Fructose and glucose cause the same amount of weight gain and same amount of fat gain notes Kimber Stanhope, PhD, a researcher from the University of California at Davis, who has done studies comparing the effects of consuming glucose vs fructose, who was interviewed on ReachMD.com.

Fructose and glucose cause the same amount of weight gain and same amount of fat gain, however, fructose increases belly fat whereas glucose increases subcutaneous fat (fat under the skin) notes Kimber Stanhope, PhD, a researcher from the University of California at Davis, who has done studies comparing the effects of consuming glucose vs fructose, who was interviewed on ReachMD.com.

Fructose increases fat in the blood following a meal—increased postprandial triglycerides—which increases LDL cholesterol, oxidized LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, and other blood readings notes Kimber Stanhope, PhD, a researcher from the University of California at Davis, who has done studies comparing the effects of consuming glucose vs fructose, who was interviewed on ReachMD.com.

Americans are consuming an average of 477 calories per day from added sugars which is 25% of calories with a diet of 2000 calories per day notes Kimber Stanhope, PhD, a researcher from the University of California at Davis, who has done studies comparing the effects of consuming glucose vs fructose, who was interviewed on ReachMD.com.

Consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks are associated with cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, insulin resistance and an increase in small dense LDL even in children notes Kimber Stanhope, PhD, a researcher from the University of California at Davis, who has done studies comparing the effects of consuming glucose vs fructose, who was interviewed on ReachMD.com.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: If you limit your sugar you decrease your chances of developing cancer?

Lewis Cantley, PhD: Absolutely.

Cantley, a Harvard professor and the head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, says when we eat or drink sugar, it causes a sudden spike in the hormone insulin, which can serve as a catalyst to fuel certain types of cancers.

Lewis Cantley: What we’re beginning to learn is that insulin can cause adverse effects in the various tissues. And of particular concern is cancer.

Why? Nearly a third of some common cancers—including breast and colon cancers—have something called insulin receptors on their surface. Insulin binds to these receptors and signals the tumor to start consuming glucose [which allows it to grow].

Lewis Cantley: Every cell in our body needs glucose to survive. But the trouble is, these cancer cells also use it to grow. So if you happen to have the tumor that has insulin receptors on it then it will get stimulated to take up the glucose that’s in the bloodstream rather than go into fat or muscle, the glucose goes into the tumor. And the tumor uses it to grow.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: So far be it for people to realize this ‘cause sugar is everywhere, but you’re saying this is one of the most addictive substances possibly that we have?

Eric Stice, PhD: It certainly is very good at firing the reward regions in our brain.

Eric Stice says by scanning hundreds of volunteers, he’s learned that people who frequently drink sodas or eat ice cream or other sweet foods may be building up a tolerance, much like drug users do. As strange as it sounds, that means the more you eat, the less you feel the reward. The result: you eat more than ever.

Eric Stice: If you overeat these on a regular basis it causes changes in the brain that basically it blunts your reward region response to the food, so then you eat more and more to achieve the same satisfaction you felt originally.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: The mantra that you hear from most nutritionists is that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.

Kimber Stanhope, PhD: And I think the results of the study showed clearly that is not true.

Stanhope has found that fructose increase small dense LDL cholesterol as well as other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Lewis Cantley’s research team is working on developing drugs that will cut off the glucose supply to cancer cells and keep them from growing. But until there’s a breakthrough, Cantley’s advice? Don’t eat sugar. And if you must, keep it to a minimum.

Cantley, a Harvard professor and the head of the Beth Israel Deaconess Cancer Center, says when we eat or drink sugar, it causes a sudden spike in the hormone insulin, which can serve as a catalyst to fuel certain types of cancers.

Lewis Cantley: What we’re beginning to learn is that insulin can cause adverse effects in the various tissues. And of particular concern is cancer.

Why? Nearly a third of some common cancers—including breast and colon cancers—have something called insulin receptors on their surface. Insulin binds to these receptors and signals the tumor to start consuming glucose [which allows it to grow].

Lewis Cantley: Every cell in our body needs glucose to survive. But the trouble is, these cancer cells also use it to grow. So if you happen to have the tumor that has insulin receptors on it then it will get stimulated to take up the glucose that’s in the bloodstream rather than go into fat or muscle, the glucose goes into the tumor. And the tumor uses it to grow.

Kimber Stanhope, PhD: We found that the subjects who consumed [25% of their calories as] high fructose corn syrup had increased blood levels of LDL cholesterol and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: How quickly did these changes occur?

Kimber Stanhope: Within two weeks.

“The chances are good that sugar is a bigger part of your daily diet than you may realize which is why our story tonight is so important,” Dr. Sanjay Gupta noted on the television show ‘60 Minutes’ on April 1, 2012.

“New research coming out of some of America’s most respected institutions is starting to find that sugar, the way many people are eating it today, is a toxin and could be a driving force behind some of this country’s leading killers, including heart disease.”

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: What are all these various diseases that you say are linked to sugar?

Dr. Robert Lustig: Obesity, type II diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease itself.

Lustig says the American lifestyle is killing us.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: And most of it you say is preventable?

Dr. Robert Lustig: Seventy-five percent of it is preventable.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Is it worse than just table sugar?

Dr. Robert Lustig: No. ‘Cause it’s the exact same. They are basically equivalent. The problem is they’re both bad. They’re both equally toxic.

Since the 1970s, sugar consumption has gone down nearly 40 percent, but high fructose corn syrup has more than made up the difference. Dr. Lustig says they are both toxic because they both contain fructose—that’s what makes them sweet and irresistible.

Sleeping pills are estimated to cause 320,000 to 507,000 excess deaths per year in US alone according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

“Rough order-of-magnitude estimates at the end of the supplemental files suggest that in 2010, hypnotics may have been associated with 320 000 to 507 000 excess deaths in the USA alone,” the paper notes.

People taking sleeping pills (hypnotics) were 4.6 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

People taking just one (1) to 18 sleeping pills per year—and the average in this group was only 8 pills per year—were 3.6 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

Realize that this is taking sleeping pills for only 2.5 weeks a year or less which caused this dramatic increased risk of death

“Perhaps the most striking finding was that an increased hazard for death was present even in the lowest tertile of hypnotic use, such that hypnotic drugs were associated with a 3.6-fold increased risk of dying for patients using <18 hypnotic pills per year," the paper notes.

People taking just 18 to 132 sleeping pills per year—the average in this group was 57 pills per year—were 4.4 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

The average number of pills taken in this group was 57. This is taking sleeping pills for only two months a year which caused this dramatic increased risk of death.

People taking just more than 132 sleeping pills per year—the average in this group was 469 pills per year—were 5.3 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

Adjusting for poor health, things such as asthma, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, etc, did NOT explain the increased risk of death associated with sleeping pills.
“Control of selective prescription of hypnotics for patients in poor health did not explain the observed excess mortality,” the paper notes.
Later they say, “neither the level of individual health nor the presence of particular [health problems such as asthma or cardiovascular disease or kidney disease, etc] explains the bulk of the hazard associated with the use of hypnotic medications.”

People taking just 18 to 132 sleeping pills per year—the average in this group was 57 pills per year—were 20% more likely to develop a major cancer over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

People taking just more than 132 sleeping pills per year—the average in this group was 469 pills per year—were 35% more likely to develop a major cancer over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

Sleeping pills are associated with an increased risk of

• depression
• suicide
• falls
• car crashes
• infections
• regurgitation
• hypertension
• heart failure
• arrhythmias
• cardiovascular diseases
• cancer, and
• death

as noted in a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

They noted that “Infections, in turn, are major causes of mortality and cancer.”

They also noted that sleeping pills may:

• increase sleep apnoea
• prolong apnoeas
• cause night eating syndrome leading to obesity
• sleeping pills have been shown to be cancer-causing in rats.


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Sleeping pills were associated with a 4.6 times greater risk of death over 2.5 years according to a recent study.

Instead of sleeping pills, you might try L-tryptophan or pumpkin seeds (which contain tryptophan), or (raw) milk instead of sleeping pills.

(See the Weston A. Price Foundation for why raw milk is better than pasteurized milk. See here or what the excellent presentation by Sally Fallon from the Weston A. Price Foundation talking about raw milk here.)

I’ve taken L-tryptophan for sleep for 30 years—occasionally for the first 11 years, and just about every night for the last 19 years. (I have NOT tried pumpkin seeds.)

More is not better.

If I take too much, I will wake up after 3-4 hours.

I’d prefer to take a small dose (500 mg) and bedtime, and then if I wake up too early, take another small dose (250-500 mg).

If I eat chicken or turkey at night, I will NOT take the tryptophan at bedtime.

If I drink raw milk late at night, I will reduce the dose of tryptophan to 250 mg because milk contains tryptophan.

I have also found that taking larger doses of iodine for the past several years has reduce the amount of tryptophan I need.

I have very little experience with 5-HTP—5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan—which is made in our bodies from L-tryptophan.

However, I have read that 5-HTP can cause stimulation several hours later, so be aware of this. L-tryptophan makes more sense to me than 5-HTP since this is what is found in our diet.

“One-in-five children are affected by excess body weight across all countries, and in Greece, the United States and Italy the figure is closer to one third. Only in China, Korea and Turkey are 10% or less of children overweight,” notes a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which has been around for 50 years.

“Only in China, Korea and Turkey are 10% or less of children overweight.

“In most countries, boys have higher rates of overweight and obesity than do girls.

“Girls tend to have higher rates in Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), as well as in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia,”

The attached chart shows that 35% of US boys aged 5-17, and 36% of US girls are overweight or obese, and that 37% of Greek boys and 45% of Greek girls are overweight or obese.

These two countries have the biggest childhood obesity problem.

At the bottom of the list as the countries with the lowest rates of childhood obesity are:

• 4.5% Girls in China
• 5.9% of Boys in China
• 9.9% of Girls in Korea
• 16.2% of Boys in Korea
• 10.3% of Girls in Turkey
• 11.3% of Boys in Turkey

“One-in-five children are affected by excess body weight across all countries, and in Greece, the United States and Italy the figure is closer to one third. Only in China, Korea and Turkey are 10% or less of children overweight,” notes a recent report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which has been around for 50 years.

“Only in China, Korea and Turkey are 10% or less of children overweight.

“In most countries, boys have higher rates of overweight and obesity than do girls.

“Girls tend to have higher rates in Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark), as well as in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia,”