That Sugar Film Page #3

There is a term for this:

We know that with fructose,

you tend to accumulate

more fat in this area.

We don't know why,

but we know, on the other hand,

that when you do accumulate

that fat in this area

you have a lot of metabolic disease

that are associated with this.

On day 15, it occurred to me

what 40 teaspoons of sugar

would actually look like

stripped of its cleverly

marketed packaging.

Today I'm gonna eat 40

actual teaspoons of sugar.

Just Right, low-fat yoghurt...

there's 10 teaspoons of sugar.

Here, just a bowl of plain Vita

Brits. So what I'm gonna do...

This now equals that.

It's time for my midmorning snack.

Now, I could have this

amount of frozen yoghurt or...

So it's lunch.

I have this delicious

piece of chicken here.

Now, I could add half a packet

of this teriyaki chicken sauce...

or, alternatively...

Now, to wash it down,

I could have one of these

or...

So, it's the midafternoon slump.

Now, as a pick-me-up, I could

have this Go Natural Superfood

Apple Strawberry Cranberry Ripple bar

or I could have this 7-teaspoon

water cracker sugar sandwich.

It was at this point

that I thought I'd better

check in with Professor Blood.

The big change is that

the liver function tests

have had an amazing rise

in one of the enzyme levels,

the ALT level.

The ALT is an enzyme in the liver

which helps the reactions go out.

If it appears in your blood,

'cause that's where we measured it,

it shows that the liver cells

are releasing their contents...

i.e., they're being damaged or dying.

And so the...

You know, the... It's really...

- My liver cells are dying.

- They are. They are.

It's obviously getting full of fat.

You've got the signs of a fatty liver.

And this is really the first time

I've actually seen that it

can be actually developed

in two or three weeks.

Given my liver has turned to fat

after just 18 days,

I think it's time to take a closer look

at what sugar does

once it enters the body.

This is the actor Brenton Thwaites.

He's very kindly volunteered his body

for the following demonstration.

After sugar enters the body,

it splits into two parts...

fructose and glucose.

Both of which

make their way to the liver.

Now, once in the liver,

the glucose is dealt with efficiently.

It's either used immediately for energy

or it's stored for later,

like a spare battery.

But the fructose half of sugar

is very different.

The liver doesn't have a system

to regulate the fructose

because it was so rare in nature,

so it hoovers it out of the bloodstream

whether it needs it or not.

And if all our spare batteries are full,

then it rapidly turns it into fat.

Some of that fat

is gonna stay in the liver

and you're gonna have increased risk

for insulin resistance and diabetes.

What also happens is that

this fat in the liver

is then sent out into the

bloodstream as triglycerides,

which can lead to excess weight

plus blocked arteries and heart disease.

Now, when we're eating lots of sugar

and other carbohydrates

like bread and pasta,

we're producing lots of glucose.

A hormone called insulin is released,

which is like a key that helps

to open our cells' doors

so they can absorb all the glucose,

remove it from the bloodstream

and burn it for energy.

The more glucose in the blood,

the more insulin is released.

But the key point for us

is that while this insulin

is in the blood

dealing with all the glucose,

it tells our fat cells

to hold on to the fat.

It actually turns off

our fat-burning processes.

So when we're eating lots of sugar,

we're putting fat into our

bodies via the fatty liver.

Plus, because of all the glucose,

we maintain the level of insulin,

which tells our fat cells

to hold on to the fat.

We can't burn off fat

when insulin is around

dealing with all the sugar!

This is what may be happening

to a huge number of the population.'

It's highly unlikely

with Brenton, though.

The issue that we're talking about

is that there are these chronic diseases

related to obesity and diabetes...

heart disease,

many cancers, gout, hypertension,

high blood pressure,

possibly Alzheimer's disease.

The question is,

would these diseases exist...

if sugar wasn't in the diet?

So, this morning I've woken up

and I feel pretty drained.

I had a chicken dish last night

that was pretty sweet.

And I could just tell

that my body feels lethargic

and it's waiting for

its next sugar injection.

So the perfectly named Up&Go

is gonna start my day today.

Banana flavoured with, uh...

about four to five teaspoons of sugar.

It was obvious

that sugar was affecting me physically,

but the real surprise

was the impact it was having

on my moods.

It's amazing, it's so sweet

and I can feel my brain responds

to it straightaway.

Like, it tastes delicious.

The thing I've noticed the most

is the mood swings.

Big highs when I have the sugar

and I feel super alert

and switched on for about 45 minutes

and then I'll get this feeling

of real lethargy,

I'll feel vague, a bit aloof

until I get that next hit again

and then I'm right to concentrate.

I just noticed the attention is reduced

and he's much more distracted.

- Hm.

- And it's very unlike him.

Very unusual.

What you're describing is absolutely

what the research has shown,

is a high concentration, energy,

followed by a crash.

The brain and body runs on glucose.

If the glucose level is going

constantly up and down,

you know, zinging high and low

and high and low

and back and forth,

then your mental function

is just unstable.

If your glucose level is stable

and not fluctuating,

then you have more clarity.

It's almost like the body is

getting used to this new reality

that I've created,

and it gets its burst of energy

from the sugar.

And then when that's not happening,

it's, like, going, "OK, we're ready."

Like, I guess, I used to smoke,

it's a similar feeling.

Tell me a little bit

more about what it's like

when you've just had some sugar

and when you're on the sugar high.

A quite childish thing comes out in me.

I go, "Whoo," and then I'm

full of beans for a while.

He can be like that

in day-to-day life, too,

he's really fun and playful,

but the difference is

there's a kind of manic edge

to it that wasn't there before.

It's kind of a bit more like, "Ah'."

Now, the manic state

is quite interesting

because it's not the same

as happiness, right?

There's a sort of a sense

of being wired.

It's raining sugar!

So, it's interesting

'cause that's what we do see.

And I'm not suggesting

you've got bipolar disorder

but it's a phenomena that we

see in that particular condition

where there's a very high mood

but it's not actually

a very pleasant mood.

So, Damon, the way that blood

sugar affects your mood,

I like to explain to people with

a really simple diagram.

So, this is your

blood sugar levels here.

This is the point where

your brain is really happy

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