The mainstream finally gets a key element of the big picture

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" WC Douglass " <realhealth

Daily Dose - The mainstream finally gets a key element of the

" big " picture

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 09:00:00 -0400

 

 

Sugar-frosted stakes

 

Boy, I'll tell you what, you just can't pull one over on the medical

mainstream.

 

It's like they've got some kind of sixth sense or something, I swear.

They're like Woodward and Bernstein on the Watergate case, always a

step ahead of the big health stories facing us. I mean, I just can't

do it justice with my own words how incredibly prophetic establishment

medicine is...

 

So I'll let the headline from a recent Associated Press story explain

just how profound their powers of precognition are. Brace yourselves:

 

REPORT SAYS SUGARY DRINKS PILE ON POUNDS

 

Well, gol-durned and tarnation, it would never have occurred to a rube

country doc like me that guzzling gallons of pure sugar-water like

Coca-Cola, Kool-aid, Hawaiian Punch, and Sunny Delight every month

might contribute to person's waistline. What would we do without the

establishment and their wonderful studies to show us the harm in such

innocuous substances?

 

But in typical mainstream fashion, they were doing the responsible

thing and waiting for all the evidence to come in. I guess the 100

million fatties all trundling around with bottles of Coke in their

hands wasn't enough of a clue...

 

According to the AP story, researchers at the Harvard School of Public

Health have analyzed data from 40 years' worth of scientifically

rigorous nutrition studies, publishing the results in a recent issue

of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Among their conclusions:

 

* That just a single extra can of soda a day can add as much as 15

pounds a year to the average American's body weight

 

* Trends in soft-drink advertising and consumption have coincided

precisely with the rise in American obesity

 

* The high fructose corn syrup (you've heard me talk about how

awful this stuff is before) in just one 12-ounce serving of soda is

equal to more than 10 teaspoons of table sugar

 

Of course, the American Beverage Association is claiming that the new

analysis has overlooked some studies they're familiar with that would

have called a link between sugary drinks and obesity into question.

Keep reading...

 

*************************

 

The Harvard affiliated research was funded largely by federal grants.

In other words, your tax dollars at work. All I can say to that is

" praise the powers that be! " If it weren't for the government doling

out your money for research, we'd have never known of these dangers...

 

Heck, in about four more decades, maybe they'll have scraped together

enough of our money to tell us that breads and pastas are bad for you,

too. Maybe around 40 years after that, they'll be able to prove that

meats and fats are really good for us after all (talk about a big

surprise for some)...

 

But I wonder if they'll ever amass enough data or grant money to prove

that prescription drugs are anything other than benevolent, lifesaving

gifts from the crucibles and beakers of a selfless, not-for-profit

pharmaceutical industry?

 

I'm digressing, though.

 

Even if the empirical evidence didn't point directly to soft drinks as

a major cause of obesity, the fact that fully a third of the

carbohydrate calories in the already carb-heavy American's diet now

come from added sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup is reason

enough to damn sodas, " energy " drinks, ersatz juices, and sugary kid's

beverages...

 

And I've only been saying that for nigh on 40 years now.

 

Way ahead of the obesity " curve, "

 

William Campbell Douglass II, MD