Sugar, Soy, and the Flu

Hey, everybody, it's Dr. Mark Hyman. Welcome to my weekly house call. Your chance to ask me your questions. Now, we are going to do some great questions today. First one is what's the difference between fructose and glucose and how they affect your metabolism? Next, we're going to learn about how to prevent and deal with the flu when you got it. And we're going to talk about soy. Is it good or bad? Okay, let's look at our first question, which is a video submission. This is from Sue. All right, sue, what do you got to say?

Hi, Dr. Hyman. My name is Sue Brown and I am a recovered sugar addict. So I stopped eating sugar 10 years ago and I lost 52 pounds in 52 weeks, and that was when I was 52. I have found that there's a difference in my body and in my brain between how fructose and glucose are metabolized and their addictive components. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the differences between those two kinds of sugars. Thanks.

First, sue, congratulations for losing £52 in 52 weeks when you're 52 by cutting out sugar. I love that. Okay, what is the difference between fructose and glucose and how do they affect your body differently? This is actually a great question because there's so much confusion about it. First of all, fructose by itself doesn't really exist in nature, and glucose pretty much doesn't either, except, you know, in starch. But what happens is that they're, you know, usually table sugar and most sugars are a combination of fructose and glucose. So sugar, regular table sugar is 50, 50 fructose and glucose. And high fructose corn syrup is a little more fructose than glucose and they both affect your body differently. So let's sort of talk about it. When you eat sugar, you're getting both. But if you just have glucose, it spikes your insulin. This is the hormone that makes you fat. It's the hormone that stores fat in your fat cells and your belly fat. It makes you hungry, it slows your metabolism. It essentially locks the fat in the fat cells like a one way door on a turnstile, like in a subway. So fructose is different than glucose. Actually, fructose doesn't raise your insulin. And some people say, oh, it's better to eat fructose if you're diabetic because it doesn't raise insulin. But it's really nasty. Why? Because it affects the liver, it's metabolized differently and causes a Fatty liver, which actually is linked to early death and heart disease and diabetes. It also makes you more insulin resistant, it increases inflammation. It has terrible effect on your cholesterol. It actually makes your triglycerides go through the roof, your good cholesterol go down, you have small particles. It's a disaster as a prescription for heart attacks. But when you combine them, it's bad, which is most food. So I think, you know, fructose is being studied now quite a lot. My friend at Diet David Ludwig at Harvard is doing a big study on the difference of fructose from fruit versus the difference of regular fructose versus glucose. So I think we'll learn more and more about this. But I can tell you that having fructose drinks where the fructose is a problem, it actually, it actually causes a problem. In fact, Bruce Ames from Children's Hospital out in Berkeley was one of the most published scientists in history. He actually told me that they were looking at effective fructose on the gut, and they found that it caused a leaky gut because it uses more energy to be absorbed. So I would stay away from fructose. That's not in fruit. So fruit in a large amount can cause a problem because this turns to sugar. But moderate amounts of fruit can actually be part of a healthy diet. Unless you're a type 2 diabetic, then you might need to cut it out for a bit. So bottom line, sue, is that fructose and glucose are different. They affect your body differently, but combined in fruit, it's okay. Otherwise, I would stay away from both of them because sugar, sugar, sugar. Now, Julie sent a question on Instagram and this is what she said. What are your recommendations to preventing the flu and dealing with it once you have it? Actually, I've written a whole bunch of blogs about this. If you go on Dr.hyman.com and you type in flu in the search area, you're going to find some great discussions of whether you can prevent the flu, of the flu shot, whether you need to do other things to prevent the flu, how effective the flu shot is, and actually how to really not get the flu and what you can do instead, including diet, lifestyle recommendations, and even supplements. So the first thing is you want to eat a healthy diet because sugar suppresses your immune system. Other toxic processed foods also suppress your immune system. So you want to eat whole, fresh, real food. You want to increase nutrients that help. For example, I like to do the traditional chicken soup. I'm Jewish, maybe that's why. But it's actually Shown that it's very helpful. And I add things like ginger and, and garlic and turmeric, all of which are anti inflammatory, help the immune system and work better. I also recommend things like high dose vitamin C. I recommend vitamin D. We found that if you are low in vitamin D, which by the way is about 70% of the population, right, Low being not optimal, which is like 45 or more, that if you're low, you're at higher risk for the flu. And by getting the vitamin d up over 50, your risk, your risk of flu goes down by 75%. That's more than a flu shot. I don't think I've ever gotten the flu because I take the supplements, I take vitamins, I take zinc, I take vitamin C, I take herbs, I take Chinese mushrooms like maitake, shiitake, reishi. These are all great cocktails you can use to help support your immune system. I also recommend people get enough sleep and rest and chill out for a bit and really take care of themselves. So it's really important to know one, that you can prevent the flu and two, if you get the flu, there's a lot you can do. And I have a special little cocktail which is super echinacea liquid, a teaspoon three times a day. I take these Chinese mushrooms, I take C, I take a lot of vitamin D, I take a lot of vitamin A and I use these for a short time. And I can prevent getting sick and also helps shorten the course of the disease. So you are not powerless over the flu. All right, so our next question comes from Instagram and the question is to soy or not to soy. I'm a post menopausal woman with rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid issues and leaky gut. Should I eat soy? So that's a great question. First we're going to talk about soy in general and then we'll talk about your question. Now, there's a lot of controversy out there. Some people say soy is toxic, you shouldn't eat soy. Others think soy is, you know, God's gift to humankind and that it's so good for you. So, so what is the truth? Well, like always, it's a little confusing and muddy. Now the first thing I'd say is if you're going to eat soy, you should eat traditional soy tempeh, traditional fermented soy sauce and miso. These are all great soy foods. Tofu is a little different, but maybe okay. But they all have to be organic. So not all soy is the same. If it's organic soy. That's okay because it's not gmo. And also it's okay because it's not full of glyphosate, which is the main thing they spray on soy, which is a herbicide that has been linked to cancer. So you don't want to eat any soy that's not organic. Next. You know, soy can cause issues. It can cause thyroid issues. It can cause other problems, gut issues. So soy contains lectins and saponins and other ingredients that may cause a problem for some people, particularly people like you, who who actually have an autoimmune disease have leaky gut issues. So it's really important to remember that it's not the same for everybody. So, for example, Aiki tempeh, I can have miso, never have a problem, but other people might. That's why I talk about the pegan diet, which is limiting beans, but having some organic beans, but because they can create problems for many people. They have phytates, they can bind minerals, they can cause problems. So I really encourage people to eat organic only, non GMO only, which is basically that. I basically wrote a blog called How Soy Can Kill youl and Save youe Life. So there you go. So I encourage you to check it out, read that blog, and understand that it's not the same for everybody. And based on your question, it's probably not the right thing for you. And it's actually my first step in treating people with autoimmune disease is basically eliminating grains and beans and dairy and sugar. And that often will reset people dramatically. And then they can try it and see how it affects them. All right, everybody, that's all the time we have today for questions. If you like this video, be sure to share it with your friends and family on Facebook and Twitter. And if you have any questions, you can tweet them to me or send your video submissions to drhyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to you. So thanks for watching.