from The Daily Beast 05-10-12
by Tony Dokupil
May 7, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
Three generations of the Rivera family have contended, often unsuccessfully, with obesity and diabetes. Tony Dokoupil presents the personification of a nation at risk.
For two generations, obesity and its henchman diabetes have stalked Alicia Rivera’s family. They took her mother-in-law’s lower legs, which were amputated after ulcers formed that wouldn’t otherwise heal, and have consigned Alicia and her husband to daily injections and pills. The couple now lives within arm’s reach of an EpiPen—a payload of adrenaline behind a long needle—in the event of an insulin coma. All this the 46-year-old mother of three has weathered without collapse. …
Dr. Wilson comments:
We will never conquer the obesity epidemic until we understand what is driving it and it’s clearly not calories or a lack of exercise. The Rivera’s family tragedy is being played out across the country.
It is clear from recent research that excessive fructose primarily from sucrose (sugar) and HFCS is the primary driver of insulin resistance and central obesity. When someone with insulin resistance consumes high glycemic carbohydrates, especially from grains, their brain is subjected to toxic magnified glucose spikes. Over time these glucose spikes trigger a chronic brain disease or “Sugar-Brain”. The medical term for this condition is Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome.
People with CARB syndrome can eventually develop up to 21 brain dysfunction symptoms that interfere with their ability to function. Because the brain plays a key role in auto-regulating fat stores, people with CARB syndrome start to store extra fat at any caloric intake even as they lose weight by restricting calories and dieting.
When you have CARB syndrome you will store more fat if you eat more food—especially the wrong type of food, but calories are clearly not the cause of the excessive fat storage. That would be sugar, HFCS and high glycemic carbohydrates, the very type of cheap food that is eaten by families like the Riveras.