> What I've Learned. WHY Sugar Is as Bad as Alcohol (Fructose, The Liver Toxin). YouTube, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_4Q9Iv7_Ao>. Accessed 16 Aug. 2021. # WHY Sugar is as Bad as Alcohol (Fructose, The Liver Toxin) > This video shows how Sugar leads to the same problems as Alcohol by examining the Biochemistry. - Robert Lustig: "Sugar is Poison" - When you eat white bread, this happens: - Glucose stimulates pancreas - Insulin is released - Glucose becomes glycogen in the liver - The rest becomes pyruvate → mitochondria → used to produced ATP - Remaining pyruvate becomse citrate, then through *de novo lipogenesis* is converted to Acyl-CoA then **VLDL** (very low-density lipoprotein) which is stored in your fat tissue - Only 20% of glucose reaches the liver while 80% of ethanol does - Alcohol is basically overloading your liver - Ethanol doesn't need insulin to get into the cell, it just diffuses in there and becomes acetaldehyde - Acetaldehyde generates **reactive oxygen species**, which damage proteins in the body, can cause cancer, and are thought to be the key factor in aging - Antioxydants deal with ROSs, that's why they are supposed to combat aging - Acetaldehyde is converted to acetate → mitochondria - Acetate generates citrate → a lot of VLDL - Some of the Acyl-CoA is also exported as **free fatty acids**, causing muscle insulin resistance - Some of the fat will stay in the liver as a lipid droplet → fatty liver disease - Ethanol, ROSs and Acyl-CoA activate the JNK-1 enzyme, which causes inflammation, further damaging the liver and promoting insulin resistance - Sugar is made of 50% glucose and 50% fructose - Almost 100% of fructose is metabolized by the liver - It gets metabolized down to pyruvate → mitochondria - Same circuit as ethanol, except fructose forms xylulose 5-phosphate, which further stimulates de novo lipogenesis - Fructose is also converted to fructose 1-phosphate, which produces uric acid - Uric acid raises your blood pressure → hypertension - Damon Gameau, *That Sugar Film*