Truth and facts about eating candy, ice cream as well as junk food

[timeuser84]

Hi again. I was wondering, does eating candy, Ice cream and junk food shorten ones life span? If yes then how much does it need to be to be able to do that to the human body? What effects does it have on the human body? can it give you diabetes and other body conditions like that? How much of that is safe to consume if there is a safe amount?, won't do anything bad to the body and NOT shorten my life span?

 

[BillTre]

Many of your questions here will vary from individual to individual and therefore are not somethings others can answer for you.
Do research and made decisions based on your own particulars.

 

[hmmm27]

Hi again. I was wondering, does eating candy, Ice cream and junk food shorten ones life span?

As compared to what ?

Most "junk food" is popular because the tastes are - or simulate - that of stuffs that the human body actually needs and uses. However, in nature they're not usually clumped together with nothing else.

Grease, salt, sugar/carbs(, addictive-substances).

 

[Astronuc]

Hi again. I was wondering, does eating candy, Ice cream and junk food shorten ones life span? If yes then how much does it need to be to be able to do that to the human body? What effects does it have on the human body? can it give you diabetes and other body conditions like that? How much of that is safe to consume if there is a safe amount?, won't do anything bad to the body and NOT shorten my life span?

It could, especially with the absence of fruit, vegetables and grains with their vitamins and minerals. High calorie, low nutritional food combined with lack of activity contributes to obesity, hyperlipidemia, heart disease, and according to a local oncologist, cancer.

 

[Ygggdrasil]

There are scientists who argue that excessive consumption of sugar is harmful, though there is some disagreement among experts the extent to which this is true. For example, see this PF thread and the links cited within: https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/is-sugar-a-dangerous-drug-this-guy-thinks-so.713785/

Here's a site from UCSF that argues that excessive sugar is toxic to the liver: https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/the-toxic-truth

 

[jim mcnamara]

Sucrose is a dimer - glucose and fructose. Consuming sugar == consuming fructose

There is a hypothesis:
Sweet tastes in plants are largely found in fruiting structures that contain sucrose or fructose. These structures have ascorbic acid, lycopenes and a lot of other useful nutrients. So having a sweet tooth is adaptive. Early humans did well when they ate fruits periodically.

There are dozens of metabolic pathways that utilize glucose. Only one group of pathways exists for fructose and it is in the liver. When there is an excess of the limited capacity, the liver creates and locally stores fat. Happens when you consume a lot of sucrose. A process shared in tandem with ethanol breakdown.

The UCSF site argues that this, fructose at high levels, is a source of steatsosis (Triglyceride deposits in more than 5% of cell vacuoles) of the liver or Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Obviously excess alcohol is the other source for steatosis. Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is usually present in Type II diabetics, and is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome (metabolic disease.)

See, fructose metabolism:
M Kohlmeier 'Nutrient Metabolism Structures, Functions, and Genes' pp 207-213
--- My copy is the 2015 edition.

See steatosis (For alcohol, hostologically very similar to NAFLD):
Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4836586/

Bottom line: it seems consuming way more sugar than early humans is a strong drive and modern humans develop problems from it. US per capita sugar consumption is ~150 lbs/year
( per https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/nhp/documents/sugar.pdf - Dept HHS )
Way more than early human's periodic foraging of small wild fruits...

Metabolic Syndrome and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633261/

 

[Ygggdrasil]

How much of that is safe to consume if there is a safe amount?, won't do anything bad to the body and NOT shorten my life span?

Here's a section from the UCSF site on this question in particular:

How much is okay?
Expert panels worldwide have made consistent recommendations on daily sugar intake. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams) of added sugar per day for women and 9 teaspoons (38 grams) for men.1 The AHA limits for children vary depending on their age and caloric needs, but range between 3-6 teaspoons (12 - 25 grams) per day.

That is in line with the https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/glossary_world_health_organization's (WHO) recommendation that no more than 10% of an adult's calories – and ideally less than 5% – should come from added sugar or from natural https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/glossary_sugars in honey, syrups and https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/glossary_fruit_juice. For a 2,000-calorie diet, 5% would be 25 grams.

Yet, the average American consumes 17 teaspoons (71.14 grams) every day.2 That translates into about 57 pounds of added sugar consumed each year, per person.3

https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/the-growing-concern-of-overconsumption.html

 

[StoneTemplePython]

Sucrose is a dimer - glucose and fructose. Consuming sugar == consuming fructose
...
See, fructose metabolism:
M Kohlmeier 'Nutrient Metabolism Structures, Functions, and Genes' pp 207-213
--- My copy is the 2015 edition.

See steatosis (For alcohol, hostologically very similar to NAFLD):
Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4836586/

Bottom line: it seems consuming way more sugar than early humans is a strong drive and modern humans develop problems from it. US per capita sugar consumption is ~150 lbs/year
( per https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/nhp/documents/sugar.pdf - Dept HHS )
Way more than early human's periodic foraging of small wild fruits...

Metabolic Syndrome and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2633261/

This all holds, but unfortunately the situation is even worse. Some individuals have very active polyol pathways that converts glucose into fructose inside their bodies, including even glucose that is the end products of eating 'complex' carbs. Blood concentrations matter (i.e. more processing of foods leads to higher concentrations...) and the topic ends up being a bit complicated.

Dr Rick Johnson has published repeatedly on this in published journals over the last 10 or so years. He also has a nice general audience book The Fat Switch from a few years ago. (Also a nice wide ranging discussion on Peter Attia's podcast at the beginning of this year.) A couple months ago he co-authored a study linking excess fructose to dementia. Food for thought, so to speak.

 

[jim mcnamara]

@StoneTemplePython
I think physicians do see what you are describing - the term I've encountered is 'thin metabolic syndrome'. Meaning people with usually asymptomatic NAFLD who are normal weight but often are type II diabetics, for which metabolic syndrome should apply. Apparently this is seen in patients from some areas in Asia. Rural India, for example:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5359743/

"Normal" Metabolic Syndrome is supposed to show 3 of these 5 characteristics, see:
"A comprehensive definition for metabolic syndrome"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2675814/

The syndrome is supposed to be predictive for Type II and cardiovascular diseases. So this sort of an ex post facto situation. It went on 'under the radar'.