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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by davpet on January 17, 2006, at 18:18:43
Sugar causes the exaggerated conversion of tryptophan into serotonin . This unaturally higer level of serotonin down-regulates (desensitises) serotonin receptors . You then need more serotonin to get the same level of serotonin receptor activation . Benzo increases GABA down-regulating GABA .
Stop taking sugar and your normal (lower) amount of serotonin is no longer able to activate your receptors = depression. Suddenly stop taking benzos and all hell will break lose.
Check out this link :
Posted by yxibow on January 17, 2006, at 18:18:43
In reply to SUGAR IS AS BAD AS BENZOS, posted by davpet on January 17, 2006, at 11:46:13
Yes, because those darn sugar pills just don't seem to cut the edge off of panic disorder and cause people to walk screaming in front of cars.
More benzo.org.uk drivel.....
But don't stop me from one's belief.
tidings
-- J
Posted by Larry Hoover on February 6, 2006, at 12:55:05
In reply to SUGAR IS AS BAD AS BENZOS, posted by davpet on January 17, 2006, at 11:46:13
> Sugar causes the exaggerated conversion of tryptophan into serotonin . This unaturally higer level of serotonin down-regulates (desensitises) serotonin receptors . You then need more serotonin to get the same level of serotonin receptor activation . Benzo increases GABA down-regulating GABA .
>
> Stop taking sugar and your normal (lower) amount of serotonin is no longer able to activate your receptors = depression. Suddenly stop taking benzos and all hell will break lose.
>
> Check out this link :
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/folk/naturalife/foodmood.htmlThe problem with simplification of complex systems is that whenever you simplify, you leave something out. Sugar is essential to health. Your brain cannot process any source of energy that is not in the form of sugar.
I went to that link, and I read some rather dramatic statements. I do not find supporting information for those statements. I do not support the conclusions reached.
An example of the hyperbole I read is the following quotation:
"Manufacturers hide sugar and harmful chemicals in processed and fast foods. They know that adding sugar will get you hooked on sugar-addictive foods. Kechup is 30% sugar. There is even sugar in Morton's salt."
So, I mosey on over to Morton's website, and I discover that dextrose is added to the salt to stabilize the iodine that is added to prevent goiter. The dextrose is present at 0.04%. That's 40 milligrams per 100 grams of salt. Hardly anything to get all excited over.
In general, I conclude that the statements made at this site are not logical. They do not follow from the evidence presented.
Lar
Posted by Larry Hoover on February 6, 2006, at 13:00:13
In reply to Re: SUGAR IS AS BAD AS BENZOS » davpet, posted by yxibow on January 17, 2006, at 17:30:43
> Yes, because those darn sugar pills just don't seem to cut the edge off of panic disorder and cause people to walk screaming in front of cars.
>
> More benzo.org.uk drivel.....
>
> But don't stop me from one's belief.
>
> tidings
>
> -- JIt is interesting, though, that national sugar consumption rates are highly correlated to the incidence of depression. My interpretation of that correlation is that sugar consumptiom is a surrogate variable. In this instance, sugar consumption stands for industrial food processing in general. It's a pretty robust correlation....could be loss of PUFA content, loss of minerals, loss of antioxidants, also. The more coincidental contributors, the stronger the correlation.
Lar
Depress Anxiety. 2002;16(3):118-20.
A cross-national relationship between sugar consumption and major depression?
Westover AN, Marangell LB.
Mood Disorders Center (MDOC), Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. anwestover@yahoo.com
We have preliminarily investigated the hypothesis that sugar consumption may impact the prevalence of major depression by correlating per capita consumption of sugar with the prevalence of major depression. Major depression prevalence data (annual rate/100) was obtained from the Cross-National Epidemiology of Major Depression and Bipolar Disorder study [Weissman et al., 1996]. Sugar consumption data from 1991 was obtained from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. For the primary analysis, sugar consumption rates (cal/cap/day) were correlated with the annual rate of major depression, using the Pearson correlation coefficient. For the six countries with available data for the primary analysis, there was a highly significant correlation between sugar consumption and the annual rate of depression (Pearson correlation 0.948, P=0.004). Naturally, a correlation does not necessarily imply etiology. Caveats such as the limited number of countries with available data must be considered. Although speculative, there are some mechanistic reasons to consider that sugar consumption may directly impact the prevalence of major depression. Possible relationships between sugar consumption, beta-endorphins, and oxidative stress are discussed.
This is the end of the thread.
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