Have you ever heard of a Food Anthropologist? They’re scientists who look at the history of food and the dietary changes in populations around the world.
As far back as 1776, during the declaration of independence in the United States, people consumed on average 4 pounds of sugar in a year. In the 1950s, it was 25 pounds. Fifty pounds in the 70s… and today, it’s 200 pounds of sugar in a year!
Dr. Martin looks at what sugar does to our bodies in today’s episode. He shares a study that’s showing how people with elevated levels of blood glucose are more likely to die from the coronavirus. Sugar actually impairs the “first responders” in your body, allowing the virus to spread.
TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S EPISODE
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In Podcast, brought to you by MartinClinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr. Martin: Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to another Live this morning. Hope you're having a great start to your day. I hope you've had your vitamin C, coffee. Now, I read an article, okay? In the last few days, and it hit me and you know what food anthropologists are? Food anthropologists, they're great, because they look back at the history of food and the dietary changes in populations around the world. But, this article hit me, because it was talking about sugar. And let's do a little talk this morning again, and I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I've often said this, "If you do nothing else..." I was talking to one of our followers yesterday and I really appreciated, he had some questions and I appreciated him very much. And we talked and, "Dr. Martin, how do you answer your critics?" Okay. Well, most gurus and now, I think just about generally in medicine, with very few exceptions, I think they got the memo about sugar, okay? I think they got the memo. Not everybody, but most people would agree, sugar is the new smoking, okay? So, let's put our hands up and agree with that, okay?
And listen to what this food anthropologist was saying. I don't know how they get these statistics, but in 1776, the Year of Independence in the United States, right? 1776, the declaration of independence. Am I right about that? I think so. They said people in those days were consuming four pounds of sugar a year, on average. Not much. You've seen a five pound bag of sugar. In a whole year, they were eating, not even that, four pounds, according to this research. I don't know exactly how they get to that. But, hey, 1950 and I wrote this in the book, The Reset. Then, I talked about it many, many times. In the 1950s, in North America, the average North American was consuming 25 pounds. So, it was gone up by more than 5 times since the 1700s. Sugar was cheaper, I'm sure, one of the reasons.
So, when I was a kid, we were consuming 25 pounds of sugar a year. I always tell my grandchildren that. They know me as the anti-sugar guy. They know me inside out, and, "Grandpa, you don't like that, right?" They know. But, I always tell them, look, grandpa had ice cream and cookies too, you know. It's just that the world has changed big time. My four children were born in the 1970s, all four of them. And so, you can just deduct by age how old my kids are. They're all in their 40s, okay? They're not children, of course. I love my kids, but grandchildren. Oh, love them even more. I don't know what it is about grandchildren, but anyway, so my kids were consuming, it went from 25 pounds when I was a kid, to 50 pounds when they were children.
So, in the 1970s, North Americans were now up to 50 pounds. 50 pounds of sugar, doubled. And mostly, I mean, there was maybe, an increase in soda, an increase in juice or whatever. But, I had that stuff as kids too, but we doubled. And a lot of it had to do with the major, major shift in breakfast. Major shift, from bacon and eggs to cereal, sugar cereal. Frosted Flakes aren't greeeeat. You know what they called me as a kid? Tony, the tiger. Not, because I ate frosted flakes, but that's what they called me, seriously. It was one of my nicknames, but they're not great at all. People were told that Shreddies and all these things were good cereals. They were terrible. And now, the population went from 25 pounds to 50 pounds.
I'm going to tell you something. In the 1950s and the 1960s, diabetes was unheard of. It's not that it wasn't around. Of course, it was around, but it was one in a kazillion people got diabetes, type two. And actually there was not much type one diabetes, either. Autoimmune, we're going to talk about that this morning. So, this paradigm shift over a period of a generation. My generation as a kid, my kids generation. Now, my grandchildren, they eat a bathtub load. You got a bathtub at home? And some people only have showers. But, remember the bathtubs? Fill that up with sugar. I got a big bathtub here, with jacuzzi jets. 200 pounds of sugar a year. Now, let's talk about what happens. And again, a lot of this is repetition, but is there anything, anything in your body that doesn't get negatively affected by this amount of sugar? No. Every system in your body is affected by sugar, okay? So, like I said, if someone would just stop sugar, read labels and stop sugar. I tell you, there is a dramatic change that occurs in the human body, a dramatic change, okay?
Now, a bathtub load of sugar. What does that do? What does that do? Well, research shows that in North America, 88% of the population is affected by what we call metabolic syndrome. 88% of the population is affected negatively by sugar. Primarily, it changes your body. And, again, I'll just give out generally, what metabolic syndrome is. Metabolic syndrome is characterized by 1... even normal, but elevated normal of blood sugar. Now, remember what I've said constantly, blood sugar is the last thing that goes south, because your body's ability to control blood sugar within this range is unbelievable. The last thing that happens is blood sugar goes up.
There's a lot of things that happen before blood sugar goes up. If you want me to look at your blood work, I much prefer A1C, than blood sugar. Not that I don't look at it. But, if your blood sugar is normal and it's in the high end... A1C is better, because A1C is an average. When your red blood cells are traveling around your body through the 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body, sugar attaches to a red blood cell, the hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is inside that red blood cell and sugar attaches to it, which is beautiful, in terms of, you can measure it. Your red blood cell can't get rid of that sugar. It attaches on like it's a sticky substance. Hemoglobin is sticky by the way, and sugar attaches to it, because hemoglobin is meant not to attach to sugar. Hemoglobin is meant to attach to oxygen. Every time you breathe, your red blood cells go through your lungs and hemoglobin is Velcro. It sticks to oxygen, that's how you live, you can't live without it.
So, what sugar does, sugar attaches to it and you can measure it. So, I'm very interested in A1C. Because, if that's up... Because, again, even if it's in normal limits, but if it's in a higher normal limits, you're starting to develop metabolic syndrome. Here's another thing that happens, triglycerides go up and HDL goes down. Again, doctors are looking for love in all the wrong places. When they look at blood work, they're not looking for this, but I do. It's so important. You look at triglycerides, because if your triglycerides are up, you have metabolic syndrome. If you have metabolic syndrome, somebody said it yesterday. When they sent me an email to the staff and it came to me. It said, "Dr. Martin. I'm on the Titanic." I said, "Well, at least, you know it." "I'm on the Titanic.” Okay.
If your triglycerides are high and your HDL is low, and a lot of people don't even know it, because nobody tells them. They're upside down with their blood work and nobody tells them, but they're in deep do-do, they're on the Titanic. That's what sugar does. Look, it's your birthday, and you have a piece of chocolate cake, or you go to the Dairy Queen. Or, do you have Dairy Queen in the states? I can't remember. I think so. You go to an ice cream shop, it's your birthday. You know what? Enjoy, okay? So, if you eat a little bit of sugar, just a little eeny, titsy bit, a treat every once in a while, your body metabolizes that sugar much differently. Because, generally what happens, it takes it and it gets rid of it in your stool. It goes in the toilet, or it goes to your liver and your liver converts it, immediately to energy. It's not stored in eensy amounts.
But, when you eat a lot of sugar, you drink a soda, you drink orange juice and, "It's Tropicana, it must be good." No, you might as well have two Pepsis. I don't care if there's pulp in it. What it does, okay? It's very interesting. In the presence of a lot of sugar over a period of time... The body is so smart, unbelievable, fearfully, and wonderfully made, it develops enzymes to metabolize that sugar, so that it doesn't destroy immediately your blood vessels. And so, what happens is that it's metabolized and now it's stored in the liver. It's converted not to energy. It's metabolized differently. Now, it's stored as fat. That is metabolic syndrome. There's actually a process that goes on inside your gut. When in the presence of too much sugar, your gut changes.
We'll develop this even a little bit more. But, your gut develops more enzymes to metabolize that sugar, because it wasn't meant to be. That bathtub load of sugar, it goes to your liver and now it changes it. Not into energy, but into fat. And repetition, when the liver, the Costco parking lot, when it is full, when the suitcase is full, when the minivan is full. You're on vacation, there's not another stitch that you can put in your car. You even got it on top. I see families traveling in mini vans and they got extra storage on top of the roof, because they're loaded up. But, that's what happens to your liver guys. And it loads up with fat. Now, what happens with that? What happens in Vegas, doesn't stay in Vegas, because what happens is the body, the liver sends extra fat into the bloodstream.
It's trying to get rid of it. "Out, out, out, you're too much. I don't have any more room to store you as fat." So, it converts some of that fat into... Guys, you should know this. If you're new to this program, I get it. But, regular followers know this. When the liver is full, it sends that fat that came from sugar, not steak, it sends the fat into the bloodstream as triglycerides. Three fat balls, dangerous. Now, you are at an enormous risk, because when your triglycerides go up, it's a teeter-totter effect. When triglycerides go up, your HDL goes down. Your HDL are FedEx trucks. They are Canada posts, they are US posts, they are Amazon trucks. I don't know, call them whatever you want. They latch on to triglycerides when they're high, they grab them and they say, "Hey, you come back into the liver. I'm going to metabolize you. I'm going to break you down." Because, left on its own, high triglycerides with low HDL, that is the cause of heart disease. It's not cholesterol. It's triglycerides and low cholesterol.
See what happens when you eat sugar, it's crazy. Your body is so smart, it has two processes. One, it will send the extra fat made from sugar as triglycerides and two, it will make fat more and more and more around the liver and inside the liver. What is that called? Very easy, fatty liver. Major epidemic in society today. You can be skinny as a rake and have fatty liver. Because, your body just makes more and more and more fat cells around the liver. And then, it'll go around the organs, it's around the pancreas, it's around your gut. And one of the things in metabolic syndrome, because of this, is abdominal fat. Skinny as a rake, but you got a little belly. It's a sugar belly. Don't fool yourself. We used to call them beer bellies, okay? It's a sugar belly and kids got sugar bellies today.
Watch a 1950 movie, a 1960 movie. I mean, they're this big around. Every actor. I mean, someone that was big, it was unusual. I always tell people, "I rest my case." I mean, just look at the population. If you left the planet in 1970 and came back today, you'd go, "What happened? What's going on with society today? Look at the size of people." You just have to observe. But, guys, what's going inside the body? That process. And of course, sugar affects that metabolic syndrome. Now, your blood pressure's going up, increased blood pressure. It's not salt, it's not salt. The only way salt can bother you, is in the absence of vitamin W. Salt will never bother you. Only in the absence of vitamin W.
You don't drink enough water, and most people don't. They don't. "Well, okay, I drink coffee." I know, and I love coffee too. "Oh, doc, I drink tea." I know, but that ain't water. The only time salt bothers someone, that can actually give you high blood pressure, is in the absence of water. It's called viscosity. And I have to say at least 10,000 times in my practice. I'm not exaggerating guys. I would tell people, "You're dehydrated." "What?" "You're dehydrated. And you're on your way to a major heart attack from that dehydration." Now, anyways, I'm getting away from sugar, but I'm just telling you, it's not salt, it's sugar, okay?
Sugar ages the brain. Sugar glycates... we talked about it yesterday, your pineal gland, your third eye. Sugar triglycerides, when they get up into your brain, oooh, not good. It's unreal today. Heart disease, we haven't even made a dent in it. Heart and Stroke Foundation, they want our money, but my word there's not even a dent. There was only one little wee dent in heart disease and cancer. It occurred in the early '80s, when people got the memo to stop smoking. But because of the bathtub load of sugar, it's all back, and then, some. It's worse than ever, because who's talking about food? The food industry doesn't want you to know this. The pharmaceutical industry doesn't want you to know this. It's not a lack of statins, it's eating too much sugar.
And next time, we're going to talk about what happens in every system of your body. We've talked about, okay, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, high triglycerides, low HDL, they go together. I'm trying to think of a case where I ever saw someone with high triglycerides and high HDL. I'd have to think a long time before I could say that I've saw that. And maybe, I saw it once. But, guys, this is what I look for. I want to see these, what we call metabolic changes. Metabolic changes. We can develop this more. There was a study that came out, and I just want to finish with this. Here's a study on the virus. If you have elevated blood glucose... Again, what I said, especially A1C, because that's the best way to monitor that. It may be within normal limits, but it's in the upper normal limits.
And I brought to you maybe a month ago, or whatever, on our podcast. If you want to go review that. I talked to you about A1C and how they're saying, even at 4.7 and above, the body’s starting to change into that metabolic syndrome. It was much lower than we thought. Anyway, here's what a new study said, "When you eat sugar, it impairs the first responders, making the virus spread. Number one. Number two, it impairs the immune response, allows a major storm of cytokines. You see what happens when people get hospitalized, what's going on, is they get a major storm. The body's overreacting to the virus, it's overreacting. And you get what they call a cytokine storm. It's the immune system going crazy. It's trying to save a person's life.
But sugar, what happens? It sends the body into an Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. Food, food allows the virus... Sugar allows the virus, a headway, a pathway into your lungs where now it can become deadly. Sugar. And then, it makes the body overreact to it. It sends it in... It's almost like it's latching on to the virus and bringing it into the lungs. And then, it makes the body overreact to it. And now, you're having a cytokine storm. Okay? I don't want to get caught up in big words, but that's what it is. And then, complications occur, because of hyper inflammation. This is a new study out. I don't think you'd ever hear about it, because nobody's talking about these things. So, what do you and I do? Cut out our sugar. You know when I say, "Don't feed the bears"? I'm talking about bad bacteria and yeast inside your gut. But, this is talking about, don't feed the virus. It facilitates its entry into your body, and it brings it into your lungs and that's not good. It helps it, it facilitates.
And then, of course, if this thing, the cytokine storm and nothing works, that's how people die. Because, they go into multiorgan failure. They become septic and they're in deep do-do. Sugar. The bath tub full. I look at my grandchildren and I see myself like John, the Baptist, screaming in the wilderness, "Stop, don't eat that stuff. Don't live on it. Learn to read labels." The worst thing that happens in kids, in my opinion, is they drink their sugar. Fruit, which I called God's candies were meant to be eaten. You eat an orange, you don't drink an orange. Dr. Martin's perfect smoothie has some berries in it, but not juice. When I go to the mall, or whatever. Have you been to a mall, for the last two years? No, but when you see these juice shops. Guys, I want to go in there and block the doorway. I wouldn't be good advertising for them. I want to block the doorway. "Don't come in here. There's death in there." John, the Baptist screaming in the wilderness, "Repent. Repent."
Are you having fun yet? Okay. But guys, we're going to talk about other systems too, of course, but tomorrow we're not doing that, because tomorrow is Question and Answer Friday. Guys, share this, okay? Share this with your friends and family. I mean, they just don't know these things. They're not taught these things. If they can't hook up with the daily face times, you can share it on Facebook, or you can get them to join the Martin Clinic Facebook group, or all of these are turned into podcasts on The Doctor Is In Podcasts, okay? Get them downloaded on your smartphone, or your device. I think they call them smart devices. Okay. So, guys, thanks so much for putting up with these rants. I get emotional. It's me. It's my personality. Anyway, have I told you lately that I love you? I do, okay? And I appreciate you guys. Thanks for following. I never, never, never take that for granted. Much, much appreciated. And we just thank you again for watching. We'll talk to you soon and we do love you.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In Podcast, with your hosts, Doctor Martin Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening!