Tag Archive for: Gary Taubes

That Sugar Film: The Results

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I hope that this sunk in on Tuesday: Damon Gambeau, the filmmaker, was going to eat 40 teaspoons of sugar per day. The rest of the story was that he was not going to eat cakes and cookies or drink full-sugar soda. He was going to eat what might be considered health foods: low-fat yogurt, fruit juices, whole grain cereals with sugar added, and other things with Australian names I don’t recognize. By the end of each day, it had to equate to 40 teaspoons of sugar or about 168 grams, not counting all the other carbohydrates.

What happened after 60 days? One of his liver enzymes was off, up 20 points over the safety level, which was never really explained. His triglycerides were up significantly, from about 60 mg/dl to 132 mg/dl. While that’s up, it’s not really abnormal for a fasting triglyceride level.

The real change was in his weight. Based on weigh-ins, he gained 19.8 pounds in 60 days. He also gained 10 cm around his waist—that’s close to four inches. And here is the kicker: his estimated caloric intake before the self-study was around 2,300 calories per day. He claims that his caloric intake remained at 2,300 calories per day throughout the experiment. All the experts went nuts. Taubes said it’s got to be the sugar. Another said sugar has to be the problem.

Oh, really? I’ve got some comments on that on Saturday—and you won’t want to miss them.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Review: That Sugar Film

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Summer gives us a chance catch to up on reading or binge watch a television series, so I thought I’d watch some of the nutrition documentaries that I’ve been asked about. I’ve done some in the past such as Forks Over Knives. It gives me a chance to check the facts on what’s said and how true or relevant it is. That’s the case with the film titled That Sugar Film. It was written, directed, and starred in by an Australian filmmaker Damon Gambeau. Hugh Jackson even performed the opening scene.

The premise of the movie is that all sugar is bad. There was at least one anti-sugar and ketogenic diet proponent in Gary Taubes author of Good Calories, Bad Calories. The filmmaker also assembled a team of experts who were going to provide information and medical supervision during an experiment he wanted to conduct on himself. The experiment was to see how a high-sugar diet, one typical of the average Australian, would impact him. Based on what he claimed to eat, he was somewhere between the paleo diet and the ketogenic diet before that.

There was the requisite discussion of the cholesterol hypothesis and how fat was chosen as the demon to avoid instead of sugar as they relate to heart disease. The sugar industry conspiracy was also talked about in the same vein as the tobacco industry. But it’s what he did to himself that was by far the most interesting: switching to a diet that contained 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days. What happened to him? That’s coming on Thursday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet