression."

This is saying that foods that cause a blood sugar spike and a resulting high insulin reponse are behind disease risk.  In other words, sugar and refined carbohydrates are driving most modern diseases.  That's all there is to it, and this pretty much aligns with everything I've read.

This is why I think research money should now begin to go towards implementing effective behavior modification models, rather than continuing to confirm things we already know.  Given that sugar and refined carbs are behind most disease, then the perspective should switch to what should be done about it.  We don't need another hundred studies to show that sugar is bad.  What we need is a way to get people off sugar, or at least get kids off it.

Comments

[Stephan]

I couldn't agree more with that last paragraph. Part of the problem is we're already putting effort into diet modification but it's in the wrong direction!

I'm beginning to think it's not quite as simple as carbohydrate alone (although I think sugar is pretty straightforward). It seems to me there's something in grains in particular that is causing carbohydrate intolerance. This would explain how the Kitavans can eat 70% carb from roots/tubers and never get insulin resistance, obesity or CVD.