1
00:01:19,834 --> 00:01:22,167
My name is Damon Gameau.

2
00:01:22,251 --> 00:01:24,834
This is my weatherboard house.

3
00:01:24,917 --> 00:01:27,959
This is a time-lapse
of my girlfriend's pregnancy.

4
00:01:28,084 --> 00:01:29,751
There's three months to go.

5
00:01:29,834 --> 00:01:33,084
And this is a photo of me
at age 10.

6
00:01:33,167 --> 00:01:36,834
I was a rare boy whose face
grew into his teeth.

7
00:01:38,167 --> 00:01:40,834
Five years ago,
when I met my girlfriend,

8
00:01:40,917 --> 00:01:42,834
I was pretty much
living on cigarettes,

9
00:01:42,917 --> 00:01:45,667
sugar and my homemade
Australian pizzas.

10
00:01:47,376 --> 00:01:48,876
But then, as men often do,

11
00:01:48,959 --> 00:01:52,584
they feign interest in things
to impress a girl.

12
00:01:52,667 --> 00:01:54,084
The lovers' bike.

13
00:01:54,167 --> 00:01:56,126
For me, it was healthy eating.

14
00:01:57,209 --> 00:02:00,917
I actually cut out refined sugar
from my diet to seal the deal.

15
00:02:03,292 --> 00:02:06,459
But now sugar is
dominating the headlines

16
00:02:06,542 --> 00:02:08,959
and there's so much debate
and conjecture on the topic

17
00:02:09,084 --> 00:02:11,751
that it's hard to know
what to believe.

18
00:02:11,834 --> 00:02:13,626
But with this little person
on the way,

19
00:02:13,709 --> 00:02:16,417
I feel like I need some
definitive answers.

20
00:02:18,209 --> 00:02:20,959
If the average Australian family
of four

21
00:02:21,084 --> 00:02:24,417
had to buy the sugar
they are consuming in a week,

22
00:02:24,501 --> 00:02:26,584
they would be going to
the supermarket,

23
00:02:26,667 --> 00:02:31,376
taking six 1-kilo bags of sugar
off the shelves - six -

24
00:02:31,459 --> 00:02:35,376
taking it home,
eating it all that week

25
00:02:35,459 --> 00:02:37,792
and then going back next week
and doing it again.

26
00:02:37,876 --> 00:02:43,251
Clearly, the ability
to be on a high-sugar diet

27
00:02:43,334 --> 00:02:45,917
is really new,

28
00:02:46,001 --> 00:02:51,084
especially in terms of
evolutionary time zone.

29
00:02:55,167 --> 00:02:58,751
Sugar has become
so prevalent in today's society

30
00:02:58,834 --> 00:03:01,917
that if you removed
all the items containing it

31
00:03:02,001 --> 00:03:04,084
from a standard
supermarket's shelves...

32
00:03:05,501 --> 00:03:07,667
..just 20% of items
would remain.

33
00:03:28,042 --> 00:03:29,834
Ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls,

34
00:03:29,917 --> 00:03:33,084
this is the condensed
history of sugar.

35
00:03:41,542 --> 00:03:45,251
The first reports of sugar came
from New Guinea in 8000 BC.

36
00:03:45,334 --> 00:03:48,584
Local mythology says that
the human race came about

37
00:03:48,667 --> 00:03:52,126
after a man made love to
the stalk of a sugar cane.

38
00:03:52,209 --> 00:03:53,751
Ow.

39
00:03:53,834 --> 00:03:56,251
Then,
via trader migration routes,

40
00:03:56,334 --> 00:04:00,417
the cane made its way to India.

41
00:04:03,876 --> 00:04:05,251
Thank you.

42
00:04:06,667 --> 00:04:11,084
In the 12th century,
sugar arrived in Europe.

43
00:04:11,167 --> 00:04:12,126
And, due to its rarity,

44
00:04:12,209 --> 00:04:15,126
it quickly became
a status symbol for royalty.

45
00:04:15,209 --> 00:04:18,084
Queen Elizabeth I had
a real love of sugar.

46
00:04:21,251 --> 00:04:25,584
So much so that her teeth rotted
and went black from it.

47
00:04:26,751 --> 00:04:28,584
- Eugh.

48
00:04:32,292 --> 00:04:34,084
At the start of
the 20th century,

49
00:04:34,167 --> 00:04:36,084
sugar was still seen
as a treat -

50
00:04:36,167 --> 00:04:38,792
something you would add to
a cup of tea or cup of coffee -

51
00:04:38,876 --> 00:04:41,709
but then, in 1955,
an event occurred

52
00:04:41,792 --> 00:04:44,167
that significantly influenced

53
00:04:44,251 --> 00:04:49,709
the amount of sugar
we eat today.

54
00:04:56,042 --> 00:04:58,334
A stunned nation
hears that its president

55
00:04:58,417 --> 00:05:00,084
is stricken with
a heart attack at...

56
00:05:00,167 --> 00:05:03,084
On September 23,
1955,

57
00:05:03,167 --> 00:05:05,209
the US President
Dwight Eisenhower

58
00:05:05,292 --> 00:05:07,167
suffered a heart attack

59
00:05:07,251 --> 00:05:08,584
and the issue of heart disease

60
00:05:08,667 --> 00:05:10,876
was thrust into
the public domain.

61
00:05:10,959 --> 00:05:12,251
Summoned
to the hospital,

62
00:05:12,334 --> 00:05:14,292
a famed Boston
heart specialist...

63
00:05:14,376 --> 00:05:16,584
Two strong
theories emerged.

64
00:05:16,667 --> 00:05:20,084
One, led by an American
scientist named Ancel Keys,

65
00:05:20,167 --> 00:05:21,834
who declared that fat was
the problem...

66
00:05:23,001 --> 00:05:25,792
..while a British doctor
named John Yudkin

67
00:05:25,876 --> 00:05:27,292
believed sugar was to blame.

68
00:05:27,376 --> 00:05:30,876
I'd be very happy if everybody
ate four pounds of sugar a year.

69
00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:32,834
They eat a hundred pounds!

70
00:05:35,959 --> 00:05:37,584
Over
the next two decades,

71
00:05:37,667 --> 00:05:40,417
the discussion brought fierce
arguments from both camps.

72
00:05:42,501 --> 00:05:47,334
But by the end of the 1970s,
Ancel Keys had won out.

73
00:05:47,417 --> 00:05:50,334
Fat became the villain,
sugar was exonerated,

74
00:05:50,417 --> 00:05:53,209
and the low-fat movement
was in full swing.

75
00:05:54,667 --> 00:05:56,584
We institutionalised
this idea

76
00:05:56,667 --> 00:05:58,751
that a low-fat diet
is a healthy diet.

77
00:05:58,834 --> 00:06:01,501
So what you want to do
is remove fats...

78
00:06:01,584 --> 00:06:03,209
This is how industry
perceived this.

79
00:06:03,292 --> 00:06:06,084
We're gonna remove fat
from otherwise healthy foods,

80
00:06:06,167 --> 00:06:09,417
and when we do this
we have to replace the calories,

81
00:06:09,501 --> 00:06:11,792
we have to make sure
we have the right mouth feel.

82
00:06:11,876 --> 00:06:13,959
And it has to taste as good
as it did with fat,

83
00:06:14,084 --> 00:06:15,709
and the best way to
do that is with sugar.

84
00:06:19,167 --> 00:06:21,334
With sugar now
saturating our food supply

85
00:06:21,417 --> 00:06:25,626
and the constant confusion
over its effects on our health,

86
00:06:25,709 --> 00:06:27,876
the only real way to get
some answers

87
00:06:27,959 --> 00:06:30,167
is for me to start
eating sugar again

88
00:06:30,251 --> 00:06:32,084
and see what it does
to my body.

89
00:06:33,667 --> 00:06:36,584
So the first step is to set up
an experiment

90
00:06:36,667 --> 00:06:38,292
with the help of a team
of experts.

91
00:06:39,751 --> 00:06:43,084
My chief sugar adviser is
the author David Gillespie...

92
00:06:44,167 --> 00:06:46,667
..aka The Crusader.

93
00:06:48,084 --> 00:06:49,417
In charge of my blood tests

94
00:06:49,501 --> 00:06:52,917
is one of Australia's
leading clinical pathologists,

95
00:06:53,001 --> 00:06:57,334
Dr Ken Sikaris,
aka Professor Blood.

96
00:06:57,417 --> 00:07:00,126
My nutritionist is
Sharon Johnston...

97
00:07:01,501 --> 00:07:03,709
..the Celtic Food Queen.

98
00:07:03,792 --> 00:07:07,376
And supervising my overall
health is Dr Debbie Herbst,

99
00:07:07,459 --> 00:07:10,126
aka Check Upz.

100
00:07:11,417 --> 00:07:13,209
OK, so, I want to do
this mission,

101
00:07:13,292 --> 00:07:15,459
I want to find out what
sugar does to me.

102
00:07:15,542 --> 00:07:17,292
What kind of things
do I need to do?

103
00:07:17,376 --> 00:07:20,084
If you want to match
Australian averages,

104
00:07:20,167 --> 00:07:22,167
you're gonna have to be
in the range,

105
00:07:22,251 --> 00:07:24,751
40 teaspoons of sugar a day.

106
00:07:26,834 --> 00:07:28,834
- 40 a day?
- Yeah, 40 a day.

107
00:07:28,917 --> 00:07:31,667
That's what's embedded in
most of the processed food

108
00:07:31,751 --> 00:07:32,834
that most people are eating.

109
00:07:32,917 --> 00:07:34,376
So...

110
00:07:34,459 --> 00:07:36,126
Right, so does that mean
I'm gonna eat a lot

111
00:07:36,209 --> 00:07:38,792
of these kind of
sour rainbow blowpipes?

112
00:07:38,876 --> 00:07:41,584
I mean, is that... How am
I gonna get to 40 teaspoons?

113
00:07:41,667 --> 00:07:43,167
You won't need to come near
a place like this

114
00:07:43,251 --> 00:07:45,209
to get to 40 teaspoons.

115
00:07:45,292 --> 00:07:48,084
You just go to a supermarket
and you'll get to 40 teaspoons.

116
00:07:48,167 --> 00:07:49,209
Right.

117
00:07:49,292 --> 00:07:52,751
The point is to test out
a very high sugar diet

118
00:07:52,834 --> 00:07:54,084
and to see what effects we get,

119
00:07:54,167 --> 00:07:56,084
what changes I notice
in the body.

120
00:07:56,167 --> 00:07:59,917
Two months, I wanna eat
40 teaspoons of sugar a day.

121
00:08:00,001 --> 00:08:02,959
- 40 teaspoons?!
- 40 teaspoons.

122
00:08:03,042 --> 00:08:04,709
How are you gonna do that?

123
00:08:04,792 --> 00:08:08,084
Off-the-shelf breakfast cereals,
like Just Right,

124
00:08:08,167 --> 00:08:10,084
low-fat flavoured yoghurt.

125
00:08:10,167 --> 00:08:12,959
Another good one would be
some beans on toast.

126
00:08:13,084 --> 00:08:14,584
Baked beans?!

127
00:08:14,667 --> 00:08:17,459
One serving of an iced tea,

128
00:08:17,542 --> 00:08:20,251
you'll end up with nearly
nine teaspoons of sugar.

129
00:08:20,334 --> 00:08:22,126
If I can achieve
40 teaspoons a day

130
00:08:22,209 --> 00:08:25,459
without touching perceived
candy or junk food...

131
00:08:25,542 --> 00:08:27,709
I mean, I can't quite fathom
that's possible,

132
00:08:27,792 --> 00:08:30,334
but if we can do that
and see some changes,

133
00:08:30,417 --> 00:08:33,084
then that's, yeah, that seems
like a pretty good story.

134
00:08:33,167 --> 00:08:35,084
A lot of your health markers
are going to be going

135
00:08:35,167 --> 00:08:36,751
in very much
the wrong direction,

136
00:08:36,834 --> 00:08:39,459
and I'm very glad to hear
that you're gonna be having

137
00:08:39,542 --> 00:08:40,584
some medical supervision,

138
00:08:40,667 --> 00:08:41,917
'cause I think
you're gonna need it.

139
00:08:42,001 --> 00:08:43,792
Anyone in the family
have diabetes?

140
00:08:43,876 --> 00:08:45,667
- No.
- OK.

141
00:08:45,751 --> 00:08:47,251
- Not that I know of.
- Not that you know of? Good.

142
00:08:47,334 --> 00:08:48,792
And heart disease?

143
00:08:48,876 --> 00:08:52,209
No. All pretty thin
and wiry Irish or French folk.

144
00:09:02,751 --> 00:09:06,792
We're going to look at how the
blood sugar changes, obviously.

145
00:09:06,876 --> 00:09:10,084
We've got blood tests that can
look at the effect of the heart.

146
00:09:10,167 --> 00:09:13,084
But, even more than that,
we're looking for the changes

147
00:09:13,167 --> 00:09:18,084
that might occur in the liver
and its production of fat.

148
00:09:18,167 --> 00:09:19,917
I'd like to go to 1932, please.

149
00:09:20,001 --> 00:09:21,584
Done.

150
00:09:21,667 --> 00:09:22,917
Coming.

151
00:09:31,292 --> 00:09:33,084
Let's just see
how tall you are.

152
00:09:37,209 --> 00:09:39,501
So you've got a really normal,
healthy blood pressure -

153
00:09:39,584 --> 00:09:41,209
121 over 79.

154
00:09:41,292 --> 00:09:43,751
Your heart rate's pretty good
at 75, so that's pretty good.

155
00:09:43,834 --> 00:09:46,167
Alrighty, so, we'll just have
a listen to your heart,

156
00:09:46,251 --> 00:09:47,959
see what it sounds like.

157
00:09:50,001 --> 00:09:51,792
You know what it's saying,
Damon.

158
00:09:51,876 --> 00:09:52,917
Don't do
this crazy thing?

159
00:09:53,001 --> 00:09:54,709
Exactly. That's exactly
what I heard it saying.

160
00:09:54,792 --> 00:09:56,584
There are some tests
that we're doing

161
00:09:56,667 --> 00:09:57,917
just to make sure

162
00:09:58,001 --> 00:09:59,959
that you're not doing
anything too stupid here.

163
00:10:00,042 --> 00:10:03,334
Usually I'm telling people not
to eat all this sort of stuff,

164
00:10:03,417 --> 00:10:04,334
so...

165
00:10:04,417 --> 00:10:07,167
I personally think you're
insane for doing it at all.

166
00:10:07,251 --> 00:10:09,584
But... No, no, no, honestly.
I think it's dangerous.

167
00:10:09,667 --> 00:10:11,959
But I guess on the plus side,

168
00:10:12,042 --> 00:10:13,709
everybody else
is already doing it.

169
00:10:17,376 --> 00:10:19,751
So, this is where my
health stands pre-experiment.

170
00:10:21,376 --> 00:10:26,417
My total calorie intake is
approximately 2,300 a day.

171
00:10:26,501 --> 00:10:30,459
With 50% coming from good
fats like avocado and nuts,

172
00:10:30,542 --> 00:10:34,376
26% from protein such as eggs,
meat or fish,

173
00:10:34,459 --> 00:10:38,334
and 24% from carbohydrates
like fresh vegetables.

174
00:10:38,417 --> 00:10:40,876
And of course there is
no refined sugar.

175
00:10:40,959 --> 00:10:43,334
I currently weigh 76kg

176
00:10:43,417 --> 00:10:46,251
with a waist circumference
of 84cm.

177
00:10:46,334 --> 00:10:48,959
My blood tests showed
a very healthy liver,

178
00:10:49,042 --> 00:10:50,792
a very low level
of triglyceride,

179
00:10:50,876 --> 00:10:52,459
which is fat in the bloodstream,

180
00:10:52,542 --> 00:10:56,626
and, thankfully, no sign of
insulin resistance or diabetes.

181
00:10:56,709 --> 00:10:59,084
Overall, I rated
slightly healthier

182
00:10:59,167 --> 00:11:01,751
than the average
Western male of my age.

183
00:11:05,042 --> 00:11:07,959
The next step in the experiment
was to do a shop.

184
00:11:09,334 --> 00:11:11,751
To calculate my 40 teaspoons,

185
00:11:11,834 --> 00:11:13,876
I need to keep in mind
that one teaspoon

186
00:11:13,959 --> 00:11:16,209
equals roughly four grams
of sugar.

187
00:11:17,667 --> 00:11:20,417
But I also need a lesson
in the different types of sugar.

188
00:11:23,292 --> 00:11:25,959
Ladies and gentlemen,
boys and girls,

189
00:11:26,084 --> 00:11:28,751
it's time to meet
the sugar family.

190
00:11:30,167 --> 00:11:33,167
When we eat certain foods,
they adhere to a rule.

191
00:11:33,251 --> 00:11:37,376
They break down to glucose
which our body uses for fuel.

192
00:11:37,459 --> 00:11:40,709
Breads, pasta, vegies
and grain

193
00:11:40,792 --> 00:11:44,959
all turn to glucose
to be used by our brain.

194
00:11:45,084 --> 00:11:46,584
Ooh!

195
00:11:46,667 --> 00:11:50,084
But also our cells
and our organs, too.

196
00:11:50,167 --> 00:11:54,459
So without any glucose
there would be no you.

197
00:11:54,542 --> 00:11:57,917
Lactose is next,
and she's as smooth as silk.

198
00:11:58,001 --> 00:11:59,876
She's the first sugar
mammals have -

199
00:11:59,959 --> 00:12:01,167
it's in their mother's milk.

200
00:12:01,251 --> 00:12:05,376
You'll find it in cheese and
milk and tubs of yoghurt, too.

201
00:12:05,459 --> 00:12:07,334
But take care
if you're intolerant,

202
00:12:07,417 --> 00:12:09,376
you'll be rushing to the loo.

203
00:12:09,459 --> 00:12:13,834
Now, sucrose is the sugar
that all the fuss is about.

204
00:12:15,584 --> 00:12:19,251
Some say it's dangerous
while others still have doubt.

205
00:12:19,334 --> 00:12:24,084
Sucrose is the table sugar
we have in coffee or tea.

206
00:12:24,167 --> 00:12:27,584
She's the sugar family's
sweet little daughter.

207
00:12:28,917 --> 00:12:30,751
Or not, apparently.

208
00:12:30,834 --> 00:12:31,917
- Ooh.

209
00:12:33,876 --> 00:12:36,751
Now, this table sugar,
or sucrose,

210
00:12:36,834 --> 00:12:38,959
is made up of two sugars.

211
00:12:39,084 --> 00:12:45,084
It is 50% glucose, the head of
the family, plus 50% fructose.

212
00:12:45,167 --> 00:12:48,084
Now, fructose may well be

213
00:12:48,167 --> 00:12:51,626
the sugar family's
mischievous teenage son,

214
00:12:51,709 --> 00:12:56,959
because in the past this
fructose was very, very rare.

215
00:12:57,042 --> 00:13:01,834
It was found in fruit and vegies
and honey, if you dared.

216
00:13:01,917 --> 00:13:05,959
But now we find it everywhere!

217
00:13:06,042 --> 00:13:09,209
In so many foods we eat.

218
00:13:09,292 --> 00:13:12,792
And you'll always know
if you're eating fructose

219
00:13:12,876 --> 00:13:16,584
'cause it's the thing
that makes food sweet.

220
00:13:16,667 --> 00:13:21,792
You see, people on this planet
are growing sicker every day,

221
00:13:21,876 --> 00:13:24,084
and many scientists now believe

222
00:13:24,167 --> 00:13:27,667
that fructose
has a role to play.

223
00:13:32,042 --> 00:13:34,126
- Hey, hey!
- The first load.

224
00:13:34,209 --> 00:13:38,584
Why don't we make these
middle shelves the sugar zone?

225
00:13:38,667 --> 00:13:42,126
- I love it.
- Here's some juicy juice.

226
00:13:43,501 --> 00:13:45,667
- Juice boxes, babe.
- Yep.

227
00:13:45,751 --> 00:13:47,126
Up&Go.

228
00:13:50,834 --> 00:13:53,417
So, here are the rules
for my next 60 days.

229
00:13:53,501 --> 00:13:56,792
I must consume 40 teaspoons
of sugar a day,

230
00:13:56,876 --> 00:13:58,626
but they must be hidden sugars

231
00:13:58,709 --> 00:14:01,584
found in commonly perceived
healthy foods and drinks.

232
00:14:01,667 --> 00:14:06,167
So no soft drink, chocolate,
confectionary or ice-cream.

233
00:14:06,251 --> 00:14:09,459
These 40 teaspoons of sugar
will consist of sucrose

234
00:14:09,542 --> 00:14:11,584
and fructose specifically.

235
00:14:11,667 --> 00:14:15,084
They can be added, like jam,
or naturally occurring,

236
00:14:15,167 --> 00:14:16,751
like sultanas.

237
00:14:16,834 --> 00:14:19,417
I must always choose
low-fat foods

238
00:14:19,501 --> 00:14:23,709
and maintain the same level
of exercise as I already do.

239
00:14:23,792 --> 00:14:26,084
That's three laps of my garden
twice a week

240
00:14:26,167 --> 00:14:29,251
and a 10-minute workout
on my homemade gym.

241
00:14:29,334 --> 00:14:32,376
And by homemade,
I mean homemade.

242
00:14:39,084 --> 00:14:42,084
Tomorrow morning I start.
What are your feelings?

243
00:14:43,917 --> 00:14:45,292
Uh...

244
00:14:47,959 --> 00:14:49,334
I hope you're OK.

245
00:14:58,834 --> 00:15:02,792
Darling, do we have a metric
cup, like, to measure size?

246
00:15:02,876 --> 00:15:04,251
Yep.

247
00:15:04,334 --> 00:15:06,084
Right,
so, this Just Right tells me

248
00:15:06,167 --> 00:15:10,334
that it's 12 grams of sugar
per serving, right?

249
00:15:10,417 --> 00:15:11,584
So, that's...

250
00:15:11,667 --> 00:15:13,751
Divided by four,
that's roughly three...

251
00:15:13,834 --> 00:15:16,126
..three teaspoons of sugar
per serving.

252
00:15:18,334 --> 00:15:20,209
That's a recommended
serving size

253
00:15:20,292 --> 00:15:21,792
with three teaspoons of sugar.

254
00:15:21,876 --> 00:15:23,876
Now, I don't know about you
but I'm a growing boy.

255
00:15:23,959 --> 00:15:25,626
I'm gonna need
a little bit more of that.

256
00:15:25,709 --> 00:15:28,126
That feels like a shot
of Just Right.

257
00:15:28,209 --> 00:15:29,751
Yeah, maybe 2.5.

258
00:15:31,167 --> 00:15:32,584
OK, so, 2.5...

259
00:15:33,876 --> 00:15:37,834
So, one was just under three
teaspoons, two is six teaspoons,

260
00:15:37,917 --> 00:15:41,834
and the other half
is about 7.5 teaspoons of sugar,

261
00:15:41,917 --> 00:15:43,084
just in that bowl.

262
00:15:43,167 --> 00:15:44,876
And I haven't added
the yoghurt yet.

263
00:15:44,959 --> 00:15:49,459
Per serving there is 27 grams,

264
00:15:49,542 --> 00:15:54,251
but a lot of that's gonna be
lactose, so I reckon 18 grams.

265
00:15:54,334 --> 00:15:57,917
18 divided by 4 is just over 4.

266
00:15:59,667 --> 00:16:02,959
So, four to my seven, so there's
11 teaspoons of sugar,

267
00:16:03,042 --> 00:16:05,084
and then I've gotta
add my juice.

268
00:16:05,167 --> 00:16:09,876
I'm gonna put about 400 mils
of apple juice, that will do me.

269
00:16:09,959 --> 00:16:14,167
There we're looking at nine
teaspoons, so this combined,

270
00:16:14,251 --> 00:16:18,376
I'm looking at nearly
20 teaspoons to start the day.

271
00:16:22,792 --> 00:16:23,876
Hey, David. How are you going?

272
00:16:23,959 --> 00:16:25,126
Good.
How are you?

273
00:16:25,209 --> 00:16:28,292
Mate, I've just got a quick
question. We just were...

274
00:16:28,376 --> 00:16:30,376
I just sort of had
my first breakfast

275
00:16:30,459 --> 00:16:33,376
and it got to about
20 teaspoons.

276
00:16:33,459 --> 00:16:34,959
20 teaspoons?!

277
00:16:35,084 --> 00:16:36,626
I almost
couldn't believe it.

278
00:16:36,709 --> 00:16:41,251
But I did all the maths
and it just seems ridiculous.

279
00:16:41,334 --> 00:16:43,709
Mate, you're
gonna have to be on a diet

280
00:16:43,792 --> 00:16:45,417
for the rest of the day if
you're only allowed to have

281
00:16:45,501 --> 00:16:47,334
20 teaspoons
for the rest of the day.

282
00:16:47,417 --> 00:16:48,667
That's what I mean!

283
00:16:48,751 --> 00:16:50,876
I'll have to eat celery
for the rest of the day.

284
00:16:52,251 --> 00:16:53,917
Just obscene.

285
00:16:55,834 --> 00:16:58,959
When we were still foraging
and hunting and gathering

286
00:16:59,084 --> 00:17:02,209
and trying to search for fruit
and things in our environment,

287
00:17:02,292 --> 00:17:06,084
we needed to be highly attuned
to what sweetness there was,

288
00:17:06,167 --> 00:17:08,376
because we really need
the calories.

289
00:17:08,459 --> 00:17:10,626
And of course now
we bring with us

290
00:17:10,709 --> 00:17:13,584
that ancient lust for sugar,

291
00:17:13,667 --> 00:17:16,167
that ability to find
even small amounts,

292
00:17:16,251 --> 00:17:18,584
and it's a case where
we were looking for a little

293
00:17:18,667 --> 00:17:20,792
but now we have too much.

294
00:17:20,876 --> 00:17:23,959
And so the system,
in an evolutionary terms,

295
00:17:24,042 --> 00:17:26,209
is not really set up
to deal with

296
00:17:26,292 --> 00:17:29,084
this sudden abundance
of highly refined sugar.

297
00:17:36,876 --> 00:17:38,959
After just two days
of the experiment

298
00:17:39,084 --> 00:17:41,334
I was amazed at
how easy it was

299
00:17:41,417 --> 00:17:44,709
to get to 40 teaspoons
without eating any junk food.

300
00:17:46,251 --> 00:17:48,792
I've just had a breakthrough as
to how we might be consuming

301
00:17:48,876 --> 00:17:50,334
so much fructose.

302
00:17:50,417 --> 00:17:52,251
I just bought these four apples.

303
00:17:52,334 --> 00:17:54,834
Now, I know that if I tried
to eat these apples

304
00:17:54,917 --> 00:17:57,626
I'd probably get through
two of them and I'd feel full.

305
00:17:57,709 --> 00:18:01,917
The fibre in the fruit
would tell my body to stop,

306
00:18:02,001 --> 00:18:04,292
it's had enough to eat.

307
00:18:04,376 --> 00:18:07,167
But I wanna see what happens if
I can juice these four apples.

308
00:18:17,876 --> 00:18:21,084
Right, so that's four apples.

309
00:18:21,167 --> 00:18:24,501
That's the sugar from
four apples in one glass.

310
00:18:24,584 --> 00:18:27,084
Now, one apple is about
four teaspoons of sugar,

311
00:18:27,167 --> 00:18:30,834
so that's 16 teaspoons
of sugar in that glass.

312
00:18:30,917 --> 00:18:33,751
See, nature has given us
this perfect little packet,

313
00:18:33,834 --> 00:18:36,167
and it's got all the nutrients,
the fibre

314
00:18:36,251 --> 00:18:37,751
that tells us when we're full,

315
00:18:37,834 --> 00:18:40,209
and just the right amount
of sugar in this.

316
00:18:40,292 --> 00:18:43,292
But what we do is
we invent a machine like this

317
00:18:43,376 --> 00:18:45,959
which extracts only the sugar

318
00:18:46,042 --> 00:18:48,584
and then we throw
everything else away.

319
00:18:56,501 --> 00:18:59,084
This high amount
of sugar in juice,

320
00:18:59,167 --> 00:19:00,792
and drinks in general,

321
00:19:00,876 --> 00:19:04,084
was certainly the biggest
surprise of the first week.

322
00:19:09,167 --> 00:19:13,126
Beverage tend to
really create a rush,

323
00:19:13,209 --> 00:19:15,834
what I kind of call
a tsunami effect.

324
00:19:15,917 --> 00:19:19,792
So you basically have
this huge wave of sugar

325
00:19:19,876 --> 00:19:21,084
that gets to your liver.

326
00:19:21,167 --> 00:19:23,167
And that has a lot
of consequence.

327
00:19:31,917 --> 00:19:35,876
It was now day 12
and time for my first weigh-in.

328
00:19:35,959 --> 00:19:37,792
Moment of truth.

329
00:19:40,251 --> 00:19:43,084
79.3. Huh?

330
00:19:43,167 --> 00:19:45,084
- I'm about to cry.
- Why?

331
00:19:45,167 --> 00:19:46,417
3.2 kilos.

332
00:19:46,501 --> 00:19:48,334
- In 12 days?
- In 12 days.

333
00:19:48,417 --> 00:19:50,834
And that's without
one fizzy drink,

334
00:19:50,917 --> 00:19:52,417
no ice-cream, no chocolate.

335
00:19:52,501 --> 00:19:54,417
That is eating healthy food.

336
00:19:54,501 --> 00:19:56,334
It's alarming.
Alarming, alarming.

337
00:19:56,417 --> 00:19:57,834
Debbie's alarm
wasn't about

338
00:19:57,917 --> 00:19:59,292
the amount of weight
I had gained...

339
00:20:00,876 --> 00:20:02,751
..it was the fact that it was
all around my belly.

340
00:20:02,834 --> 00:20:06,084
This is what's known
as visceral fat.

341
00:20:06,167 --> 00:20:07,417
I'm having a baby!

342
00:20:09,667 --> 00:20:11,709
Here's a great example of it.

343
00:20:11,792 --> 00:20:15,167
On this person,
the fat comes up as black.

344
00:20:15,251 --> 00:20:17,167
You can see there is
a very small amount of fat

345
00:20:17,251 --> 00:20:21,876
just under the skin, but lots of
visceral fat on the inside,

346
00:20:21,959 --> 00:20:23,334
cramping the organs.

347
00:20:24,542 --> 00:20:25,959
There is a term for this:

348
00:20:36,542 --> 00:20:39,126
We know
that with fructose,

349
00:20:39,209 --> 00:20:42,084
you tend to accumulate
more fat in this area.

350
00:20:42,167 --> 00:20:44,626
We don't know why,
but we know, on the other hand,

351
00:20:44,709 --> 00:20:47,876
that when you do accumulate
that fat in this area

352
00:20:47,959 --> 00:20:49,709
you have a lot
of metabolic disease

353
00:20:49,792 --> 00:20:51,167
that are associated with this.

354
00:21:01,042 --> 00:21:03,584
On day 15,
it occurred to me

355
00:21:03,667 --> 00:21:05,459
what 40 teaspoons of sugar

356
00:21:05,542 --> 00:21:07,167
would actually look like

357
00:21:07,251 --> 00:21:10,126
stripped of its cleverly
marketed packaging.

358
00:21:13,084 --> 00:21:17,376
Today I'm gonna eat 40
actual teaspoons of sugar.

359
00:21:17,459 --> 00:21:21,126
Just Right, low-fat yoghurt -
there's 10 teaspoons of sugar.

360
00:21:21,209 --> 00:21:24,959
Here, just a bowl of plain Vita
Brits. So what I'm gonna do...

361
00:21:36,042 --> 00:21:39,376
This now equals that.

362
00:21:48,792 --> 00:21:51,417
It's time for
my midmorning snack.

363
00:21:51,501 --> 00:21:55,084
Now, I could have this
amount of frozen yoghurt or...

364
00:21:58,542 --> 00:21:59,667
11.

365
00:22:07,292 --> 00:22:08,959
So it's lunch.

366
00:22:09,042 --> 00:22:11,376
I have this delicious
piece of chicken here.

367
00:22:12,542 --> 00:22:14,792
Now, I could add half a packet

368
00:22:14,876 --> 00:22:17,959
of this teriyaki chicken
sauce...

369
00:22:18,084 --> 00:22:19,084
..or, alternatively...

370
00:22:27,167 --> 00:22:30,584
Now, to wash it down,
I could have one of these

371
00:22:30,667 --> 00:22:32,167
or...

372
00:22:53,334 --> 00:22:55,084
So, it's the midafternoon slump.

373
00:22:55,167 --> 00:22:59,667
Now, as a pick-me-up, I could
have this Go Natural Superfood

374
00:22:59,751 --> 00:23:02,667
Apple Strawberry Cranberry
Ripple bar

375
00:23:02,751 --> 00:23:07,834
or I could have this 7-teaspoon
water cracker sugar sandwich.

376
00:23:21,876 --> 00:23:23,584
It was at this point

377
00:23:23,667 --> 00:23:26,084
that I thought I'd better
check in with Professor Blood.

378
00:23:27,792 --> 00:23:31,626
The big change is that
the liver function tests

379
00:23:31,709 --> 00:23:34,917
have had an amazing rise
in one of the enzyme levels,

380
00:23:35,001 --> 00:23:36,584
the ALT level.

381
00:23:36,667 --> 00:23:39,792
The ALT is an enzyme
in the liver

382
00:23:39,876 --> 00:23:41,792
which helps
the reactions go out.

383
00:23:41,876 --> 00:23:43,126
If it appears in your blood,

384
00:23:43,209 --> 00:23:44,792
'cause that's where
we measured it,

385
00:23:44,876 --> 00:23:48,501
it shows that the liver cells
are releasing their contents -

386
00:23:48,584 --> 00:23:52,959
i.e., they're being damaged
or dying.

387
00:23:53,042 --> 00:23:54,834
And so the...

388
00:23:54,917 --> 00:23:56,709
You know, the... It's really...

389
00:23:56,792 --> 00:23:59,584
- My liver cells are dying.
- They are. They are.

390
00:23:59,667 --> 00:24:02,417
It's obviously
getting full of fat.

391
00:24:02,501 --> 00:24:04,084
You've got the signs
of a fatty liver.

392
00:24:04,167 --> 00:24:06,459
And this is really
the first time

393
00:24:06,542 --> 00:24:09,751
I've actually seen that it
can be actually developed

394
00:24:09,834 --> 00:24:11,209
in two or three weeks.

395
00:24:12,917 --> 00:24:14,667
Given my liver
has turned to fat

396
00:24:14,751 --> 00:24:16,876
after just 18 days,

397
00:24:16,959 --> 00:24:18,751
I think it's time to take
a closer look

398
00:24:18,834 --> 00:24:21,209
at what sugar does
once it enters the body.

399
00:24:24,501 --> 00:24:27,126
This is the actor
Brenton Thwaites.

400
00:24:27,209 --> 00:24:29,084
He's very kindly
volunteered his body

401
00:24:29,167 --> 00:24:30,834
for the following demonstration.

402
00:24:37,417 --> 00:24:41,417
After sugar enters the body,
it splits into two parts -

403
00:24:41,501 --> 00:24:44,459
fructose and glucose.

404
00:24:44,542 --> 00:24:46,959
Both of which
make their way to the liver.

405
00:24:54,084 --> 00:24:55,501
Now, once in the liver,

406
00:24:55,584 --> 00:24:58,084
the glucose is dealt with
efficiently.

407
00:24:58,167 --> 00:25:00,334
It's either used immediately
for energy

408
00:25:00,417 --> 00:25:03,584
or it's stored for later,
like a spare battery.

409
00:25:03,667 --> 00:25:06,084
But the fructose half of sugar
is very different.

410
00:25:06,167 --> 00:25:08,709
The liver doesn't have a system
to regulate the fructose

411
00:25:08,792 --> 00:25:10,667
because it was so rare
in nature,

412
00:25:10,751 --> 00:25:12,251
so it hoovers it out of
the bloodstream

413
00:25:12,334 --> 00:25:13,751
whether it needs it or not.

414
00:25:13,834 --> 00:25:15,501
And if all our spare
batteries are full,

415
00:25:15,584 --> 00:25:18,084
then it rapidly turns
it into fat.

416
00:25:19,542 --> 00:25:23,126
Some of that fat
is gonna stay in the liver

417
00:25:23,209 --> 00:25:26,251
and you're gonna have
increased risk

418
00:25:26,334 --> 00:25:29,792
for insulin resistance
and diabetes.

419
00:25:29,876 --> 00:25:31,084
What also happens

420
00:25:31,167 --> 00:25:32,959
is that this fat in the liver

421
00:25:33,084 --> 00:25:36,292
is then sent out into the
bloodstream as triglycerides,

422
00:25:36,376 --> 00:25:38,084
which can lead to excess weight

423
00:25:38,167 --> 00:25:40,251
plus blocked arteries
and heart disease.

424
00:25:46,459 --> 00:25:48,084
Now, when we're eating
lots of sugar

425
00:25:48,167 --> 00:25:51,209
and other carbohydrates
like bread and pasta,

426
00:25:51,292 --> 00:25:52,709
we're producing lots of glucose.

427
00:25:53,959 --> 00:25:56,459
A hormone called insulin
is released,

428
00:25:56,542 --> 00:25:59,876
which is like a key that helps
to open our cells' doors

429
00:25:59,959 --> 00:26:01,501
so they can absorb
all the glucose,

430
00:26:01,584 --> 00:26:04,251
remove it from the bloodstream
and burn it for energy.

431
00:26:05,459 --> 00:26:09,209
The more glucose in the blood,
the more insulin is released.

432
00:26:09,292 --> 00:26:12,084
But the key point for us

433
00:26:12,167 --> 00:26:13,959
is that while this insulin
is in the blood

434
00:26:14,042 --> 00:26:15,709
dealing with all the glucose,

435
00:26:15,792 --> 00:26:18,876
it tells our fat cells
to hold on to the fat.

436
00:26:18,959 --> 00:26:22,126
It actually turns off
our fat-burning processes.

437
00:26:22,209 --> 00:26:23,959
So when we're eating
lots of sugar,

438
00:26:24,042 --> 00:26:26,709
we're putting fat into our
bodies via the fatty liver.

439
00:26:26,792 --> 00:26:28,376
Plus, because of
all the glucose,

440
00:26:28,459 --> 00:26:30,334
we maintain
the level of insulin,

441
00:26:30,417 --> 00:26:33,126
which tells our fat cells
to hold on to the fat.

442
00:26:33,209 --> 00:26:34,584
We can't burn off fat

443
00:26:34,667 --> 00:26:37,459
when insulin is around
dealing with all the sugar!

444
00:26:39,167 --> 00:26:40,459
This is what may be happening

445
00:26:40,542 --> 00:26:42,209
to a huge number
of the population.'

446
00:26:44,376 --> 00:26:46,126
It's highly unlikely
with Brenton, though.

447
00:26:52,001 --> 00:26:53,626
The issue
that we're talking about

448
00:26:53,709 --> 00:26:55,709
is that there are these
chronic diseases

449
00:26:55,792 --> 00:26:58,584
related to obesity
and diabetes -

450
00:26:58,667 --> 00:27:00,626
heart disease,

451
00:27:00,709 --> 00:27:04,209
many cancers,
gout, hypertension,

452
00:27:04,292 --> 00:27:08,084
high blood pressure,
possibly Alzheimer's disease.

453
00:27:08,167 --> 00:27:11,292
The question is,
would these diseases exist...

454
00:27:13,084 --> 00:27:14,917
..if sugar wasn't in the diet?

455
00:27:23,001 --> 00:27:26,876
So, this morning I've woken up
and I feel pretty drained.

456
00:27:26,959 --> 00:27:29,667
I had a chicken dish last night
that was pretty sweet.

457
00:27:31,167 --> 00:27:34,959
And I could just tell
that my body feels lethargic

458
00:27:35,042 --> 00:27:39,084
and it's waiting for
its next sugar injection.

459
00:27:40,751 --> 00:27:46,126
So the perfectly named Up&Go

460
00:27:46,209 --> 00:27:48,084
is gonna start my day today.

461
00:27:48,167 --> 00:27:50,626
Banana flavoured with, uh...

462
00:27:52,167 --> 00:27:54,834
..about four to five
teaspoons of sugar.

463
00:27:56,167 --> 00:27:57,292
It was obvious

464
00:27:57,376 --> 00:27:59,417
that sugar was affecting me
physically,

465
00:27:59,501 --> 00:28:00,751
but the real surprise

466
00:28:00,834 --> 00:28:03,292
was the impact it was having
on my moods.

467
00:28:03,376 --> 00:28:05,376
It's amazing, it's so sweet

468
00:28:05,459 --> 00:28:08,084
and I can feel my brain responds
to it straightaway.

469
00:28:08,167 --> 00:28:10,417
Like, it tastes delicious.

470
00:28:10,501 --> 00:28:14,792
The thing I've noticed the most
is the mood swings.

471
00:28:14,876 --> 00:28:17,751
Big highs when I have the sugar
and I feel super alert

472
00:28:17,834 --> 00:28:20,084
and switched on
for about 45 minutes

473
00:28:20,167 --> 00:28:23,584
and then I'll get this feeling
of real lethargy,

474
00:28:23,667 --> 00:28:28,584
I'll feel vague, a bit aloof
until I get that next hit again

475
00:28:28,667 --> 00:28:30,084
and then I'm right to
concentrate.

476
00:28:30,167 --> 00:28:33,084
I just noticed the attention
is reduced

477
00:28:33,167 --> 00:28:35,584
and he's much more distracted.

478
00:28:35,667 --> 00:28:38,292
- Hm.
- And it's very unlike him.

479
00:28:38,376 --> 00:28:39,584
Very unusual.

480
00:28:39,667 --> 00:28:41,876
What you're describing
is absolutely

481
00:28:41,959 --> 00:28:44,584
what the research has shown,

482
00:28:44,667 --> 00:28:47,959
is a high concentration, energy,

483
00:28:48,042 --> 00:28:50,251
followed by a crash.

484
00:28:50,334 --> 00:28:53,209
The brain and body
runs on glucose.

485
00:28:53,292 --> 00:28:57,584
If the glucose level is going
constantly up and down,

486
00:28:57,667 --> 00:29:00,417
you know, zinging high and low
and high and low

487
00:29:00,501 --> 00:29:01,876
and back and forth,

488
00:29:01,959 --> 00:29:05,667
then your mental function
is just unstable.

489
00:29:05,751 --> 00:29:08,209
If your glucose level is stable

490
00:29:08,292 --> 00:29:12,334
and not fluctuating,
then you have more clarity.

491
00:29:12,417 --> 00:29:14,459
It's almost like the body is

492
00:29:14,542 --> 00:29:16,417
getting used to this new reality
that I've created,

493
00:29:16,501 --> 00:29:19,667
and it gets its burst of energy
from the sugar.

494
00:29:19,751 --> 00:29:21,251
And then
when that's not happening,

495
00:29:21,334 --> 00:29:22,917
it's, like, going,
"OK, we're ready."

496
00:29:23,001 --> 00:29:25,709
Like, I guess, I used to smoke,
it's a similar feeling.

497
00:29:25,792 --> 00:29:27,792
Tell me a little bit
more about what it's like

498
00:29:27,876 --> 00:29:29,834
when you've just had
some sugar

499
00:29:29,917 --> 00:29:31,876
and when you're
on the sugar high.

500
00:29:31,959 --> 00:29:33,917
A quite childish thing
comes out in me.

501
00:29:34,001 --> 00:29:36,292
I go, "Whoo," and then I'm
full of beans for a while.

502
00:29:36,376 --> 00:29:39,209
He can be like that
in day-to-day life, too,

503
00:29:39,292 --> 00:29:41,584
he's really fun and playful,
but the difference is

504
00:29:41,667 --> 00:29:44,584
there's a kind of manic edge
to it that wasn't there before.

505
00:29:44,667 --> 00:29:46,667
It's kind of a bit more
like, "Ah'."

506
00:29:46,751 --> 00:29:50,084
Now, the manic state
is quite interesting

507
00:29:50,167 --> 00:29:54,292
because it's not the same
as happiness, right?

508
00:29:54,376 --> 00:29:57,459
There's a sort of a sense
of being wired.

509
00:29:57,542 --> 00:30:00,167
It's raining sugar!

510
00:30:00,251 --> 00:30:02,417
So, it's interesting
'cause that's what we do see.

511
00:30:02,501 --> 00:30:04,876
And I'm not suggesting
you've got bipolar disorder

512
00:30:04,959 --> 00:30:09,667
but it's a phenomena that we
see in that particular condition

513
00:30:09,751 --> 00:30:11,959
where there's a very high mood

514
00:30:12,042 --> 00:30:14,376
but it's not actually
a very pleasant mood.

515
00:30:16,542 --> 00:30:20,667
So, Damon, the way that blood
sugar affects your mood,

516
00:30:20,751 --> 00:30:23,959
I like to explain to people with
a really simple diagram.

517
00:30:24,084 --> 00:30:27,417
So, this is your
blood sugar levels here.

518
00:30:27,501 --> 00:30:31,709
This is the point where
your brain is really happy

519
00:30:31,792 --> 00:30:33,751
'cause it's got enough sugar
to keep it going.

520
00:30:33,834 --> 00:30:36,626
It is your most important organ
in the body, in that way.

521
00:30:36,709 --> 00:30:38,751
When you eat something
that's really sugary,

522
00:30:38,834 --> 00:30:41,626
like lollies or fruit juices,
that sort of thing,

523
00:30:41,709 --> 00:30:44,501
your blood sugar will spike
really quickly

524
00:30:44,584 --> 00:30:47,334
and then it will crash down
again really quickly.

525
00:30:47,417 --> 00:30:50,334
The reason it crashes
really quickly is because,

526
00:30:50,417 --> 00:30:53,209
in response to that sugar,
the body releases insulin,

527
00:30:53,292 --> 00:30:55,501
the hormone that takes
it into the cells

528
00:30:55,584 --> 00:30:56,917
so it can be used for energy.

529
00:30:57,001 --> 00:30:59,459
So, that big crash though

530
00:30:59,542 --> 00:31:01,584
means that your brain's
no longer happy,

531
00:31:01,667 --> 00:31:03,126
so, in response to that,

532
00:31:03,209 --> 00:31:07,167
we get the release of stress
hormones like adrenaline,

533
00:31:07,251 --> 00:31:09,792
which is then signalling
the brain

534
00:31:09,876 --> 00:31:14,126
to tell you to eat something
sugary again

535
00:31:14,209 --> 00:31:17,251
so that we can get it
back up again.

536
00:31:17,334 --> 00:31:21,292
And so, once again, we get
more insulin and it dips down,

537
00:31:21,376 --> 00:31:25,959
and that's why you get
the fluctuations in your mood,

538
00:31:26,042 --> 00:31:29,626
from that sugar
spiking and falling.

539
00:31:29,709 --> 00:31:32,167
And the problem with
the adrenaline

540
00:31:32,251 --> 00:31:34,751
is that that can lead to anxiety

541
00:31:34,834 --> 00:31:36,959
and even panic attacks

542
00:31:37,042 --> 00:31:38,751
because of those
mood changes.

543
00:31:41,001 --> 00:31:42,209
Given my experience

544
00:31:42,292 --> 00:31:44,792
of fluctuating
blood sugar levels,

545
00:31:44,876 --> 00:31:46,376
I couldn't help
but think of children

546
00:31:46,459 --> 00:31:48,584
struggling to learn at school.

547
00:31:48,667 --> 00:31:50,959
Could a diet
full of hidden sugar

548
00:31:51,084 --> 00:31:53,292
be contributing to the problem?

549
00:31:53,376 --> 00:31:55,376
This has had
a very profound impact

550
00:31:55,459 --> 00:31:58,917
on children's behaviour,
on mental illness.

551
00:31:59,001 --> 00:32:01,251
It has exacerbated
many different types

552
00:32:01,334 --> 00:32:02,792
of neurological disorders,

553
00:32:02,876 --> 00:32:05,751
but we don't actually name
what the cause is,

554
00:32:05,834 --> 00:32:07,876
which is the sugar
that's in the diet.

555
00:32:07,959 --> 00:32:09,584
Sugar Crisp
is candy-coated

556
00:32:09,667 --> 00:32:11,834
right down to the last
wheat puff in the box.

557
00:32:11,917 --> 00:32:14,292
- As a cereal it's dandy.
- For snacks it's so handy.

558
00:32:14,376 --> 00:32:15,667
Or eat it like candy.

559
00:32:15,751 --> 00:32:17,334
♪ Post's Sugar Crisp. ♪

560
00:32:28,209 --> 00:32:30,126
Don't laugh. It's for the...
You know why I'm doing it.

561
00:32:43,667 --> 00:32:45,709
The speed
at which my high-sugar diet

562
00:32:45,792 --> 00:32:49,709
was affecting me
took us all by surprise.

563
00:32:49,792 --> 00:32:52,501
I was going to have to expand
the scope of the experiment,

564
00:32:52,584 --> 00:32:55,167
and this would take me
out of town for a few days.

565
00:33:01,876 --> 00:33:05,876
In 2002 I spent some time with
an Aboriginal community

566
00:33:05,959 --> 00:33:08,292
and was stunned by the amount
of sugar they consumed.

567
00:33:10,292 --> 00:33:11,834
Like so many
indigenous cultures

568
00:33:11,917 --> 00:33:13,917
introduced to a Western diet,

569
00:33:14,001 --> 00:33:18,084
their relationship with sugar
seemed particularly destructive.

570
00:33:18,167 --> 00:33:20,459
The Aborigines
have remarkably little sugar

571
00:33:20,542 --> 00:33:22,376
in their diet.

572
00:33:22,459 --> 00:33:25,209
Two or three
small pieces of candy

573
00:33:25,292 --> 00:33:28,667
would be equal to the sum total
of the amount of sweetness

574
00:33:28,751 --> 00:33:31,667
that an Aborigine would get
in one year.

575
00:33:33,417 --> 00:33:34,626
In 2008,

576
00:33:34,709 --> 00:33:37,834
Coca-Cola claimed that
Australia's Northern Territory

577
00:33:37,917 --> 00:33:41,584
was their highest-selling region
per capita in the world.

578
00:33:41,667 --> 00:33:43,209
This was, in large part,

579
00:33:43,292 --> 00:33:46,334
due to the local stores
in the Aboriginal communities.

580
00:33:49,459 --> 00:33:53,917
Just 100km from Uluru
is the small town of Amata.

581
00:33:55,959 --> 00:33:58,126
It has always been alcohol-free,

582
00:33:58,209 --> 00:34:02,834
but in 2007 its population
of just under 400 people

583
00:34:02,917 --> 00:34:05,667
consumed 40,000 litres
of soft drink.

584
00:34:07,959 --> 00:34:11,084
So one Aboriginal man decided
to do something about it.

585
00:34:12,667 --> 00:34:14,084
His name is John Tregenza.

586
00:34:15,459 --> 00:34:18,209
This is his case,
this is his putaru

587
00:34:18,292 --> 00:34:20,417
and this is his nickname.

588
00:34:20,501 --> 00:34:21,417
Why?

589
00:34:21,501 --> 00:34:23,751
'Cause I cut through
the bullshit.

590
00:34:25,501 --> 00:34:28,084
When I first come up here,
in 1973,

591
00:34:28,167 --> 00:34:30,084
I would estimate that,

592
00:34:30,167 --> 00:34:34,334
say, 10% of the people's diet
came from the store,

593
00:34:34,417 --> 00:34:37,876
and now it's almost 100%.

594
00:34:37,959 --> 00:34:40,084
So it was obviously critical
that people's health

595
00:34:40,167 --> 00:34:42,126
depended on what they were
carrying out the store door.

596
00:34:43,459 --> 00:34:45,376
This reliance
on the store

597
00:34:45,459 --> 00:34:48,584
has been caused by a variety
of environmental changes.

598
00:34:48,667 --> 00:34:51,709
The main one being the
introduction of a foreign grass

599
00:34:51,792 --> 00:34:53,417
that took over the plains

600
00:34:53,501 --> 00:34:55,959
and drove away the native plants
and animals

601
00:34:56,042 --> 00:34:58,167
that had provided bush tucker
for centuries.

602
00:35:00,709 --> 00:35:04,584
Being in Amata, it was hard to
believe that only 40 years ago

603
00:35:04,667 --> 00:35:07,751
these people were living
predominantly off the land.

604
00:35:07,834 --> 00:35:11,167
All our families
and old people,

605
00:35:11,251 --> 00:35:15,292
all our grandfathers
and great-great-grandparents,

606
00:35:15,376 --> 00:35:18,792
they only eating bush tucker,

607
00:35:18,876 --> 00:35:22,376
like emus, kangaroos, turkey,

608
00:35:22,459 --> 00:35:25,084
wild tomatoes, wild beets.

609
00:35:25,167 --> 00:35:28,209
And they were healthy,

610
00:35:28,292 --> 00:35:30,584
no sickness.

611
00:35:30,667 --> 00:35:32,876
And then the whitefella
came into Australia,

612
00:35:32,959 --> 00:35:35,126
he bring all the sweet things

613
00:35:35,209 --> 00:35:39,584
like lollies...biscuits,
everything.

614
00:35:41,334 --> 00:35:42,251
With stores filling up

615
00:35:42,334 --> 00:35:44,667
with highly profitable
sugary items

616
00:35:44,751 --> 00:35:48,084
and the community's health
rapidly declining,

617
00:35:48,167 --> 00:35:51,792
John, his colleagues
and a local health council

618
00:35:51,876 --> 00:35:52,917
established a program

619
00:35:53,001 --> 00:35:56,626
to ensure people had access
to fresh, healthy produce.

620
00:35:57,709 --> 00:35:59,709
They called it Mai Wiru

621
00:36:05,876 --> 00:36:08,084
The Mai Wiru quickly
went to work.

622
00:36:08,167 --> 00:36:12,709
They removed deep-fryers,
added free cold water fountains

623
00:36:12,792 --> 00:36:15,667
and hired a nutritionist to
educate the community.

624
00:36:16,959 --> 00:36:18,959
For the children,
they made music videos

625
00:36:19,084 --> 00:36:20,876
with psychedelic vegetables

626
00:36:20,959 --> 00:36:23,251
and put up these signs
on the store's fridges.

627
00:36:24,792 --> 00:36:26,292
I put this one to the test

628
00:36:26,376 --> 00:36:28,126
and I think they might be
onto something.

629
00:36:34,501 --> 00:36:37,751
But, most importantly, the local
people were empowered

630
00:36:37,834 --> 00:36:41,917
and began making their own
decisions about their health.

631
00:36:42,001 --> 00:36:44,084
The community
at Amata decided

632
00:36:44,167 --> 00:36:46,667
that they were wanting to reduce
the amount of sugar intake

633
00:36:46,751 --> 00:36:48,626
that they were having
throughout the community.

634
00:37:04,709 --> 00:37:06,584
The first
high-sugar item to go

635
00:37:06,667 --> 00:37:09,084
was the black fizzy stuff.

636
00:37:09,167 --> 00:37:10,792
Then they've said,
"We don't want Coke,"

637
00:37:10,876 --> 00:37:12,209
so they don't have Coke.

638
00:37:12,292 --> 00:37:15,751
So no-one is upset about it,
it is a decision by the elders.

639
00:37:15,834 --> 00:37:18,126
And so we don't have Coke.

640
00:37:19,792 --> 00:37:22,084
Mai Wiru was working

641
00:37:22,167 --> 00:37:24,167
and in a very short time
Amata had

642
00:37:24,251 --> 00:37:27,251
the lowest rate of sugar
consumption in the region.

643
00:37:28,542 --> 00:37:30,376
With the level
of sugar consumption

644
00:37:30,459 --> 00:37:34,084
in other communities I've been
in, it's astronomical.

645
00:37:34,167 --> 00:37:35,334
It is over the top.

646
00:37:35,417 --> 00:37:37,876
I think the Mai Wiru group,

647
00:37:37,959 --> 00:37:41,876
in itself, could teach a lot of
the other communities a lot.

648
00:37:45,167 --> 00:37:46,584
But just when
everything seemed to be

649
00:37:46,667 --> 00:37:48,792
headed in the right direction,

650
00:37:48,876 --> 00:37:51,084
the government slashed
Mai Wiru's funding.

651
00:37:54,959 --> 00:37:58,251
The organisation is now left
with a skeleton of staff,

652
00:37:58,334 --> 00:37:59,959
the nutritionist was
the first to go.

653
00:38:00,084 --> 00:38:01,751
The Pitjantjatjara
Yankunytjatjara people

654
00:38:01,834 --> 00:38:04,417
really feel it
because it was their idea.

655
00:38:04,501 --> 00:38:09,334
Like, they're the ones
who saw the problem,

656
00:38:09,417 --> 00:38:11,334
they're the ones who bury
their own people,

657
00:38:11,417 --> 00:38:13,292
they're the ones who wanted
to make a change

658
00:38:13,376 --> 00:38:17,084
and they've been
totally ignored,

659
00:38:17,167 --> 00:38:20,292
overridden and having
funding taken off by

660
00:38:20,376 --> 00:38:22,376
the Federal and
State governments

661
00:38:22,459 --> 00:38:24,959
and given to
a non-Aboriginal organisation.

662
00:38:25,042 --> 00:38:26,251
It's really quite outrageous.

663
00:38:29,876 --> 00:38:32,084
The thing that
struck me about Amata

664
00:38:32,167 --> 00:38:34,501
is that although Coke is gone,

665
00:38:34,584 --> 00:38:37,459
without a nutritionist to
continue the education

666
00:38:37,542 --> 00:38:40,417
people are still consuming
vast amounts of sugar

667
00:38:40,501 --> 00:38:41,584
in other products.

668
00:38:44,667 --> 00:38:46,959
And their health is suffering
as a consequence.

669
00:39:04,167 --> 00:39:05,459
There's
a perception abroad

670
00:39:05,542 --> 00:39:08,459
that the problems with
obesity and diabetes

671
00:39:08,542 --> 00:39:10,792
may be related to alcohol,

672
00:39:10,876 --> 00:39:12,834
but here at Amata it's been
a dry community

673
00:39:12,917 --> 00:39:16,417
ever since it was established,
so all of the health problems,

674
00:39:16,501 --> 00:39:18,876
including diabetes
and kidney failure,

675
00:39:18,959 --> 00:39:21,251
is all related to the diet.

676
00:39:25,834 --> 00:39:28,917
John offered to
take me to a special place

677
00:39:29,001 --> 00:39:32,209
where the full effects of a
disabled Mai Wiru can be felt.

678
00:39:39,709 --> 00:39:43,167
I've known
almost everyone buried here.

679
00:39:43,251 --> 00:39:45,459
I've got family members
buried here.

680
00:39:49,292 --> 00:39:53,417
These five graves here
are all people under 40.

681
00:39:55,042 --> 00:39:58,959
That's another young
person in there.

682
00:40:02,001 --> 00:40:04,792
A whole group up here
of two sisters and a brother

683
00:40:04,876 --> 00:40:08,167
who all passed away
from kidney failure.

684
00:40:09,501 --> 00:40:13,209
Most of these deaths
here are premature

685
00:40:13,292 --> 00:40:16,084
and could have been avoided
with correct diet

686
00:40:16,167 --> 00:40:18,376
and access to affordable
healthy food.

687
00:40:18,459 --> 00:40:20,334
It's a complete tragedy.

688
00:40:34,292 --> 00:40:37,084
After four days
in Amata,

689
00:40:37,167 --> 00:40:40,209
it occurred to me that
what is happening to my body

690
00:40:40,292 --> 00:40:42,126
is perhaps a concentrated
version

691
00:40:42,209 --> 00:40:43,709
of what has happened here

692
00:40:43,792 --> 00:40:45,792
and in many other
Indigenous communities.

693
00:40:47,667 --> 00:40:50,209
I'd been sugar-free
for a long time

694
00:40:50,292 --> 00:40:54,084
and now, by suddenly subjecting
myself to a high-sugar diet,

695
00:40:54,167 --> 00:40:56,584
the effects have been both rapid
and acute.

696
00:40:59,792 --> 00:41:01,584
If immediate action isn't taken

697
00:41:01,667 --> 00:41:03,167
to restore the positive
direction

698
00:41:03,251 --> 00:41:05,626
that Mai Wiru was heading in,

699
00:41:05,709 --> 00:41:08,167
then the oldest living culture
on earth

700
00:41:08,251 --> 00:41:10,959
is in great danger
of disappearing.

701
00:41:23,334 --> 00:41:24,584
Oh, look at that.'

702
00:41:24,667 --> 00:41:26,584
81.2.

703
00:41:27,917 --> 00:41:29,417
81.2

704
00:41:29,501 --> 00:41:32,251
- OK, so what's that in...
- 1.6 kilos.

705
00:41:32,334 --> 00:41:35,334
So in a month I've put on five.

706
00:41:35,417 --> 00:41:36,834
Something like that.

707
00:41:36,917 --> 00:41:39,751
- 76.
- You started out at 76, yeah.

708
00:41:39,834 --> 00:41:41,209
Over five kilos.

709
00:41:42,667 --> 00:41:45,251
- Oh, my God.
- What?

710
00:41:45,334 --> 00:41:47,792
Hang on, is that a...
Hang on, don't tell me.

711
00:41:47,876 --> 00:41:48,917
91.

712
00:41:50,001 --> 00:41:51,667
- 91?!
- 91.

713
00:41:51,751 --> 00:41:54,126
So, OK, 7cm.

714
00:41:54,209 --> 00:41:55,126
7cm.

715
00:41:55,209 --> 00:41:57,751
If I keep going for
the next three or four months

716
00:41:57,834 --> 00:42:00,751
at these levels, would I be
knocking on the door of obesity?

717
00:42:00,834 --> 00:42:03,167
Definitely.
You haven't got far to go.

718
00:42:03,251 --> 00:42:05,584
I'm eating a lot more
than I would.

719
00:42:05,667 --> 00:42:08,834
Um...I'm snacking a lot more
than I would have before.

720
00:42:08,917 --> 00:42:11,584
I find it very hard
to feel full.

721
00:42:11,667 --> 00:42:15,959
Not surprising because you're
not eating very much good fats

722
00:42:16,084 --> 00:42:17,251
or proteins.

723
00:42:17,334 --> 00:42:18,667
It's the fat and the protein

724
00:42:18,751 --> 00:42:20,959
that actually helps us
feel fuller.

725
00:42:21,084 --> 00:42:24,167
All the low-fat foods that we've
been told are good for us

726
00:42:24,251 --> 00:42:25,959
and that we should be eating

727
00:42:26,042 --> 00:42:29,251
actually tend to be
higher in sugar anyway,

728
00:42:29,334 --> 00:42:30,459
as you know,

729
00:42:30,542 --> 00:42:33,209
and they're not helping us
to feel full.

730
00:42:35,542 --> 00:42:36,709
With the effects
of sugar

731
00:42:36,792 --> 00:42:38,917
now clearly taking a toll on me,

732
00:42:39,001 --> 00:42:41,751
and having witnessed
its devastation in Amata...

733
00:42:41,834 --> 00:42:42,751
I'm packing.

734
00:42:42,834 --> 00:42:44,209
..I needed to talk
to some people

735
00:42:44,292 --> 00:42:46,501
that knew a lot more about
the subject than I did.

736
00:42:46,584 --> 00:42:48,126
Have a look behind
you.

737
00:42:48,209 --> 00:42:49,709
It's hanging off
my cupboard door.

738
00:42:50,876 --> 00:42:51,876
It was time to head to

739
00:42:51,959 --> 00:42:54,584
the cultural capital
of convenience,

740
00:42:54,667 --> 00:42:57,501
the mecca of the processed
food and sugar industry,

741
00:42:57,584 --> 00:42:59,292
and the current
number-one-ranked

742
00:42:59,376 --> 00:43:01,209
world obesity champion...

743
00:43:01,292 --> 00:43:03,126
Look out, America.

744
00:43:03,209 --> 00:43:05,084
Here comes Sugar Daddy.

745
00:43:28,834 --> 00:43:31,417
So,
we're here in America.

746
00:43:31,501 --> 00:43:33,876
Day one, jet lag.

747
00:43:33,959 --> 00:43:37,917
So I just went in to Jamba Juice
and got me one of these.

748
00:43:39,292 --> 00:43:43,084
139 grams of sugar.

749
00:43:43,167 --> 00:43:44,667
I actually need the calculator
for this.

750
00:43:44,751 --> 00:43:46,209
That...

751
00:43:48,501 --> 00:43:53,084
..that is 34 teaspoons
of sugar...

752
00:43:54,959 --> 00:43:55,876
..in that drink.

753
00:43:55,959 --> 00:43:59,584
That is nearly my daily
allowance in this cup.

754
00:44:01,376 --> 00:44:02,959
What a great jet lag cure.

755
00:44:07,167 --> 00:44:09,667
Wow, wow, wow, wow.

756
00:44:12,876 --> 00:44:14,792
Now, if I was to eat
the same amount of sugar

757
00:44:14,876 --> 00:44:16,292
that was in that smoothie

758
00:44:16,376 --> 00:44:19,834
but the sugar was in
its original fruit packaging

759
00:44:19,917 --> 00:44:23,459
I would have to eat four
peaches, nine limes,

760
00:44:23,542 --> 00:44:26,084
30 lemons and 30 strawberries.

761
00:44:27,167 --> 00:44:30,084
This might be fine for a bear
about to go into hibernation,

762
00:44:30,167 --> 00:44:32,834
but it can have damaging effects
for a human

763
00:44:32,917 --> 00:44:34,751
who thinks they are making
a healthy choice.

764
00:44:37,459 --> 00:44:41,292
One of the interesting conflicts
today is this idea,

765
00:44:41,376 --> 00:44:43,126
pushed by some of our
government...

766
00:44:43,209 --> 00:44:44,584
..well-meaning
government officials,

767
00:44:44,667 --> 00:44:48,334
that if you could just get
Coca-Colas out of McDonald's

768
00:44:48,417 --> 00:44:51,376
and get the kids to drink fruit
smoothies they'd be healthier.

769
00:44:51,459 --> 00:44:52,751
And yet the fruit smoothies have

770
00:44:52,834 --> 00:44:54,709
just as much sugar
as a Coca-Cola.

771
00:44:58,459 --> 00:45:01,251
The first thing I noticed
with American foods

772
00:45:01,334 --> 00:45:05,709
was how difficult it was gonna
be to stay under 40 teaspoons.

773
00:45:06,834 --> 00:45:09,626
It wasn't just the abundance
of sugar in the food

774
00:45:09,709 --> 00:45:11,709
but also the presence
of a sweetener

775
00:45:11,792 --> 00:45:13,584
called high fructose corn syrup.

776
00:45:16,167 --> 00:45:19,334
Its primary delivery system
is soft drink,

777
00:45:19,417 --> 00:45:22,209
which adds roughly
4,000 teaspoons a year

778
00:45:22,292 --> 00:45:23,917
to the diet of each American.

779
00:45:25,042 --> 00:45:26,292
People don't actually
realise

780
00:45:26,376 --> 00:45:28,126
that high fructose corn syrup
and sugar

781
00:45:28,209 --> 00:45:30,376
are virtually identical.

782
00:45:30,459 --> 00:45:33,667
See, corn refiners back in
the 1980s did their best

783
00:45:33,751 --> 00:45:35,834
to make sure
that people didn't equate

784
00:45:35,917 --> 00:45:38,084
high fructose
corn syrup with sugar.

785
00:45:38,167 --> 00:45:39,584
Flash forward 20 years later,

786
00:45:39,667 --> 00:45:41,876
people are blaming
high fructose corn syrup

787
00:45:41,959 --> 00:45:43,626
for the obesity epidemic.

788
00:45:43,709 --> 00:45:46,834
And now the corn refiners
are desperately trying to say

789
00:45:46,917 --> 00:45:49,584
that they are sugar,
they're no different,

790
00:45:49,667 --> 00:45:51,876
and the sugar industry's going,
"No, you're not.

791
00:45:51,959 --> 00:45:53,334
"You're entirely different."

792
00:45:58,209 --> 00:46:00,251
With sugar
and high fructose corn syrup

793
00:46:00,334 --> 00:46:02,084
now in the spotlight,

794
00:46:02,167 --> 00:46:03,751
I notice that companies
are using

795
00:46:03,834 --> 00:46:05,917
a range of seductive names

796
00:46:06,001 --> 00:46:08,251
for other fructose-based
sweeteners.

797
00:46:10,667 --> 00:46:11,959
Any sugar -

798
00:46:12,084 --> 00:46:16,084
brown sugar, white sugar,
high fructose corn syrup,

799
00:46:16,167 --> 00:46:18,376
fruit juice concentrate
from fruit juice -

800
00:46:18,459 --> 00:46:20,584
equal effect on your health.

801
00:46:31,417 --> 00:46:33,834
Not feeling very well
at all today.

802
00:46:33,917 --> 00:46:37,584
Nauseous in my stomach
and had a headache all morning.

803
00:46:37,667 --> 00:46:39,334
And it's interesting,
'cause we're driving through

804
00:46:39,417 --> 00:46:42,626
rural America now,
we're in North Carolina.

805
00:46:48,542 --> 00:46:52,334
It's so hard to get any kind
of decent food.

806
00:46:52,417 --> 00:46:54,459
There are signs that say
'food exit',

807
00:46:54,542 --> 00:46:56,376
but that food
is either McDonald's

808
00:46:56,459 --> 00:46:59,209
or Taco Bell or KFC.

809
00:46:59,292 --> 00:47:00,709
It's impossible.

810
00:47:00,792 --> 00:47:01,792
And if you grow up as a kid

811
00:47:01,876 --> 00:47:04,584
and this is your only experience
of food

812
00:47:04,667 --> 00:47:06,126
and what food is,

813
00:47:06,209 --> 00:47:09,292
it's little wonder that there's
a massive problem

814
00:47:09,376 --> 00:47:10,792
in this country.

815
00:47:47,667 --> 00:47:49,917
The next stop was
Barbourville, Kentucky.

816
00:47:51,542 --> 00:47:53,959
In the great cola wars
of the 1990s,

817
00:47:54,084 --> 00:47:57,167
Pepsi and Coke were
engaged in a fierce battle.

818
00:47:57,251 --> 00:47:59,917
The Pepsi army took
a strong foothold

819
00:48:00,001 --> 00:48:02,209
in the state of Kentucky

820
00:48:02,292 --> 00:48:06,251
and their number-one sniper
is the drink Mountain Dew.

821
00:48:06,334 --> 00:48:08,876
In this 1.25-litre bottle

822
00:48:08,959 --> 00:48:11,459
you'll find 37 teaspoons
of sugar

823
00:48:11,542 --> 00:48:15,709
and 40% more caffeine than
the same size bottle of Coke.

824
00:48:17,876 --> 00:48:19,834
The people of Kentucky
have understandably had

825
00:48:19,917 --> 00:48:21,959
some problems with their teeth,

826
00:48:22,084 --> 00:48:25,209
and one dentist is doing
something about it.

827
00:48:25,292 --> 00:48:26,959
His name is Edwin Smith.

828
00:48:28,167 --> 00:48:30,584
This is his letterbox,
this is his daughter

829
00:48:30,667 --> 00:48:33,084
and this is him
as a collectable figurine.

830
00:48:34,584 --> 00:48:37,417
Edwin drives around the state
of Kentucky in RVs

831
00:48:37,501 --> 00:48:40,417
he has converted
into mobile dental clinics.

832
00:48:40,501 --> 00:48:43,334
He and his team visit schools,
educate the kids

833
00:48:43,417 --> 00:48:45,834
and treat their teeth.

834
00:48:45,917 --> 00:48:46,917
Early in my practice

835
00:48:47,001 --> 00:48:50,584
I saw these patients who
would have this unusual decay,

836
00:48:50,667 --> 00:48:52,459
brown decay,
around the gum line,

837
00:48:52,542 --> 00:48:53,834
usually the front teeth.

838
00:48:53,917 --> 00:48:55,959
Most of these people were
addicted to Mountain Dew,

839
00:48:56,084 --> 00:48:57,459
in particular.

840
00:48:57,542 --> 00:49:00,876
And that's where
we came up with the term

841
00:49:00,959 --> 00:49:02,084
'Mountain Dew mouth'.

842
00:49:05,042 --> 00:49:07,626
I've talked to some kids who say
they may drink 10 a day.

843
00:49:07,709 --> 00:49:09,584
They started drinking it
so early that they don't know

844
00:49:09,667 --> 00:49:10,834
when they started.

845
00:49:10,917 --> 00:49:13,084
Mountain Dew will
tickle your innards

846
00:49:13,167 --> 00:49:15,751
'cause there's a bang
in every bottle.

847
00:49:15,834 --> 00:49:17,292
They take the lid off,
they take a drink.

848
00:49:17,376 --> 00:49:19,376
20 minutes or so,
it starts to wear off

849
00:49:19,459 --> 00:49:20,584
and they take another drink.

850
00:49:20,667 --> 00:49:23,209
It takes the oral cavity
about 20 minutes

851
00:49:23,292 --> 00:49:25,251
to cleanse itself naturally
with saliva,

852
00:49:25,334 --> 00:49:27,876
so if you're taking a drink
every 20 minutes,

853
00:49:27,959 --> 00:49:31,834
it's as though you're bathing
your teeth in this all day long.

854
00:49:37,167 --> 00:49:39,417
What's the youngest
kids that you treat?

855
00:49:39,501 --> 00:49:40,876
Sometimes 3-year-olds,

856
00:49:40,959 --> 00:49:43,626
3-, 4-year-olds that have
a lot of tooth decay.

857
00:49:43,709 --> 00:49:48,584
And those are usually what they
call baby bottle tooth decay,

858
00:49:48,667 --> 00:49:51,459
and that's from having juices
in baby bottles.

859
00:49:51,542 --> 00:49:54,959
Sometimes it's from having soft
drinks in the baby bottles, too.

860
00:49:56,334 --> 00:49:58,959
Do you do the majority
of your treatments in Kentucky?

861
00:49:59,042 --> 00:50:01,084
- Yes. Yeah.
- OK.

862
00:50:01,167 --> 00:50:03,459
It's eastern Kentucky,
the Appalachian region,

863
00:50:03,542 --> 00:50:04,459
the mountains.

864
00:50:04,542 --> 00:50:05,959
That's the poorest region
in the state.

865
00:50:06,084 --> 00:50:08,126
It's directly related
to poverty.

866
00:50:08,209 --> 00:50:09,126
Yep.

867
00:50:19,167 --> 00:50:21,209
It's pretty common
for people around here

868
00:50:21,292 --> 00:50:23,167
to drink a lot of pop.

869
00:50:23,251 --> 00:50:25,251
Mainly it's Mountain Dew
and Pepsi.

870
00:50:25,334 --> 00:50:28,876
This is 17-year-old
Larry Hammons.

871
00:50:28,959 --> 00:50:31,584
He's lived in Kentucky
all his life.

872
00:50:31,667 --> 00:50:34,584
This is his tatt,
this is his favourite T-shirt

873
00:50:34,667 --> 00:50:37,251
and these are his teeth.

874
00:50:40,084 --> 00:50:41,959
My 18th birthday's in eight days

875
00:50:42,084 --> 00:50:43,834
and, I mean,

876
00:50:43,917 --> 00:50:46,459
people look down upon me
because of my teeth.

877
00:50:46,542 --> 00:50:49,417
As I was a kid I was never
worried about my teeth

878
00:50:49,501 --> 00:50:51,876
and I would just take a pop
everywhere I went

879
00:50:51,959 --> 00:50:54,126
and I'd always have
one in my hand.

880
00:50:54,209 --> 00:50:55,459
And how old do you
reckon you were

881
00:50:55,542 --> 00:50:57,584
when you had your first
Mountain Dew, like, how old?

882
00:50:57,667 --> 00:50:59,417
I would probably say two
or three.

883
00:51:00,834 --> 00:51:03,084
And how much a day
would you say you have?

884
00:51:03,167 --> 00:51:05,709
I would say at least four
or five bottles.

885
00:51:05,792 --> 00:51:09,834
If it was cans,
I would say at least a 12-pack.

886
00:51:09,917 --> 00:51:11,667
12 cans a day.

887
00:51:11,751 --> 00:51:14,584
Man, are there people
doing that in this town?

888
00:51:14,667 --> 00:51:15,876
Yeah.

889
00:51:15,959 --> 00:51:17,792
What about...You were talking
about your cousin before.

890
00:51:17,876 --> 00:51:21,959
I would say about six
or seven cans a day,

891
00:51:22,042 --> 00:51:24,084
and he's only three years old.

892
00:51:25,167 --> 00:51:27,709
Wow. And how does he...
Does he drink it from the can?

893
00:51:27,792 --> 00:51:30,584
No, from a bottle.
She puts it in his bottle.

894
00:51:36,501 --> 00:51:38,459
Edwin is meeting
Larry today

895
00:51:38,542 --> 00:51:40,584
because he plans to remove
all of his teeth

896
00:51:40,667 --> 00:51:42,459
and replace them with dentures.

897
00:51:44,959 --> 00:51:48,251
He has 26 teeth that
need to be extracted altogether.

898
00:51:49,417 --> 00:51:52,959
I'd like to say that that's
really rare but it's not.

899
00:51:53,084 --> 00:51:55,126
- You doing OK, Larry?
- Yeah, pretty good.

900
00:51:55,209 --> 00:51:56,584
- Nervous.
- OK.

901
00:51:56,667 --> 00:51:58,417
Have you got any questions
about today?

902
00:51:58,501 --> 00:52:00,584
- Yeah.
- What?

903
00:52:00,667 --> 00:52:02,667
When can we get this started?

904
00:52:12,417 --> 00:52:14,751
Can we get his mom in here?
OK.

905
00:52:14,834 --> 00:52:18,251
I don't want no pain for him.
I wish I could take it for him.

906
00:53:34,167 --> 00:53:35,584
You're doing well,
mate.

907
00:53:37,251 --> 00:53:38,209
Hell no.

908
00:53:39,417 --> 00:53:40,417
You're a brave man.

909
00:53:40,501 --> 00:53:42,959
My blood pressure is saying,
"Whoosh."

910
00:53:43,084 --> 00:53:44,334
Yeah.

911
00:53:44,417 --> 00:53:46,792
Well, right now,
Larry doesn't feel numb,

912
00:53:46,876 --> 00:53:49,876
and I think we have a couple of
factors playing a role in that.

913
00:53:49,959 --> 00:53:53,959
One is that he's very nervous
and the adrenaline's flowing,

914
00:53:54,042 --> 00:53:57,209
and the other is that he has
infection in there

915
00:53:57,292 --> 00:53:58,709
and has had infection
for some time,

916
00:53:58,792 --> 00:54:01,917
so the anaesthetic does not
take effect as well.

917
00:54:03,042 --> 00:54:04,584
The condition his teeth
are in now

918
00:54:04,667 --> 00:54:06,792
you know he's suffered a lot
before he's even been here,

919
00:54:06,876 --> 00:54:09,376
so he knows what pain is.

920
00:54:11,376 --> 00:54:12,876
Due to infection,

921
00:54:12,959 --> 00:54:16,417
no amount of anaesthetic
would work on Larry's gums,

922
00:54:16,501 --> 00:54:18,751
so Edwin has decided to
postpone the procedure

923
00:54:18,834 --> 00:54:19,959
for another day.

924
00:54:23,417 --> 00:54:26,792
When contacted,
Pepsi said that in moderation

925
00:54:26,876 --> 00:54:30,084
Mountain Dew is part of
a healthy, balanced diet.

926
00:54:30,167 --> 00:54:32,751
But I would argue that any drink
with that much sugar

927
00:54:32,834 --> 00:54:34,084
and caffeine in it

928
00:54:34,167 --> 00:54:36,667
is quite difficult to have
in moderation.

929
00:54:39,542 --> 00:54:41,792
In fact, despite sitting through
Larry's ordeal,

930
00:54:41,876 --> 00:54:44,251
the biggest shock came
when Larry told me

931
00:54:44,334 --> 00:54:48,084
that he still loved Mountain Dew
and would continue to drink it.

932
00:54:56,459 --> 00:54:59,834
Hi, honey.'
Oh, it was an amazing day.

933
00:54:59,917 --> 00:55:02,959
When you think of Amata
and now this,

934
00:55:03,084 --> 00:55:05,959
you're seeing the direct effects
of what sugar's doing,

935
00:55:06,042 --> 00:55:08,084
and the companies,
they just don't see it

936
00:55:08,167 --> 00:55:11,417
because they're...they're
worried about making money,

937
00:55:11,501 --> 00:55:14,209
they're not on the ground level
seeing the effects,

938
00:55:14,292 --> 00:55:15,917
and they don't care, really.

939
00:55:16,001 --> 00:55:18,626
And I spoke to
the dentist about, like,

940
00:55:18,709 --> 00:55:20,792
what Pepsi have done about it
and stuff, and he said,

941
00:55:20,876 --> 00:55:22,709
"Oh, look, they contacted me
and said,

942
00:55:22,792 --> 00:55:24,084
"'Look, we really wanna help you
out,'"

943
00:55:24,167 --> 00:55:26,584
and, you know,
so they've bought an RV,

944
00:55:26,667 --> 00:55:29,376
another car to help with
the kids, but he's, like,

945
00:55:29,459 --> 00:55:30,834
"Look, yeah, it's good,"

946
00:55:30,917 --> 00:55:34,626
but they don't really need
an RV, they need education.

947
00:55:34,709 --> 00:55:35,751
But, as he said today...

948
00:55:35,834 --> 00:55:38,126
They need to not drink
Mountain Dew every day.

949
00:55:38,209 --> 00:55:40,126
But, as he said, they're not
gonna educate the kids

950
00:55:40,209 --> 00:55:41,626
'cause that means
they'll stop drinking it,

951
00:55:41,709 --> 00:55:43,334
and that's a disaster
for them.

952
00:55:52,917 --> 00:55:54,459
My experience with Larry

953
00:55:54,542 --> 00:55:57,584
led me to a Pulitzer
Prize-winning author

954
00:55:57,667 --> 00:56:00,084
who has written extensively
on how the food giants

955
00:56:00,167 --> 00:56:02,167
have got us hooked
on their products.

956
00:56:03,792 --> 00:56:06,667
You can't underestimate

957
00:56:06,751 --> 00:56:09,584
the amount of scientific effort

958
00:56:09,667 --> 00:56:12,959
that these companies
will put into

959
00:56:13,042 --> 00:56:16,584
maximising the allure
of their products.

960
00:56:17,792 --> 00:56:20,459
Understanding the sort of
fundamentals

961
00:56:20,542 --> 00:56:21,876
of how we taste

962
00:56:21,959 --> 00:56:27,084
and why we crave
and what makes food addictive.

963
00:56:27,167 --> 00:56:29,709
I was lucky enough
to spend some time

964
00:56:29,792 --> 00:56:33,084
with a legend in
the processed food industry.

965
00:56:33,167 --> 00:56:35,334
His name is Howard Moskowitz.

966
00:56:35,417 --> 00:56:38,626
And he walked me through
his recent creation

967
00:56:38,709 --> 00:56:41,376
of a new soda flavour
for Dr Pepper.

968
00:56:42,667 --> 00:56:48,917
He started with 61 levels of
sweeteners in the formulation,

969
00:56:49,001 --> 00:56:51,917
subjected that to
more than 3,000

970
00:56:52,001 --> 00:56:54,709
consumer taste tests
around the country,

971
00:56:54,792 --> 00:56:56,876
then took that data

972
00:56:56,959 --> 00:57:01,626
and out came the optimum
level of sweetness

973
00:57:01,709 --> 00:57:05,667
that was guaranteed to send
their new soda

974
00:57:05,751 --> 00:57:07,751
flying off the shelf.

975
00:57:16,334 --> 00:57:18,417
Behind
the closed doors of industry,

976
00:57:18,501 --> 00:57:20,709
this optimal amount of sugar

977
00:57:20,792 --> 00:57:23,209
is referred to as
'the bliss point'.

978
00:57:26,292 --> 00:57:27,959
Back in the 1970s,

979
00:57:28,042 --> 00:57:29,376
Howard Moskowitz discovered

980
00:57:29,459 --> 00:57:32,084
that as you increase
the amount of sugar in a product

981
00:57:32,167 --> 00:57:34,084
people liked it more and more.

982
00:57:34,167 --> 00:57:35,584
But then they peaked

983
00:57:35,667 --> 00:57:37,292
and if any more sugar
was added

984
00:57:37,376 --> 00:57:39,084
then they stopped liking it.

985
00:57:39,167 --> 00:57:41,292
So I discovered the bliss point,

986
00:57:41,376 --> 00:57:43,292
and that's what it was
christened - the bliss point.

987
00:57:43,376 --> 00:57:48,959
Well, fast forward 45 years
later, it means pasta sauce,

988
00:57:49,042 --> 00:57:52,709
it means sodas,
it means cereals.

989
00:57:52,792 --> 00:57:56,584
Creating bliss points in
products all over the place

990
00:57:56,667 --> 00:58:00,167
is exploiting the biology
of the child.

991
00:58:01,459 --> 00:58:04,209
You know, it's created
this expectation in kids

992
00:58:04,292 --> 00:58:09,584
that everything
they eat should taste sweet,

993
00:58:09,667 --> 00:58:13,209
so when you get to
the vegetable aisle, right,

994
00:58:13,292 --> 00:58:16,084
and you're trying to get little
Mikey to eat that broccoli

995
00:58:16,167 --> 00:58:18,667
and he starts tasting
those bitter notes, right,

996
00:58:18,751 --> 00:58:20,209
instead of sweetness, you know,

997
00:58:20,292 --> 00:58:23,251
you're in for a load of trouble
as a parent.

998
00:58:28,251 --> 00:58:30,417
It's understandable
that our palates have adjusted

999
00:58:30,501 --> 00:58:32,959
to all of these
blissed out foods

1000
00:58:33,084 --> 00:58:36,084
when we have such
a primal desire for sweet.

1001
00:58:37,376 --> 00:58:40,459
Even Mother Nature herself
has created a berry

1002
00:58:40,542 --> 00:58:42,459
that makes everything
taste sweet.

1003
00:58:44,917 --> 00:58:49,126
So, in front of me
I have three food items

1004
00:58:49,209 --> 00:58:51,876
that it's fair to say
I don't enjoy.

1005
00:58:51,959 --> 00:58:56,792
This here piping hot chilli,
this here sour lemon

1006
00:58:56,876 --> 00:59:00,459
and this nasty bottle
of apple cider vinegar.

1007
00:59:01,667 --> 00:59:03,626
But apparently

1008
00:59:03,709 --> 00:59:07,709
if I put this miracle berry
onto my tongue

1009
00:59:07,792 --> 00:59:11,209
and then eat those things,

1010
00:59:11,292 --> 00:59:14,167
it's supposed to make them
taste sweet.

1011
00:59:25,751 --> 00:59:28,084
No way!

1012
00:59:30,667 --> 00:59:31,959
That's an orange.

1013
00:59:34,417 --> 00:59:35,834
I'm dubious.

1014
00:59:44,667 --> 00:59:47,334
When it hit my throat
it was really intense,

1015
00:59:47,417 --> 00:59:49,126
but in the mouth...

1016
00:59:50,667 --> 00:59:51,709
..I don't know what
it tasted like.

1017
00:59:51,792 --> 00:59:54,501
Maybe, um...lemonade
kind of thing.

1018
00:59:54,584 --> 00:59:57,959
Wasn't too sweet, but it was not
apple cider vinegar.

1019
01:00:00,251 --> 01:00:02,584
But this has got me nervous.

1020
01:00:02,667 --> 01:00:05,834
I do not like chilli at all.

1021
01:00:15,167 --> 01:00:16,584
Please work.

1022
01:00:24,209 --> 01:00:25,376
Nothing.

1023
01:00:25,459 --> 01:00:28,209
Oh! It's hit my throat, though!

1024
01:00:29,417 --> 01:00:31,709
There's no miracle berry
on my oesophagus.

1025
01:00:33,709 --> 01:00:35,084
Damn.

1026
01:00:36,542 --> 01:00:38,959
This experiment
with my tastebuds

1027
01:00:39,042 --> 01:00:42,584
made me realise what the food
companies have always known -

1028
01:00:42,667 --> 01:00:45,792
that adding sweetness
can make anything palatable.

1029
01:00:45,876 --> 01:00:48,292
I'm so sorry.

1030
01:00:48,376 --> 01:00:49,459
Well, almost anything.

1031
01:00:58,167 --> 01:01:00,709
It was now day 35,

1032
01:01:00,792 --> 01:01:01,959
and the rule of the experiment

1033
01:01:02,042 --> 01:01:04,084
I was finding increasingly hard
to maintain

1034
01:01:04,167 --> 01:01:05,917
was exercise.

1035
01:01:07,084 --> 01:01:08,834
My motivation had plummeted.

1036
01:01:08,917 --> 01:01:09,917
My heart hurts.

1037
01:01:24,251 --> 01:01:25,959
Hello, Sharon.

1038
01:01:26,084 --> 01:01:27,459
How are you feeling?

1039
01:01:28,876 --> 01:01:32,084
Well, if you could see
me you would not recognise me,

1040
01:01:32,167 --> 01:01:34,667
'cause there's a few pimples
that have arrived,

1041
01:01:34,751 --> 01:01:37,584
there's a lot of fat
and fullness in my face,

1042
01:01:37,667 --> 01:01:41,959
and my tummy is really
quite something to behold.

1043
01:01:42,042 --> 01:01:44,584
I can't fit into my favourite
new shorts anymore,

1044
01:01:44,667 --> 01:01:46,959
which is a bit disappointing.

1045
01:01:47,042 --> 01:01:48,751
When did the pimples
break out?

1046
01:01:50,459 --> 01:01:51,959
About three days ago.

1047
01:01:52,084 --> 01:01:57,959
Um...it's probably
your liver reacting.

1048
01:01:58,042 --> 01:02:01,751
Often skin conditions
are related

1049
01:02:01,834 --> 01:02:04,209
to poor liver functioning.

1050
01:02:04,292 --> 01:02:07,792
So, if someone's on a sort of,
like, high-processed sugar diet,

1051
01:02:07,876 --> 01:02:11,376
you'll see it in their eyes,
you'll see bags under the eyes,

1052
01:02:11,459 --> 01:02:12,959
you'll see it in their skin.

1053
01:02:13,084 --> 01:02:17,584
Whether they're here or they're
just really drawn and lethargic.

1054
01:02:21,667 --> 01:02:24,584
Sugar's effects on me
physically were obvious,

1055
01:02:24,667 --> 01:02:28,626
but my cravings for it and
the mental toll it was taking

1056
01:02:28,709 --> 01:02:31,792
prompted me to explore what
it was doing to my brain.

1057
01:02:33,417 --> 01:02:36,834
So I took my pimply face to
the Oregon Research Institute.

1058
01:02:39,209 --> 01:02:42,584
This group of scientists, who
I'm trusting enormously,

1059
01:02:42,667 --> 01:02:45,334
own this colossal
magnetic sucking machine

1060
01:02:45,417 --> 01:02:46,834
called an FMRI...

1061
01:02:47,917 --> 01:02:51,084
..which they are going to
put me and my brain into.

1062
01:02:52,167 --> 01:02:54,501
They will then show me
images of this high-sugar,

1063
01:02:54,584 --> 01:02:57,376
low-fat milkshake and
then feed me the milkshake

1064
01:02:57,459 --> 01:02:58,959
through a special megastraw.

1065
01:03:01,251 --> 01:03:03,376
Then they'll take
some photos of my brain

1066
01:03:03,459 --> 01:03:05,084
and show me how it reacted.

1067
01:03:05,167 --> 01:03:06,959
Wow.

1068
01:03:14,001 --> 01:03:15,834
Now I'm gonna climb
into my own brain

1069
01:03:15,917 --> 01:03:17,959
and see what effects
sugar just had on it.

1070
01:03:29,417 --> 01:03:32,167
Now, the first step is that we
see what's called a cue,

1071
01:03:32,251 --> 01:03:34,084
or a trigger -

1072
01:03:34,167 --> 01:03:36,167
which, in my case,
was the milkshake.

1073
01:03:36,251 --> 01:03:39,792
It can be a picture of one
or the real thing.

1074
01:03:39,876 --> 01:03:42,126
Now, when we see this sugary
cue, or trigger,

1075
01:03:42,209 --> 01:03:45,584
a chemical called dopamine
is released in our brain.

1076
01:03:45,667 --> 01:03:48,334
This is an evolutionary urge
when sweetness was rare,

1077
01:03:48,417 --> 01:03:51,251
so when we saw it,
our brain said, "Get that,

1078
01:03:51,334 --> 01:03:53,792
"'cause you need it for quick
energy and to feel good."

1079
01:03:55,251 --> 01:03:58,251
Now, the next step is that
we get the sugary item.

1080
01:03:58,334 --> 01:04:01,792
We bring it to our mouth
and we taste its sweetness.

1081
01:04:02,959 --> 01:04:04,834
It's then that chemicals
called opioids

1082
01:04:04,917 --> 01:04:08,292
and beta-endorphins are
released and we feel terrific.

1083
01:04:09,751 --> 01:04:12,334
Sugar loads have the same
reward areas as nicotine,

1084
01:04:12,417 --> 01:04:14,084
cocaine and sex!

1085
01:04:17,167 --> 01:04:19,167
But it doesn't last long.

1086
01:04:19,251 --> 01:04:22,084
Now, if some of us eat
sugary foods often enough

1087
01:04:22,167 --> 01:04:24,876
and establish this happy feeling
of reward,

1088
01:04:24,959 --> 01:04:27,792
it can create subconscious
or mindless habits,

1089
01:04:27,876 --> 01:04:31,084
which are easily triggered by
more images of sugary foods.

1090
01:04:34,042 --> 01:04:36,084
Throw into the mix that
the fructose half of sugar

1091
01:04:36,167 --> 01:04:38,417
also affects our appetite
control centres,

1092
01:04:38,501 --> 01:04:41,459
plus the glucose half
affects our moods,

1093
01:04:41,542 --> 01:04:43,709
and suddenly we have
a very volatile combination

1094
01:04:43,792 --> 01:04:44,709
on our hands.

1095
01:04:48,001 --> 01:04:50,376
One of the very interesting
emerging findings

1096
01:04:50,459 --> 01:04:52,584
in this literature is

1097
01:04:52,667 --> 01:04:54,917
the more you eat
high-sugar foods,

1098
01:04:55,001 --> 01:04:57,167
the more you're gonna desire
high-sugar foods

1099
01:04:57,251 --> 01:04:58,667
and wanna continue
eating them.

1100
01:05:02,792 --> 01:05:06,417
This desire to wanna
keep eating more sugary foods

1101
01:05:06,501 --> 01:05:08,167
sounds a lot like
addictive behaviour.

1102
01:05:11,917 --> 01:05:15,959
Serge Ahmed, who's
now in Bordeaux, in France,

1103
01:05:16,042 --> 01:05:20,501
published a really cool study
where he basically showed that

1104
01:05:20,584 --> 01:05:24,376
rats will work harder for sugar
than they will for cocaine.

1105
01:05:24,459 --> 01:05:26,959
Unlike the drug dealer,
who's, you know,

1106
01:05:27,084 --> 01:05:29,126
squired away some place hiding,

1107
01:05:29,209 --> 01:05:35,751
the food giants are in your face
everywhere you go.

1108
01:05:37,292 --> 01:05:39,292
In the boardrooms
of these food giants,

1109
01:05:39,376 --> 01:05:42,292
'addiction' is a dirty word.

1110
01:05:42,376 --> 01:05:45,334
When it comes to obesity
and illness,

1111
01:05:45,417 --> 01:05:47,917
the food industry have always
argued that people need to take

1112
01:05:48,001 --> 01:05:51,251
personal responsibility
for their food choices.

1113
01:05:51,334 --> 01:05:52,917
When it comes to
eating,

1114
01:05:53,001 --> 01:05:54,501
fat people are
basically very stupid.

1115
01:05:54,584 --> 01:05:56,209
No, but, you see,
I was away this weekend

1116
01:05:56,292 --> 01:05:57,959
and it is difficult
in friends' houses.

1117
01:05:58,084 --> 01:06:00,917
OK, Mrs Wright,
no more chocolates.

1118
01:06:02,542 --> 01:06:04,084
For more
than 50 years,

1119
01:06:04,167 --> 01:06:07,126
the food industry has insisted
that obesity is caused

1120
01:06:07,209 --> 01:06:10,084
by too many calories
and not enough exercise.

1121
01:06:10,167 --> 01:06:13,334
Which implies that
anyone overweight

1122
01:06:13,417 --> 01:06:15,667
is simply lazy or greedy.

1123
01:06:18,584 --> 01:06:20,084
OK, so, we just passed halfway.

1124
01:06:21,667 --> 01:06:23,792
And I've never counted
calories in my life.

1125
01:06:25,167 --> 01:06:27,084
I'm trying my best
in this experiment.

1126
01:06:27,167 --> 01:06:29,584
It's hard to be accurate,
obviously.

1127
01:06:29,667 --> 01:06:35,084
But it looks like my calories
so far are pretty much

1128
01:06:35,167 --> 01:06:37,459
exactly the same as they were
pre-experiment.

1129
01:06:39,042 --> 01:06:40,584
And that feels strange because

1130
01:06:40,667 --> 01:06:42,626
I feel like I'm eating
a lot more.

1131
01:06:42,709 --> 01:06:44,209
But I can see here that

1132
01:06:44,292 --> 01:06:45,876
when I was eating,
pre-experiment,

1133
01:06:45,959 --> 01:06:47,876
avocado and nuts and stuff,

1134
01:06:47,959 --> 01:06:50,584
there's a lot more calories
in fat than there is in sugar.

1135
01:06:50,667 --> 01:06:52,876
So...in fact, it's half.

1136
01:06:52,959 --> 01:06:55,334
Like, nine calories
per gram of fat

1137
01:06:55,417 --> 01:06:57,626
whereas sugar's only got
four calories,

1138
01:06:57,709 --> 01:07:00,251
so I can see why we're told that
sugar's OK and don't eat fat,

1139
01:07:00,334 --> 01:07:02,167
'cause there's less calories.

1140
01:07:02,251 --> 01:07:05,251
But...I'm eating
the same amount of calories

1141
01:07:05,334 --> 01:07:09,834
as I did before but
my liver's turned to fat,

1142
01:07:09,917 --> 01:07:12,376
my belly's chasing my lady's.

1143
01:07:13,667 --> 01:07:15,959
It's doing something
to my brain, we know that now.

1144
01:07:17,834 --> 01:07:19,209
And I'm not feeling full.

1145
01:07:21,334 --> 01:07:23,751
So it feels like the calories
from sugar

1146
01:07:23,834 --> 01:07:26,751
behave very differently
to other calories.

1147
01:07:28,084 --> 01:07:31,084
The sugar industry absolutely
depended on this idea

1148
01:07:31,167 --> 01:07:33,376
that it's just about
energy balance.

1149
01:07:33,459 --> 01:07:35,959
'Cause if there's something
uniquely deleterious

1150
01:07:36,084 --> 01:07:37,084
about sugar...

1151
01:07:39,376 --> 01:07:41,876
..then they're in the realm
that cigarettes are in,

1152
01:07:41,959 --> 01:07:44,167
tobacco and lung cancer.

1153
01:07:44,251 --> 01:07:45,959
But if it's just about
eating too much

1154
01:07:46,042 --> 01:07:47,667
or not exercising too little,

1155
01:07:47,751 --> 01:07:49,876
if a calorie of sugar
is no different than

1156
01:07:49,959 --> 01:07:52,959
a calorie of broccoli,
they're fine.

1157
01:07:53,042 --> 01:07:55,792
Just tell people to
moderate their weight -

1158
01:07:55,876 --> 01:07:58,417
if you're getting fat, eat less
and that's all there is.

1159
01:07:58,501 --> 01:08:01,084
So the sugar industry also
sort of pushed this idea

1160
01:08:01,167 --> 01:08:03,334
that a calorie is a calorie
is a calorie,

1161
01:08:03,417 --> 01:08:04,792
and yet these calories do

1162
01:08:04,876 --> 01:08:06,917
dramatically different things
in the human body,

1163
01:08:07,001 --> 01:08:08,251
and they always have.

1164
01:08:13,417 --> 01:08:15,209
It's become clear
to me

1165
01:08:15,292 --> 01:08:17,084
that in the search for profits,

1166
01:08:17,167 --> 01:08:19,292
the food companies
are not only targeting

1167
01:08:19,376 --> 01:08:21,584
our primal desire for sugar,

1168
01:08:21,667 --> 01:08:25,334
but are also insisting
that all calories are equal.

1169
01:08:26,751 --> 01:08:29,417
The result is that
we feel like failures

1170
01:08:29,501 --> 01:08:31,376
if we're addicted or overweight.

1171
01:08:33,667 --> 01:08:35,834
Perhaps the greed that is
actually making us overweight

1172
01:08:35,917 --> 01:08:37,084
and sick

1173
01:08:37,167 --> 01:08:38,459
is of the corporate variety.

1174
01:08:42,167 --> 01:08:44,792
- Hello, you.
- Hello, honey.

1175
01:08:44,876 --> 01:08:46,084
Can you show me the belly?

1176
01:08:46,167 --> 01:08:49,667
Have a look at this baby. He's
actually doing little kicks.

1177
01:08:49,751 --> 01:08:51,834
Quick.

1178
01:08:51,917 --> 01:08:54,376
Aww.

1179
01:08:54,459 --> 01:08:56,584
Hello, baby.

1180
01:08:56,667 --> 01:08:59,084
- Hello, baby.

1181
01:08:59,167 --> 01:09:00,626
Hello, Daddy.

1182
01:09:00,709 --> 01:09:02,584
- Bye.
- Love you.

1183
01:09:02,667 --> 01:09:04,792
- Bye.
- Bye-bye.

1184
01:09:04,876 --> 01:09:06,084
- Bye.
- Bye.

1185
01:09:15,876 --> 01:09:17,334
Do you know how many
sugarholics there are

1186
01:09:17,417 --> 01:09:18,376
in this country?

1187
01:09:18,459 --> 01:09:20,709
Millions and millions of them.

1188
01:09:20,792 --> 01:09:22,334
As you go around
the schoolyards,

1189
01:09:22,417 --> 01:09:24,459
you watch the young boys
and girls of this country

1190
01:09:24,542 --> 01:09:25,959
and see how many of these
children...

1191
01:09:26,042 --> 01:09:27,876
Their soft, weak muscles
are out of condition,

1192
01:09:27,959 --> 01:09:29,917
they don't have the energy
and vitality they should have.

1193
01:09:30,001 --> 01:09:31,959
They look like sugar,
they don't...

1194
01:09:32,042 --> 01:09:33,834
After 45 days,

1195
01:09:33,917 --> 01:09:35,709
it became more and more
evident

1196
01:09:35,792 --> 01:09:39,251
that we're just not getting
a clear message about sugar.

1197
01:09:41,167 --> 01:09:43,084
Could the fact that sugar's
global trade is worth

1198
01:09:43,167 --> 01:09:44,626
$50 billion

1199
01:09:44,709 --> 01:09:46,167
have anything to do with it?

1200
01:09:47,834 --> 01:09:50,126
It turns out that the
suppression of the message

1201
01:09:50,209 --> 01:09:52,126
began in the 1970s

1202
01:09:52,209 --> 01:09:55,834
when the US Government was
reviewing the safety of sugar

1203
01:09:55,917 --> 01:09:57,334
for the first time.

1204
01:09:58,417 --> 01:10:01,084
The Sugar Association
launched a campaign

1205
01:10:01,167 --> 01:10:03,667
to ensure their product
wasn't vilified.

1206
01:10:04,751 --> 01:10:06,501
In this case,
what the sugar industry did,

1207
01:10:06,584 --> 01:10:09,292
is they stepped in when the
evidence was ambiguous

1208
01:10:09,376 --> 01:10:10,417
and they said,

1209
01:10:10,501 --> 01:10:13,167
"We're gonna kinda make sure
it's always ambiguous."

1210
01:10:13,251 --> 01:10:17,792
To do this, the Sugar
Association paid scientists,

1211
01:10:17,876 --> 01:10:19,751
hired a PR company

1212
01:10:19,834 --> 01:10:22,626
and released a report with
a press release that read:

1213
01:10:26,751 --> 01:10:31,917
They put out this document
called Sugar in the Diet of Man.

1214
01:10:32,001 --> 01:10:35,251
There was no sign that it was
paid for by the sugar industry.

1215
01:10:35,334 --> 01:10:37,084
It looks like
a very official document,

1216
01:10:37,167 --> 01:10:38,917
it's published in a journal.

1217
01:10:39,001 --> 01:10:42,417
The sugar industry sends out
25,000 copies.

1218
01:10:43,501 --> 01:10:45,959
This report was then
used by the government

1219
01:10:46,042 --> 01:10:47,709
to determine its findings.

1220
01:10:49,334 --> 01:10:53,084
Sugar was exonerated and the
rest of the world followed suit.

1221
01:10:55,667 --> 01:10:57,709
Jack Tatem, president
of the Sugar Association's

1222
01:10:57,792 --> 01:11:00,709
presenting to his board
and he says,

1223
01:11:00,792 --> 01:11:04,709
"Look, there is no
conclusive evidence

1224
01:11:04,792 --> 01:11:08,626
"linking sugar
to these chronic diseases.

1225
01:11:08,709 --> 01:11:12,876
"And this is the lifeblood
of our organisation,

1226
01:11:12,959 --> 01:11:15,376
"it's the lifeblood
of our product.

1227
01:11:15,459 --> 01:11:19,126
"If anyone ever links sugar to
these diseases, we're dead.

1228
01:11:19,209 --> 01:11:21,251
"So our job,
what we have to do...

1229
01:11:22,459 --> 01:11:25,584
"..is make sure that
there's no consensus."

1230
01:11:25,667 --> 01:11:26,917
You know.

1231
01:11:33,334 --> 01:11:35,959
This manipulation
of evidence

1232
01:11:36,084 --> 01:11:37,917
and deliberate muddying
of the waters

1233
01:11:38,001 --> 01:11:39,792
is all sounding very familiar.

1234
01:11:39,876 --> 01:11:42,751
OK, how's about taking a nap?

1235
01:11:42,834 --> 01:11:45,584
Hey, I got a better idea.
Let's take a Winston break.

1236
01:11:45,667 --> 01:11:47,626
That's it! Winston is...

1237
01:11:47,709 --> 01:11:51,084
And, evidently,
it's still going on today.

1238
01:11:51,167 --> 01:11:54,084
If you create a list
of the things

1239
01:11:54,167 --> 01:11:57,334
that the tobacco industry did
to stall or to fight off

1240
01:11:57,417 --> 01:12:01,917
public health actions
that would curtail smoking,

1241
01:12:02,001 --> 01:12:05,084
the food companies are doing
every single one.

1242
01:12:05,167 --> 01:12:09,084
Paying scientists to do studies
that favour industry positions,

1243
01:12:09,167 --> 01:12:11,126
paying money to professional
organisations,

1244
01:12:11,209 --> 01:12:14,376
like heart-related and
cancer-related organisations,

1245
01:12:14,459 --> 01:12:17,376
putting out deceptive statements
in the press,

1246
01:12:17,459 --> 01:12:20,876
characterising science that
doesn't work out for industry

1247
01:12:20,959 --> 01:12:22,209
as 'junk science'.

1248
01:12:22,292 --> 01:12:23,876
There's a very long list
of these things.

1249
01:12:23,959 --> 01:12:25,251
The tobacco industry
did them all

1250
01:12:25,334 --> 01:12:27,209
and the food industry
is doing them all.

1251
01:12:30,876 --> 01:12:33,459
Many of the reviews,

1252
01:12:33,542 --> 01:12:35,459
the final review,

1253
01:12:35,542 --> 01:12:38,584
is that there is no evidence

1254
01:12:38,667 --> 01:12:42,334
that sugar is associated
with metabolic disease

1255
01:12:42,417 --> 01:12:44,709
of any kind,

1256
01:12:44,792 --> 01:12:48,584
are funded by
the sugar industry.

1257
01:12:51,334 --> 01:12:53,584
Given everything
I have learnt so far

1258
01:12:53,667 --> 01:12:54,959
it was hard to believe

1259
01:12:55,084 --> 01:12:57,959
there are still scientists
defending sugar and fructose.

1260
01:12:59,417 --> 01:13:01,126
I was curious
to meet one of them.

1261
01:13:02,959 --> 01:13:05,167
I haven't eaten sugar
for nearly three years

1262
01:13:05,251 --> 01:13:07,876
and part of this film is
that I'm, for 60 days,

1263
01:13:07,959 --> 01:13:10,167
eating a very
high-fructose sugar diet.

1264
01:13:10,251 --> 01:13:12,959
I thought maybe I'll put on
a little bit of weight,

1265
01:13:13,084 --> 01:13:16,209
I put on six kilos in Australia,
which is 15 pounds.

1266
01:13:16,292 --> 01:13:17,209
Right.

1267
01:13:17,292 --> 01:13:21,084
All hidden sugars -
granola bars, low-fat yoghurt.

1268
01:13:21,167 --> 01:13:22,209
What's happening?

1269
01:13:22,292 --> 01:13:25,376
Well, what I'd say is that
that's a very powerful anecdote

1270
01:13:25,459 --> 01:13:26,584
and I think, you know, it's...

1271
01:13:26,667 --> 01:13:28,376
I think that can be true
for a lot of people.

1272
01:13:28,459 --> 01:13:30,292
But I would say that you had to
be careful any time you do

1273
01:13:30,376 --> 01:13:31,917
a high amount of anything.

1274
01:13:32,001 --> 01:13:34,667
I think if I was to put you,
again, on a white bread diet,

1275
01:13:34,751 --> 01:13:37,126
you know, or to put you on
a, you know, potato chip diet

1276
01:13:37,209 --> 01:13:39,501
or French fry diet,
you might have a similar effect.

1277
01:13:39,584 --> 01:13:42,126
I think the issue is
that all of these calories

1278
01:13:42,209 --> 01:13:43,834
really need to be regarded
as discretionary.

1279
01:13:43,917 --> 01:13:47,334
I found John's
position on calories

1280
01:13:47,417 --> 01:13:50,167
so similar to the line that
the food industry takes

1281
01:13:50,251 --> 01:13:52,084
that I felt compelled
to question

1282
01:13:52,167 --> 01:13:54,209
the source of his
research funding.

1283
01:13:54,292 --> 01:13:57,376
Have you ever received any kind
of funding from Coca-Cola?

1284
01:13:57,459 --> 01:13:59,876
You know, I think this is
a really important question,

1285
01:13:59,959 --> 01:14:02,251
and it's very important for me
that I be transparent.

1286
01:14:02,334 --> 01:14:04,917
So we have received
investigator-initiated,

1287
01:14:05,001 --> 01:14:07,292
unrestricted funding
from Coca-Cola.

1288
01:14:07,376 --> 01:14:09,584
What that means is they had
no say over our questions

1289
01:14:09,667 --> 01:14:11,959
we were asking,
how we conducted the research,

1290
01:14:12,042 --> 01:14:14,209
our analysis, our interpretation
and our data plan.

1291
01:14:14,292 --> 01:14:15,209
It's a red flag...

1292
01:14:15,292 --> 01:14:17,584
For me to hear you even
say that is, like, "Whoa, OK."

1293
01:14:17,667 --> 01:14:22,876
Because this is a company
with 650 beverage products...

1294
01:14:22,959 --> 01:14:24,126
You're right, you're right.

1295
01:14:24,209 --> 01:14:26,667
..that rely on fructose
and sugar, so...

1296
01:14:26,751 --> 01:14:28,084
So what I would say
is you're right.

1297
01:14:28,167 --> 01:14:29,876
I mean, we realised this
going in

1298
01:14:29,959 --> 01:14:31,876
and, I mean,
some may view this

1299
01:14:31,959 --> 01:14:34,084
as sort of shaking hands
with the devil, I guess.

1300
01:14:34,167 --> 01:14:35,876
I mean, even though
that's the case, you know,

1301
01:14:35,959 --> 01:14:37,959
we're confident enough in what
we're doing and our protocols

1302
01:14:38,042 --> 01:14:39,751
and we're laying
everything bare,

1303
01:14:39,834 --> 01:14:41,584
that we could afford
to engage with them.

1304
01:14:41,667 --> 01:14:43,876
I think that we should not
take money

1305
01:14:43,959 --> 01:14:45,792
from the industry directly.

1306
01:14:45,876 --> 01:14:49,667
I think it's just morally wrong
to do that,

1307
01:14:49,751 --> 01:14:52,751
and, you know, money's tough,

1308
01:14:52,834 --> 01:14:56,292
so it's a big dilemma
for researcher, as well.

1309
01:14:56,376 --> 01:15:00,334
But we don't want to taint
the answer,

1310
01:15:00,417 --> 01:15:02,126
we want to know the truth.

1311
01:15:04,209 --> 01:15:05,834
Just one week later,

1312
01:15:05,917 --> 01:15:08,834
I saw an ad for a symposium
on fructose

1313
01:15:08,917 --> 01:15:10,834
and sweetened beverages.

1314
01:15:10,917 --> 01:15:13,626
It was sponsored by Coca-Cola.

1315
01:15:13,709 --> 01:15:17,917
Their keynote speaker
was Dr John Sievenpiper.

1316
01:15:18,001 --> 01:15:20,792
He spoke about calories
and there being no link between

1317
01:15:20,876 --> 01:15:24,334
fructose and cardiometabolic
diseases in the studies.

1318
01:15:24,417 --> 01:15:27,084
Coke madly tweeted about it

1319
01:15:27,167 --> 01:15:28,834
and then the host
asked the audience...

1320
01:15:28,917 --> 01:15:31,376
To maybe
put together

1321
01:15:31,459 --> 01:15:34,084
a YouTube video to, you know,

1322
01:15:34,167 --> 01:15:36,417
bring some balance back
to those messages

1323
01:15:36,501 --> 01:15:37,959
that are out there
for the public.

1324
01:15:38,084 --> 01:15:39,834
I found this video
on YouTube,

1325
01:15:39,917 --> 01:15:42,167
but I'm not sure it's quite
what they had in mind.

1326
01:15:57,876 --> 01:15:59,584
As the US leg
of my experiment

1327
01:15:59,667 --> 01:16:01,876
neared its conclusion,

1328
01:16:01,959 --> 01:16:03,376
what really struck me

1329
01:16:03,459 --> 01:16:06,251
is that despite all the effects
sugar is having on us,

1330
01:16:06,334 --> 01:16:09,959
in many ways we've just
adapted to its saturation.

1331
01:16:11,417 --> 01:16:14,584
And I'm just noticing how
incredible the human body

1332
01:16:14,667 --> 01:16:15,709
and the human mind is

1333
01:16:15,792 --> 01:16:18,209
because even though I'm having
40 teaspoons of sugar a day,

1334
01:16:18,292 --> 01:16:21,167
I've adjusted now
to this new reality.

1335
01:16:21,251 --> 01:16:23,292
My body just accepts
that this is what I eat,

1336
01:16:23,376 --> 01:16:25,959
and my brain deals with
the moods up and down,

1337
01:16:26,084 --> 01:16:28,584
I just get on with life
and it's fine, I can function.

1338
01:16:28,667 --> 01:16:32,459
But, uh...I'm not nearly
as efficient as I was,

1339
01:16:32,542 --> 01:16:35,251
my fuse is a lot shorter,
I'm exhausted.

1340
01:16:36,792 --> 01:16:39,209
And I think that's how a lot
of people live their lives.

1341
01:16:39,292 --> 01:16:41,834
People are up and down all day,
but it's just their reality,

1342
01:16:41,917 --> 01:16:42,834
so they accept it

1343
01:16:42,917 --> 01:16:45,834
and they've never experienced
anything different.

1344
01:16:47,251 --> 01:16:48,459
And I have

1345
01:16:48,542 --> 01:16:51,084
and I'm really excited
to get back to that point.

1346
01:16:55,542 --> 01:16:57,917
If you've always
lived this way,

1347
01:16:58,001 --> 01:17:01,626
you have no idea
what life can be like.

1348
01:17:03,084 --> 01:17:05,376
It's not part of your
frame of reference.

1349
01:17:11,251 --> 01:17:12,834
Now,
a lot of people will say,

1350
01:17:12,917 --> 01:17:14,709
"Well, I eat sugar all the time
and, you know,

1351
01:17:14,792 --> 01:17:16,959
"I'm perfectly fine."

1352
01:17:17,084 --> 01:17:19,167
Well, what they don't understand
is that

1353
01:17:19,251 --> 01:17:21,459
they eat sugar all the time

1354
01:17:21,542 --> 01:17:26,876
and they're fuzzy and their
mind is cloudy all the time.

1355
01:17:29,209 --> 01:17:31,876
Sugar has now
become so deeply ingrained

1356
01:17:31,959 --> 01:17:34,126
into the fabric of our society

1357
01:17:34,209 --> 01:17:36,876
that some people can't
imagine life without it.

1358
01:17:36,959 --> 01:17:39,584
What say we took away
added sugar,

1359
01:17:39,667 --> 01:17:42,126
well, then what
are people gonna do

1360
01:17:42,209 --> 01:17:45,584
to get that same feeling in
their life that sugar gave them,

1361
01:17:45,667 --> 01:17:47,084
in terms of their values
and preferences?

1362
01:17:47,167 --> 01:17:50,417
But we forget that
we didn't always live like this.

1363
01:17:51,542 --> 01:17:53,959
Society has changed.

1364
01:17:54,084 --> 01:17:57,959
200 years ago there was not
a society in the world

1365
01:17:58,042 --> 01:18:01,084
when they had a festival that
was basing what they ate

1366
01:18:01,167 --> 01:18:03,084
and what they drank on sugar.

1367
01:18:04,709 --> 01:18:06,959
Today, it has
become synonymous

1368
01:18:07,084 --> 01:18:08,459
with any celebration.

1369
01:18:10,542 --> 01:18:12,334
But, more profoundly,

1370
01:18:12,417 --> 01:18:15,334
it is one of the simplest ways
we communicate love.

1371
01:18:17,167 --> 01:18:20,334
I think the reason
that sugar has become

1372
01:18:20,417 --> 01:18:24,917
so ingrained is that it
actually evokes love.

1373
01:18:25,001 --> 01:18:29,126
Our brains respond to
the chemical effect

1374
01:18:29,209 --> 01:18:32,126
the same way
we respond to love.

1375
01:18:32,209 --> 01:18:35,209
If we're feeling upset,
what do we do?

1376
01:18:35,292 --> 01:18:37,667
We have some sugar,
"Oh, I feel better."

1377
01:18:37,751 --> 01:18:40,626
If there's not enough sweetness
in our life, not enough love,

1378
01:18:40,709 --> 01:18:42,251
"Oh, I'll just have
some chocolate."

1379
01:18:44,876 --> 01:18:47,417
With sugar having
such complex associations

1380
01:18:47,501 --> 01:18:49,834
with our hearts,
minds and bodies,

1381
01:18:49,917 --> 01:18:52,959
I wonder if it is having
far greater ramifications

1382
01:18:53,084 --> 01:18:55,126
for the culture
than we've considered.

1383
01:19:02,042 --> 01:19:06,626
Rudolf Steiner said that sugar
essentially causes materialism.

1384
01:19:06,709 --> 01:19:11,876
And that development
of the sugar metabolism

1385
01:19:11,959 --> 01:19:13,709
and the sugar drug culture

1386
01:19:13,792 --> 01:19:16,084
developed
a materialistic culture.

1387
01:19:16,167 --> 01:19:18,209
We live in a time of instant
gratification,

1388
01:19:18,292 --> 01:19:20,459
nobody wants to wait
for anything.

1389
01:19:20,542 --> 01:19:22,834
What's sugar? Quick energy,
it's straight to the brain.

1390
01:19:47,334 --> 01:19:51,376
Eat that pie!
Eat that pie! Eat that pie.'

1391
01:19:51,459 --> 01:19:55,584
Eat that pie! Eat that pie.'
Eat that pie!

1392
01:19:55,667 --> 01:19:59,751
Eat that pie!
Eat that pie! Eat that pie.'

1393
01:19:59,834 --> 01:20:03,959
Eat that pie! Eat that pie.'
Eat that pie!

1394
01:20:15,167 --> 01:20:16,876
Hi, darling.

1395
01:20:18,167 --> 01:20:19,584
Oh, look at this.

1396
01:20:21,167 --> 01:20:24,626
Hello, little dude. How are you
going in there, dudie?

1397
01:20:24,709 --> 01:20:26,501
Massive.

1398
01:20:26,584 --> 01:20:28,292
How big's mine, too?
Look at that.

1399
01:20:28,376 --> 01:20:30,709
- Oh, my God.

1400
01:20:30,792 --> 01:20:31,792
Alright, let's do it.

1401
01:20:33,876 --> 01:20:35,417
After 60 days

1402
01:20:35,501 --> 01:20:39,292
and 2,360 teaspoons of sugar,

1403
01:20:39,376 --> 01:20:40,959
it was time for the last meal.

1404
01:20:44,376 --> 01:20:45,417
I thought it would be fitting

1405
01:20:45,501 --> 01:20:47,792
to cram all the remaining
40 teaspoons

1406
01:20:47,876 --> 01:20:51,251
into items that could be found
in a child's school lunch box.

1407
01:21:06,709 --> 01:21:08,084
Closed!

1408
01:21:10,167 --> 01:21:11,626
Yeah!

1409
01:21:14,167 --> 01:21:15,959
Be gone.

1410
01:21:18,667 --> 01:21:21,876
One week later, after having
all my blood tests done,

1411
01:21:21,959 --> 01:21:25,417
I assembled the team
to hear the final verdict

1412
01:21:25,501 --> 01:21:27,959
on what sugar had done
to my body.

1413
01:21:30,334 --> 01:21:32,959
The obvious place to start
is the liver.

1414
01:21:33,042 --> 01:21:35,584
A key marker for
determining liver health

1415
01:21:35,667 --> 01:21:38,417
is a hormone called ALT.

1416
01:21:38,501 --> 01:21:40,334
In the first month alone
mine jumped

1417
01:21:40,417 --> 01:21:44,834
from 20 below the safety line
to 20 above the safety line.

1418
01:21:44,917 --> 01:21:46,792
So it took you from, say,

1419
01:21:46,876 --> 01:21:50,917
the best 20% of the men
to the worst 10%.

1420
01:21:51,001 --> 01:21:53,209
- In one month.
- In one month.

1421
01:21:53,292 --> 01:21:56,626
Fatty liver is the first step
towards insulin resistance,

1422
01:21:56,709 --> 01:21:59,626
so once you're on an insulin
resistance pathway

1423
01:21:59,709 --> 01:22:02,084
then you're on a pathway
towards type-2 diabetes

1424
01:22:02,167 --> 01:22:03,709
and then, ultimately,
insulin-dependent

1425
01:22:03,792 --> 01:22:05,084
type-2 diabetes.

1426
01:22:05,167 --> 01:22:06,792
Today in Australia,

1427
01:22:06,876 --> 01:22:10,084
nine people had a limb
amputated to that disease.

1428
01:22:10,167 --> 01:22:14,084
My triglyceride levels,
which is the fat in the blood,

1429
01:22:14,167 --> 01:22:17,667
went from a healthy 0.08 to 1.5.

1430
01:22:17,751 --> 01:22:19,376
So you'd hit the risk point...

1431
01:22:19,459 --> 01:22:20,626
Gee-whiz.

1432
01:22:20,709 --> 01:22:22,126
In two months of healthy eating.

1433
01:22:22,209 --> 01:22:23,126
Of healthy eating.

1434
01:22:23,209 --> 01:22:26,417
High triglycerides
can also indicate a switch

1435
01:22:26,501 --> 01:22:28,084
from healthy cholesterol

1436
01:22:28,167 --> 01:22:31,584
to the damaging small,
dense LDL cholesterol.

1437
01:22:31,667 --> 01:22:34,376
Small, dense LDL
lines you up for heart disease

1438
01:22:34,459 --> 01:22:35,876
because they're the ones
that are embedding

1439
01:22:35,959 --> 01:22:38,584
in the arterial walls,
forming plaques -

1440
01:22:38,667 --> 01:22:41,834
and that's the bit
you don't want.

1441
01:22:41,917 --> 01:22:44,792
You can have all the LDL
you like, but don't have those.

1442
01:22:44,876 --> 01:22:49,251
In terms of weight,
I gained 8.5kg overall

1443
01:22:49,334 --> 01:22:51,709
and added 7%
to my total body fat.

1444
01:22:52,917 --> 01:22:54,126
But, more ominously,

1445
01:22:54,209 --> 01:22:57,709
increased my waist
measurement by 10cm.

1446
01:22:57,792 --> 01:23:00,292
This is the dangerous
visceral fat.

1447
01:23:00,376 --> 01:23:03,834
I showed a slight change
in the bum expansion test,

1448
01:23:03,917 --> 01:23:06,167
a variance in the rear
flesh wings test

1449
01:23:06,251 --> 01:23:08,501
and had great success
in the highly scientific

1450
01:23:08,584 --> 01:23:11,959
'belly slap, make
a fat wave' wobble test.

1451
01:23:12,084 --> 01:23:13,709
I was quite, as you know,
you know,

1452
01:23:13,792 --> 01:23:16,084
quite alarmed that
you were able to do that

1453
01:23:16,167 --> 01:23:18,084
in such a short amount of time,
again,

1454
01:23:18,167 --> 01:23:19,959
eating heart-approved,
healthy foods

1455
01:23:20,042 --> 01:23:22,251
that everyone's
going along thinking, you know,

1456
01:23:22,334 --> 01:23:23,792
it's totally fine to be doing.

1457
01:23:23,876 --> 01:23:26,584
And we're worried
about the future

1458
01:23:26,667 --> 01:23:29,209
of this obesity epidemic
in Australia,

1459
01:23:29,292 --> 01:23:31,459
whether it's going to lead to
an epidemic

1460
01:23:31,542 --> 01:23:33,376
of liver disease
in the long term.

1461
01:23:33,459 --> 01:23:36,959
But perhaps the most
enlightening of my results

1462
01:23:37,042 --> 01:23:39,334
was the calorie count.

1463
01:23:39,417 --> 01:23:41,584
As I'd discovered,
my calorie intake

1464
01:23:41,667 --> 01:23:44,167
was virtually the same
as my pre-experiment diet.

1465
01:23:45,292 --> 01:23:48,834
The big difference was
the source of the calories.

1466
01:23:48,917 --> 01:23:50,667
I'd pretty much done
a direct swap

1467
01:23:50,751 --> 01:23:53,292
of healthy fats
for sugar-laden products.

1468
01:23:56,334 --> 01:23:58,251
I was looking at
the total calories, as well,

1469
01:23:58,334 --> 01:24:01,209
and very often it would
come out as less

1470
01:24:01,292 --> 01:24:03,959
than what he had eaten
previously.

1471
01:24:04,084 --> 01:24:07,709
The way that calories have been
measured in the past

1472
01:24:07,792 --> 01:24:09,584
needs to be re-looked at.

1473
01:24:09,667 --> 01:24:12,501
This calorie counting and
this intense fixation with...

1474
01:24:12,584 --> 01:24:14,459
And it's our fault,
as much as...

1475
01:24:14,542 --> 01:24:15,792
I take responsibility

1476
01:24:15,876 --> 01:24:18,959
because it's a message we've
been spewing out for the last 30

1477
01:24:19,084 --> 01:24:21,667
or 40 years, but we really have
to try and turn things around.

1478
01:24:21,751 --> 01:24:24,084
And Damon is living evidence,
living proof,

1479
01:24:24,167 --> 01:24:26,917
it is not the calories,
it's the source of the calories.

1480
01:24:27,001 --> 01:24:28,084
It's where they're coming from.

1481
01:24:28,167 --> 01:24:30,084
I'm surprised how quickly

1482
01:24:30,167 --> 01:24:32,459
things went downhill for you,
I honestly am.

1483
01:24:32,542 --> 01:24:35,584
To put on so much
weight in just 60 days,

1484
01:24:35,667 --> 01:24:37,334
without really changing
the number of calories

1485
01:24:37,417 --> 01:24:40,417
you were eating, without,
you know, eating rubbish,

1486
01:24:40,501 --> 01:24:43,751
to have such a big effect -
10cm on the waist,

1487
01:24:43,834 --> 01:24:45,167
8.5 kilos on the body,

1488
01:24:45,251 --> 01:24:47,126
full-blown fatty liver disease
developed,

1489
01:24:47,209 --> 01:24:49,417
well on your way to cirrhosis,

1490
01:24:49,501 --> 01:24:52,709
well on your way to insulin
resistance - that's a disaster.

1491
01:24:52,792 --> 01:24:54,167
Hm.

1492
01:25:11,334 --> 01:25:13,167
You know, I obviously,
through my research,

1493
01:25:13,251 --> 01:25:16,834
have convinced myself that
sugar is almost assuredly

1494
01:25:16,917 --> 01:25:20,167
the problem,
the fundamental problem.

1495
01:25:20,251 --> 01:25:22,084
You get rid of sugar

1496
01:25:22,167 --> 01:25:25,292
and everything else becomes
relatively harmless.

1497
01:25:27,209 --> 01:25:30,959
We would like
to do the definitive study,

1498
01:25:31,042 --> 01:25:35,626
but even if we find out
next month it gets funded,

1499
01:25:35,709 --> 01:25:39,126
it's still gonna be
five more years

1500
01:25:39,209 --> 01:25:41,876
before I will have results.

1501
01:25:41,959 --> 01:25:47,209
What possible risk
to public health is there

1502
01:25:47,292 --> 01:25:50,667
in people lowering
their sugar consumption?

1503
01:25:53,751 --> 01:25:56,167
This is our problem

1504
01:25:56,251 --> 01:25:58,084
and we should all work together
to solve it

1505
01:25:58,167 --> 01:25:59,251
instead of pointing fingers

1506
01:25:59,334 --> 01:26:01,417
and not being productive
about that.

1507
01:26:01,501 --> 01:26:04,959
And I would love to see the food
industry come to the table

1508
01:26:05,042 --> 01:26:08,626
with scientists and healthcare
providers and do what's right.

1509
01:26:17,209 --> 01:26:20,376
The first week of giving
up sugar wasn't a lot of fun.

1510
01:26:22,209 --> 01:26:23,626
Frankly, it didn't feel
that different

1511
01:26:23,709 --> 01:26:25,584
from giving up cigarettes.

1512
01:26:25,667 --> 01:26:27,959
I had headaches, I was moody

1513
01:26:28,084 --> 01:26:29,917
and my sleep patterns
were terrible.

1514
01:26:31,792 --> 01:26:33,626
And I just tossed
and turned all night

1515
01:26:33,709 --> 01:26:36,959
and then woke up very early,

1516
01:26:37,042 --> 01:26:40,792
and as soon as I was awake
I kind of was craving sugar.

1517
01:26:41,876 --> 01:26:44,584
I feel like I need a hit.

1518
01:26:46,667 --> 01:26:49,084
Um...it's the first real sign...

1519
01:26:51,251 --> 01:26:53,167
..that this is gonna be
a bit tricky.

1520
01:26:54,709 --> 01:26:56,584
But I knew from previous
experience

1521
01:26:56,667 --> 01:26:58,709
that I wouldn't feel
like this forever

1522
01:26:58,792 --> 01:27:02,292
and that ultimately it would
all be worth it.

1523
01:27:02,376 --> 01:27:04,584
Because food
and sugar has

1524
01:27:04,667 --> 01:27:07,417
a very strong emotional
component,

1525
01:27:07,501 --> 01:27:09,334
then we have to heal
ourselves emotionally

1526
01:27:09,417 --> 01:27:12,167
and we have to go through what
could be a disturbing experience

1527
01:27:12,251 --> 01:27:15,126
or an uncomfortable or even
awkward experience

1528
01:27:15,209 --> 01:27:16,376
coming off of it.

1529
01:27:16,459 --> 01:27:18,084
But once you get through it,

1530
01:27:18,167 --> 01:27:20,084
which is about
two to four weeks,

1531
01:27:20,167 --> 01:27:23,584
suddenly the desire for sugar
disappears altogether.

1532
01:27:25,667 --> 01:27:28,251
One month
after finishing the experiment,

1533
01:27:28,334 --> 01:27:29,584
a miracle occurred.

1534
01:27:32,251 --> 01:27:34,626
Our daughter was born.

1535
01:27:34,709 --> 01:27:37,792
This is her mobile,
this is her teething giraffe

1536
01:27:37,876 --> 01:27:39,459
and this is her lunch.

1537
01:27:39,542 --> 01:27:41,167
- Hiya.
- Are you tired, bubby?

1538
01:27:41,251 --> 01:27:43,292
But then some other
remarkable things happened.

1539
01:27:44,876 --> 01:27:46,709
After just two months
of cutting out sugar...

1540
01:27:47,834 --> 01:27:51,084
..my vitality had returned,
my skin was brighter

1541
01:27:51,167 --> 01:27:53,709
and, thankfully,
my moods had evened out.

1542
01:27:55,251 --> 01:27:58,084
I've had hundreds
and hundreds of people

1543
01:27:58,167 --> 01:28:01,959
go off sugar just for the reason
of clearing up their mind,

1544
01:28:02,042 --> 01:28:05,834
and typically,
the result I get is, "Wow!

1545
01:28:05,917 --> 01:28:07,792
"I had no idea!"

1546
01:28:09,459 --> 01:28:11,251
In terms of my weight,

1547
01:28:11,334 --> 01:28:14,709
all I did is return to
my pre-experiment diet.

1548
01:28:15,917 --> 01:28:18,417
I swapped cereal
and low-fat yoghurt

1549
01:28:18,501 --> 01:28:21,084
for bacon, eggs
and avocado without toast.

1550
01:28:22,459 --> 01:28:25,834
I snacked on nuts and cheese
instead of muesli bars,

1551
01:28:25,917 --> 01:28:29,376
and ate fish or meat
with the fat left on

1552
01:28:29,459 --> 01:28:31,126
and lots of green vegetables
for dinners.

1553
01:28:32,834 --> 01:28:35,584
I lost 6kg
with minimal exercise.

1554
01:28:37,001 --> 01:28:41,584
Once you remove that hormone
disrupter, fructose,

1555
01:28:41,667 --> 01:28:44,167
from your diet,

1556
01:28:44,251 --> 01:28:47,584
your appetite control works
again and your weight drops.

1557
01:28:49,459 --> 01:28:52,167
Because I replaced sugar
with healthy fats,

1558
01:28:52,251 --> 01:28:54,876
I felt full again
and didn't have to eat as much.

1559
01:28:56,042 --> 01:28:58,959
Consequently, I spent the same
amount on shopping

1560
01:28:59,042 --> 01:29:01,667
as I had during the experiment.

1561
01:29:01,751 --> 01:29:03,292
Whenever you walk into
a supermarket,

1562
01:29:03,376 --> 01:29:05,751
make an immediate right turn
or left turn

1563
01:29:05,834 --> 01:29:09,417
for the produce aisle and avoid
everything in the middle.

1564
01:29:09,501 --> 01:29:12,959
Everything in the middle is
a huge amount of calories

1565
01:29:13,084 --> 01:29:15,209
with very little nutrients.

1566
01:29:15,292 --> 01:29:16,709
And what we wanna do
is reverse that.

1567
01:29:18,459 --> 01:29:20,084
But the biggest
surprise

1568
01:29:20,167 --> 01:29:21,876
was that all of my
blood tests had

1569
01:29:21,959 --> 01:29:24,084
returned to normal,

1570
01:29:24,167 --> 01:29:27,084
so no more heart disease risks
and no more fatty liver.

1571
01:29:29,001 --> 01:29:32,209
I think the most
important message is that

1572
01:29:32,292 --> 01:29:36,084
this is not you get
a fatty liver and that's it,

1573
01:29:36,167 --> 01:29:37,417
it will stay fatty,

1574
01:29:37,501 --> 01:29:41,459
it actually can be reversed
very easily

1575
01:29:41,542 --> 01:29:44,459
by taking away the fructose
from your diet,

1576
01:29:44,542 --> 01:29:46,334
taking away all those drinks.

1577
01:29:46,417 --> 01:29:50,084
I mean, water is a good drink.

1578
01:29:50,167 --> 01:29:51,626
Yeah.

1579
01:29:51,709 --> 01:29:54,459
In truth, it did take a while
for my palate

1580
01:29:54,542 --> 01:29:57,084
to readjust to my lady's
unsweetened cooking.

1581
01:29:57,167 --> 01:30:00,792
Things tasted bland
for the first few weeks,

1582
01:30:00,876 --> 01:30:04,167
but then I rediscovered the full
flavours of fresh produce.

1583
01:30:04,251 --> 01:30:05,167
Mmm.

1584
01:30:05,251 --> 01:30:09,167
For just five days,
I want you to discontinue,

1585
01:30:09,251 --> 01:30:11,667
or take out of your diet,
for five days,

1586
01:30:11,751 --> 01:30:13,126
these foods
that I'm gonna show you,

1587
01:30:13,209 --> 01:30:16,251
and I promise you that
you will feel 100% better.

1588
01:30:16,334 --> 01:30:19,084
Will you please try this for me,
just as an experiment?

1589
01:30:19,167 --> 01:30:21,376
'Cause I'm here trying to help
you help yourself a little bit.

1590
01:30:25,084 --> 01:30:26,584
In the USA,

1591
01:30:26,667 --> 01:30:28,626
it was recently recommended
for men to have

1592
01:30:28,709 --> 01:30:31,959
no more than nine teaspoons
of sugar a day

1593
01:30:32,084 --> 01:30:34,959
and women no more than six.

1594
01:30:35,084 --> 01:30:37,959
Australia currently doesn't have
an equivalent recommendation.

1595
01:30:39,251 --> 01:30:40,959
I love chocolate.

1596
01:30:41,084 --> 01:30:43,584
I eat a little piece
of chocolate every day.

1597
01:30:43,667 --> 01:30:47,126
But I'm careful and I understand
the adverse effects

1598
01:30:47,209 --> 01:30:48,626
if I have too much of it.

1599
01:30:50,167 --> 01:30:54,167
But for me it's simpler
to cut out sugar altogether.

1600
01:30:54,251 --> 01:30:56,917
And that means avoiding
artificial sweeteners, too,

1601
01:30:57,001 --> 01:30:58,376
that keep the cravings alive.

1602
01:31:00,084 --> 01:31:04,584
If you continue to reinforce

1603
01:31:04,667 --> 01:31:07,959
it has to be sweet
in order for it to be good,

1604
01:31:08,084 --> 01:31:09,459
then you're never
really learning

1605
01:31:09,542 --> 01:31:11,417
how to do food...
good food.

1606
01:31:11,501 --> 01:31:14,834
I want my daughter to
grow up healthy and happy...

1607
01:31:16,167 --> 01:31:18,959
..and not waste any of her
precious time counting calories

1608
01:31:19,042 --> 01:31:20,584
or obsessing over weight.

1609
01:31:25,667 --> 01:31:27,459
By educating our children,

1610
01:31:27,542 --> 01:31:29,584
perhaps they can avoid
the mistakes

1611
01:31:29,667 --> 01:31:31,209
that our generation has made.

1612
01:31:33,792 --> 01:31:37,876
Do whatever you can
to turn fruit and vegetable

1613
01:31:37,959 --> 01:31:41,667
into the highlight of your meal.

1614
01:31:41,751 --> 01:31:43,792
Train your kids to love them.

1615
01:31:45,417 --> 01:31:47,334
That's what every
parent's got to figure out.

1616
01:31:47,417 --> 01:31:50,292
How do you get in all those
great nutrients?

1617
01:31:50,376 --> 01:31:53,084
How do you get those
superfoods into your child

1618
01:31:53,167 --> 01:31:56,126
and make it taste good
at the same time

1619
01:31:56,209 --> 01:31:57,917
without spiking
their blood sugar

1620
01:31:58,001 --> 01:32:02,792
so that they can sit down
and study and learn

1621
01:32:02,876 --> 01:32:05,917
and allow for the creation
of genius.

1622
01:32:20,709 --> 01:32:23,709
That's why we're having
the sugar experiment.

1623
01:32:23,792 --> 01:32:26,584
We had to learn that this is not
the right way to go

1624
01:32:26,667 --> 01:32:30,709
in order to help inspire us
to get to the next level.

1625
01:32:32,459 --> 01:32:35,084
I certainly don't think
that sugar is solely to blame

1626
01:32:35,167 --> 01:32:37,334
for all own current
health problems,

1627
01:32:37,417 --> 01:32:40,417
but given its prevalence
in our food supply,

1628
01:32:40,501 --> 01:32:43,917
lowering our consumption
is a great place to start.

1629
01:32:44,001 --> 01:32:48,251
Sugar's not evil,
but life is so much better...

1630
01:32:48,334 --> 01:32:50,792
..when you get rid of it.

1631
01:32:54,834 --> 01:32:57,959
This experiment has
proven to me that refined sugar

1632
01:32:58,042 --> 01:33:01,959
and excess fructose are causing
serious damage to the health

1633
01:33:02,084 --> 01:33:04,084
and wellbeing of millions
of people.

1634
01:33:05,167 --> 01:33:06,626
And as the debate heats up

1635
01:33:06,709 --> 01:33:08,459
and the food industry fight
tooth and nail

1636
01:33:08,542 --> 01:33:10,667
to shut the message down,

1637
01:33:10,751 --> 01:33:13,709
we'll be bombarded with
conflicting nutritional advice.

1638
01:33:15,167 --> 01:33:19,084
But for me, quite simply,
the proof is in the pudding.

1639
01:33:19,167 --> 01:33:21,417
About 10 teaspoons of it.

1640
01:33:52,751 --> 01:33:54,334
♪ Hey, everybody

1641
01:33:54,417 --> 01:33:56,917
♪ Let me introduce myself

1642
01:33:57,001 --> 01:34:01,251
♪ I spread my love on every
item on your supermarket shelf

1643
01:34:01,334 --> 01:34:04,167
♪ I taste so good,
make you feel so high

1644
01:34:04,251 --> 01:34:06,376
♪ That I bring you back for more

1645
01:34:06,459 --> 01:34:08,709
♪ Plus I place my goodies
at your kiddies' eye level

1646
01:34:08,792 --> 01:34:11,292
♪ When you're just about to
walk out the store

1647
01:34:11,376 --> 01:34:13,417
♪ Now, people will tell you
that I rot your teeth

1648
01:34:13,501 --> 01:34:15,876
♪ And make you fat
and give your body abuse

1649
01:34:15,959 --> 01:34:18,209
♪ But forget about that,
just take off your clothes

1650
01:34:18,292 --> 01:34:19,959
♪ And have a spa made
of chocolate mousse

1651
01:34:20,042 --> 01:34:21,084
♪ Sing it, ladies

1652
01:34:21,167 --> 01:34:22,834
♪ Oh, Mr Sugar, so sexy alright

1653
01:34:22,917 --> 01:34:25,459
♪ We can taste you in our food
in nearly every bite

1654
01:34:25,542 --> 01:34:27,959
♪ It feels so good
Can we have a little more?

1655
01:34:28,042 --> 01:34:30,834
♪ Of course you can, ladies
I got white, brown, raw sugar

1656
01:34:32,542 --> 01:34:33,751
♪ Sugar

1657
01:34:35,042 --> 01:34:35,959
♪ Sugar

1658
01:34:37,209 --> 01:34:38,626
♪ I'm not your friend
I come in gum

1659
01:34:38,709 --> 01:34:40,167
♪ Just eat me
when you're on the run

1660
01:34:40,251 --> 01:34:42,917
♪ Sugar
Sugar

1661
01:34:44,167 --> 01:34:45,334
♪ Sugar

1662
01:34:46,876 --> 01:34:48,251
♪ Treat to eat
I taste so sweet

1663
01:34:48,334 --> 01:34:49,751
♪ I get you when
you leave the teat

1664
01:34:53,751 --> 01:34:54,834
♪ And when you wake up
in the morning

1665
01:34:54,917 --> 01:34:56,084
♪ And you're feeling
kind of peckish

1666
01:34:56,167 --> 01:34:58,126
♪ This often where
you find me the most

1667
01:34:58,209 --> 01:34:59,751
♪ 'Cause I'm lurking
in your cereal

1668
01:34:59,834 --> 01:35:00,959
♪ I'm lurking in your yoghurt

1669
01:35:01,042 --> 01:35:03,292
♪ And sometimes I'm even found
in your toast

1670
01:35:03,376 --> 01:35:05,084
♪ But here's a little secret
I can share with you

1671
01:35:05,167 --> 01:35:07,667
♪ A secret you should put to use

1672
01:35:07,751 --> 01:35:10,584
♪ There's about six
cheeky teaspoons of me

1673
01:35:10,667 --> 01:35:11,959
♪ Hiding in a glass of juice

1674
01:35:12,042 --> 01:35:12,959
♪ Hey

1675
01:35:13,042 --> 01:35:14,917
♪ Some people think
that Mr Sugar hangs out

1676
01:35:15,001 --> 01:35:17,417
♪ Only with the bright-coloured
snacks

1677
01:35:17,501 --> 01:35:19,584
♪ But I've been spreading
my crystals all over your food

1678
01:35:19,667 --> 01:35:22,126
♪ And the company's been
hiding the facts

1679
01:35:22,209 --> 01:35:24,334
♪ I'm in cola,
granola and pasta sauce

1680
01:35:24,417 --> 01:35:25,626
♪ Mushy peas, mac and cheese

1681
01:35:25,709 --> 01:35:26,834
♪ And that radish from a horse

1682
01:35:26,917 --> 01:35:29,084
♪ Canned fruit and soup,
even soup in a satchel

1683
01:35:29,167 --> 01:35:31,626
♪ And Mr Sugar loves the term
'all natural'

1684
01:35:31,709 --> 01:35:33,959
♪ White bread, corn chips,
muffin mix, gravy

1685
01:35:34,084 --> 01:35:36,084
♪ Mayonnaise, satay,
food for the baby

1686
01:35:36,167 --> 01:35:38,584
♪ Baked beans for the teens
and an energy drink

1687
01:35:38,667 --> 01:35:40,917
♪ And I'm clearly gonna be
in any food that's pink

1688
01:35:41,001 --> 01:35:43,167
♪ I'm confessing I'm in dressing
and a hamburger bun

1689
01:35:43,251 --> 01:35:44,917
♪ Where that cheeky
corn syrup's

1690
01:35:45,001 --> 01:35:45,917
♪ Trying to steal all my fun

1691
01:35:46,001 --> 01:35:48,084
♪ Muesli bars, even some cigars

1692
01:35:48,167 --> 01:35:50,459
♪ And a whole range of
marmalade and honey, jam jars

1693
01:35:50,542 --> 01:35:52,626
♪ Oh, Mr Sugar, so ubiquitous

1694
01:35:52,709 --> 01:35:55,084
♪ Our addiction to you
is quite ridiculous

1695
01:35:55,167 --> 01:35:57,209
♪ We feel so sick
when you're not around

1696
01:35:57,292 --> 01:35:59,834
♪ That's why a spoonful of me
helps the medicine go down

1697
01:35:59,917 --> 01:36:03,209
♪ Sugar
Sugar

1698
01:36:04,501 --> 01:36:05,584
♪ Sugar

1699
01:36:07,167 --> 01:36:09,292
♪ Sugar

1700
01:36:09,376 --> 01:36:11,667
♪ Sugar
♪ Put me in your coffee

1701
01:36:11,751 --> 01:36:14,084
♪ Sugar
♪ I'm the only thing in toffee

1702
01:36:14,167 --> 01:36:16,084
♪ Sugar
♪ Pick you up when you're down

1703
01:36:16,167 --> 01:36:19,084
♪ Sugar
♪ You should try me in brown

1704
01:36:19,167 --> 01:36:21,084
♪ Sugar
♪ You couldn't quit me for quids

1705
01:36:21,167 --> 01:36:23,959
♪ Sugar
♪ I'm coming for your kids. ♪