Talk to me about fructose - and other sugars if you like
Ok, so Wasps link led me to finally watching "Sugar, the bitter truth", a widely published rant against fructose and the sugar industry by endocrinologist Robert Lustig:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
Basically he posits that "fructose is a poison" and is just "alcohol without the buzz". If I picked it up correctly: it's metabolized by the body much the same way that alcohol is, by the liver, which somehow means that it triggers fat storage, and most interesting to me - does not trigger a feeling of satiety that way glucose does. And this is a problem because fructose is cheaper and sweeter than sugar (which is also half fructose), and is used as an additive in processed foods and in large amounts in soft drinks, in his opinion the main driver behind the obesity epidemic. Apparently eating fruit is not a problem, though, because the fructose levels aren't that high, and you then ingest it at the same time as a dose of fiber. And the one time that you can efficiently metabolize fructose is after a hard workout, when your glycogen stores are low (therefore: sports drinks ok for endurance athletes, but not others).
If this been debated to death in a thread I've missed, just point me thataway.
I've heard it mentioned around on TE, but haven't paid much attention since I rarely drink soft drinks. And it has not been a big media thing over here. But I think my metabolism is slowing down a notch, maybe perimenopause, so I'm taking an extra look at my diet. I do eat cookies or chocolate weekly in moderate amounts, and some processed foods like sauces and condiments.
Anyway. I googled some more, and found Norwegian doctors and nutrionists saying: "well, yeah, but the studies are based on rats ingesting huge amounts of fructose, nothing like a normal diet. In small, normal amounts it's actually beneficial since it doesn't raise your blood sugar." And fructose has been marketed as a "healthier" alternative to regular sugar, for baking etc.
So now I'm confused. My own reaction is sort of - how bad can it be, when it occurs naturally in all fruit, which we've pretty obviously evolved to eat. In normal concentrations, that is, mimicking a diet high in fruit. And ok, so it's a "poison" like alcohol, but I do actually drink alcohol, every week, and the amounts I drink are neither poisoning me nor giving me a beer belly. I agree with his premise that children should not be drinking soft drinks nor eating sweetened fast foods daily, but... duh.
So what's your take on it? Do you read labels and avoid all fructose, including fruit? Eat fruit but avoid fructose added to processed food? Just avoid drinks full of HFCS? Or not worry about it?