Friday Favorites: Does Sugar Lead to Weight Gain?

The sugar industry’s response to evidence implicating sweeteners in the obesity epidemic.

For more on the sugar industry’s influence, check out Sugar Industry Attempts to Manipulate the Science ( ).

Here are my popular sugar videos for more:
• If Fructose Is Bad, What About Fruit? ( )
• How Much Fruit Is Too Much? ( )
• How Much Added Sugar Is Too Much? ( )
• Big Sugar Takes on the World Health Organization ( )
• Does Diet Soda Increase Stroke Risk as Much as Regular Soda? ( )
• How to Stop Tooth Decay ( )
• The Recommended Added Daily Sugar Intake ( )

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Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

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Leroy Johnson
 

  • @williamcooper8559 says:

    we are not going to talk sugar util the new year… lol

  • @356h7 says:

    this video is a week late, would have done wonders for the most unhealthy time of the year, Christmas is death.

  • @andrewpawley8883 says:

    I love this channel!

  • @WilkesFamilyPB says:

    However, “most” sweets are also high in oils…. We know that combination of oil and sugar is a fat pill. This is why fruits don’t make us fat. Sugar is fine, Dixie Crystals are probably bad

    • @mitkoogrozev says:

      Indeed. ”All” the junk food I’ve looked at recently has at least 20-30g of fat per 100g of product (10-20g of which is saturated!), and around 50-60g sugar/100g. A lot of them seem to be at this almost 1:2 ratio. And calorically that’s almost 1:1.

      And that’s not any junk food, but specifically sweets. Looked through multiple brands of wafers , cookies, chocolate spreads and ice creams.

  • @meonyoutubenow says:

    I am missing references to studies that actually meassure body fat development rather than bodyweigth. There is a difference!
    I also miss studies from jurisdictions where the food industries’ use of sugar is not dominated by the worst kind of chemically altered sugar compounds such as high fructose corn sirup. It would be interesting to see results from Scandinavian countries or France where these things are regulated, places where contrary to the US, Asia, and Africa we enjoy relatively higher consumer protection laws and traditionally consume sugar in the form of …you guessed it, just sugar. A couple of studies examining how sugar consumption contributes to fat gain/loss in individuals who are otherwise metabolically healthy, follow a plant-based diet would also be interesting to read. E.g. Barnard conducted a study mny years ago that followed a low fat plant-based diet but did not restrict sugar. If you believe Barnard the study subjects did indeed find candy and junkfood, ate it all ad libitum and still lost a significant amount of weight incl fat nd managed to keep it all off.

  • @richardereed9205 says:

    The Rice Diet consisted of white rice (starch that converts to sugar), fruit (high in sugar), fruit juice (so high in sugar they recommend limiting it for children, and table sugar. Among other benefits it is a weight LOSS diet. Explain please.

    • @arzthaus says:

      First of all, starch does not convert to “sugar.” It converts to glucose, which is a monosaccharide, the main source of energy in your body. “Table Sugar” is 1:1 glucose and fructose which is probably what is meant by “sugar” in this case. I think our nutrition facts labels need updating, because milk will say it has 12g of “sugar” but that’s almost 0% fructose. Fructose is the main bad guy here.

    • @asldfjkalsdfjasdf says:

      What all of these studies leave out is what diet their patients are eating otherwise.
      A doughnut is almost always a high fat food even though it tastes sweet and has lots of sugar in it.
      Oil and fat reduce your ability to utilize sugar und feed your cells with it. That is why it is found in the urine.
      The calories in the rice diet comes from about 95% Starch & Sugar and very little fat and protein which clearly is not the case for all the cited studies here.

      So you can blame sugar all along but the fat you eat will still be the fat you wear.

    • @ebirch90 says:

      Humans are inefficient at converting glucose to fat – lipogenesis. In the presence of excess calories, it is quite easy for fat to be stored – whereas excess glucose is typically excreted in urine (small amount converted to cholesterol). Search for the following video on YouTube: “Overeating sugar doesn’t make you gain weight? | How hclf vegans stay skinny on 3000+ calories”

  • @aroundandround says:

    Misleading title. The video only presented arguments for calories leading to weight gain, which logic can be used to also say apples lead to weight gain.

  • @asldfjkalsdfjasdf says:

    Doctors would taste their patients urine to check for diabetes.
    So Sugar content in urine probably has more to do that there is access the body can’t handle properly than the fact that they got fat.
    If you eat high fat in general and add sugar that is a bad idea.

  • @RoughNeckDelta says:

    Colorado is the least overfat. The only cause I can think of is they were the first to legalize medical cannabis and then recreational cannabis.

  • @Judge2x says:

    This needs a better practical explanation relating to weight gain. For example personally I can eat nothing but candy for days (sweet chocolates, skittles etc) and not see much or any weight gain but eat pizza for a day (starch, fat, protein) and see significant weight gain in that same week.

  • @philadams9254 says:

    Dr McDougall, Durianrider and about a million endurance athletes would disagree with you

  • @ebirch90 says:

    Search for the following video on YouTube: “Overeating sugar doesn’t make you gain weight? | How hclf vegans stay skinny on 3000+ calories”

  • @CarnivoreOrVegan says:

    A question if he would be so kind as to answer. Is there a natural treatment for autoimmune hemolytic anemia? I have that disease.

  • @lindaripp5902 says:

    Thanks

  • @dj-up4nc says:

    Hi Dr. Greger, could you make a video on whether fructooligosaccharides are safe sweeteners?

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