Aug 19

Aug 19 Sugar Part I: Fear + Stress Reactions

“The protective effects of sugar, and the harmful effects of excessive fat metabolism, are now being widely recognized, in every field of physiology.” -Dr. Ray Peat, PhD.

Key Points:

Fear of sugar has led people to blindly accept that it causes diabetes, obesity, cancer, and other metabolic disorders. Research is now showing that rather than excess carbohydrate, the excess of dietary polyunsaturated fat--by elevating free fatty acids and blocking the cell’s utilization of glucose--influences insulin resistance and when blood sugar remains elevated continuously, diabetes & insulin resistance can develop.
Fructose from fruit interacts with blood sugar levels quite differently than glucose from starches and grains.
Starches (containing mostly glucose) have a higher glycemic index than even table sugar (sucrose: containing fructose and glucose), which means starches actually break down rapidly, absorb very high in the alimentary canal, which can lead to spikes in blood sugar and a surge of insulin if consumed alone. Conversely, fructose-rich fruits and juice absorb more slowly, leading to a slower rise in blood sugar and therefore, do not disrupt insulin. (This idea is contrary to nutrition dogma that the dietetic association originally preached and spread. The glycemic index itself is often irrelevant when foods of different ranks are combined.)
Fructose can inhibit the stimulation of insulin caused by glucose: Eating ordinary sugar, (sucrose) or fruit (containing sucrose, glucose, and fructose) in place of starch (glucose), will reduce the tendency to store fat as a result of avoiding the large insulin release (and then stress response) associated with consuming starches and pure glucose.
Protein eaten without carbohydrate triggers a release of insulin, which triggers a stress response if blood sugar is too low, mobilizing cortisol, adrenalin, growth hormone, prolactin, serotonin, estrogen, histamine, and releasing iron and free fatty acids from the tissue. Cortisol stimulates the breakdown of protein into amino acids, and then into fat and sugar, to use as energy.
Sugar and ripe fruit, especially when supported by a nutrient density (e.g. grass-fed beef, liver, oysters, shellfish, butter, raw dairy, bone broth, pastured pork skins, and pasture-raised eggs) can help to lower the chronic stress response and in doing, have anti-inflammatory properties.
Sugar should not be a replacement for nutrient dense foods, but instead, should enhance the therapeutic potential of a well-rounded diet by reducing the stress response and supporting the metabolic rate.

Sugar Fear

Originating in the 1950’s and 60’s, sugar faced the blame for causing all varieties of disease, possibly as an attempt to buoy the myth that cholesterol and triglycerides caused heart disease in order to boost the sale of vegetable oil.

When looking closer and critically examining physiological changes in the presence of sugar, we find that sugar has profoundly anti-stress, liver-supporting, and pro-metabolic functions.

When the body is adequately fueled, the deleterious effects of the stress response (e.g. hormonal disruptions, premature aging, metabolic disorders, liver dysfunction, and thyroid suppression) seem to be avoided. This “Sugar Series” intends to dispel the misconceptions around sugar and bring clarity to the matter by discussing the history + mechanisms of therapeutic potential in the context of stress.

Anti-Stress

The stress response engages adrenaline and cortisol and triggers the release of pro-inflammatory free fatty acids, priming the system to react:

“Adrenalin causes fatty acids to be drawn into the blood from fat stores, especially if the liver's glycogen stores are depleted, and cortisol causes tissue protein to be broken down into amino acids, some of which are used in place of carbohydrate. Unsaturated fatty acids, adrenaline, and cortisol cause insulin resistance.” -Dr. Ray Peat (1)

Glucose is a necessary component of proper liver function, thyroid-hormone conversion, and optimal brain function:

“The metabolic activities of the liver are essential for providing fuel to the brain, muscle, and other peripheral organs.”
“Glucose is virtually the sole fuel for the human brain, except during prolonged starvation. The brain lacks fuel stores and hence requires a continuous supply of glucose. It consumes about 120 g daily, which corresponds to an energy input of about 420 kcal.”
Fatty acids do not serve as fuel for the brain, because they are bound to albumin in plasma and so do not traverse the blood-brain barrier. In starvation, ketone bodies generated by the liver partly replace glucose as fuel for the brain.
(5)

Without enough glucose or stores glycogen, the process of gluconeogenesis takes over: adrenaline is quickly released into the blood supply in order to pull glycogen from our muscles and break down our tissues in order to convert amino acids into sugars, fast!

Adequate glucose levels within the blood and liver are required for processing stress hormones and inflammatory compounds before they wreak havoc throughout the rest of the body. If adrenaline is not broken down by the liver but instead oxidized, for example, it turns into highly reactive adrenochrome. The adrenochrome pushes cells into an excitatory, mineral-wasting state, releasing reactive oxygen species, which then has the potential to damage brain & gut tissues as they course through the bloodstream (6).

Luckily, sugar seems to support the liver in opposing the negative effects of the stress reaction:

One experiment demonstrated fructose’s ability to protect liver cells in a low oxygen environment by opposing various shifts that appear during stress (2).

Furthermore, sugar lowers the main pituitary hormone, ACTH, which signals the production of cortisol in the adrenals. High levels of cortisol and over-activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (e.g. HPA-axis) induces insulin resistance following chronic elevation (3) Yet again, we can see how stress impacts physiology, shifting the body towards less efficient and more harmful states when valuable resources (like glucose) are not readily and effortlessly accessible.

Simply eating sucrose—yes, even the white stuff—seems to restrain the stress hormone system (4), keeping stress hormones low and therefore, taking a load off of the liver’s daily, moment-to-moment pile of detox-focused work.

Restriction + Emotional Stress

The stress reaction of the HPA-axis can be triggered by our thoughts alone.

Feeling restricted or having to eat a certain way out of fear that our symptoms might return, we might gain weight, or we will develop diabetes is another form of stoking that chronic, low level fear response whenever we find ourselves thinking and concerned about food.

For many people trying to heal complex disorders and autoimmune disease, doctors have encouraged them to follow strict, sugar-free, low-carb, “healing diets.” These clients often find themselves obsessed and anxious around food and how to heal.

The irony here is that this restrictive advice ignores the basic biology of liver function and its requirement of glucose to properly convert thyroid hormones. Without proper thyroid function, energy production, digestion, liver function, and protective anabolic hormone production start to down-regulate, sending individuals into further states of metabolic distress, hormonal mayhem, and fatigue that they were trying to escape with the “healing” diet in the first place.

When we add emotional stress and fear of a certain food or ingredient, we unknowingly compound the conundrum. Suddenly, the work the liver has to do in order to process stress hormones is hindered further by the lack of resources to do so. Talk about a catch-22.

On top of these unintentionally anti-thyroid diets, the stress, social isolation, and food obsession that accompanies excessive food restrictions can stimulate chemicals that feel equally as stressful as starvation, blood sugar swings, and toxins coursing through a system: the body registers thoughts as stressors as if they were real. Fear heightens the limbic system, primed for reactivity, fight, flight, and freeze. Sometimes, the limbic system even gets stuck in this panicked state.

Just imagining a lack of resources, choices, possibilities, constantly being reminded of being sick or feeling different in social situations involving food might arguably be harmful than having a bit of refined sugar, and definitely more harmful than consuming nutrient dense fruits, roots, squashes, and juices.

Replenishment

Ironically, these basic, whole-foods may in fact lower the stress response that is depleting immune function to begin with.

“But while there’s plenty of evidence that excess sugar or HFCS can be harmful to health, there’s actually no evidence that small amounts of refined sugar in the context of a nutrient-dense, whole foods diet (and active lifestyle) is harmful.” -Chris Kresser(7)

Fruits, root vegetables, honey, and maple are not the same as white sugar. Refined sugar is quite pure, but lacks all the essential nutrients, so should be used to boost the metabolic rate in conjunction with a nutrient dense meal or snack. A classic example could be an organic, cane-sugar soda paired with parmesan cheese, or homemade ice cream made with grass-fed cream, milk, organic pastured egg yolks, and organic cane sugar.

This “Sugar Series” aims to dispel the myths of sugar, glucose, and fructose as the cause of disease so that we can come back to nourishing ourselves with more ease and far less nonsensical restriction.

References:

[1]http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glycemia.shtml

[2](Niknahad, H., et al. Hepatocyte injury resulting from the inhibition of mitochondrial respiration at low oxygen concentrations involves reductive stress and oxygen activation. Chem Biol Interact. 1995 Oct 20;98(1):27-44.)

[3]https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article/83/3/757/2865132)

[4]A new perspective on glucocorticoid feedback: relation to stress, carbohydrate feeding and feeling better,” J Neuroendocrinol 13(9), 2001, KD Laugero)

[5]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22436/

[6]https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022282885801334

[7]https://chriskresser.com/is-refined-sugar-really-toxic/comment-page-1/