(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)
"Honey Sapiens" by Mike McInnes explores the opposing effects of processed sugars and honey on human neural functioning
Pharmacist and sports nutritionist, Mike McInnes, follows up on his previous book, "The Honey Diet", with a new exploration of the harms of processed sugars.
We know what causes obesity - excess consumption of refined carbohydrates and sugars.” - Mike McInnes, author of "Honey Sapiens" and "The Honey Diet"WINNNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA, April 5, 2024 /EINPresswire / -- Since co-authoring“The Honey Revolution: Restoring the Health of Future Generations” with Ron Fessenden, MD, Mike McInnes has written extensively about the harms of a diet rich in simple carbohydrates and processed sugars and the health benefits of replacing artificial sweeteners with honey .“Honey Sapiens” takes a deep dive into theories on how increasing consumption of processed sugars over recent decades may be responsible for parallel increases in four common health conditions.
“The Honey Revolution”, published in 2009, explained how honey, though rich in simple sugars, is metabolized very differently than processed carbohydrates, resulting in many health benefits, including better sleep, decreased risk of developing metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes, and improved cardiovascular health. In 2014, McInnes followed with“The Honey Diet”, elaborating on how recent physiologic research explains why eating honey instead of processed sugars promotes healthy weight loss and overall good health. In this 2023 book, McInnes reviews research into how eating excess processed carbohydrates may be damaging our neurons and contributing to neurological disorders.
McInnes observes that increases in incidence of 4 common disorders (obesity, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and autism spectrum disorders) have risen since the 1960s and 1970s in parallel with increasing annual per-capita consumption of sugar. The author coins the term“sugar sickness syndromes” to include these four conditions.
The body's main energy source is glucose circulating in the blood. Because blood glucose cannot pass into the brain directly, energy is transferred from the blood to the brain by a special mechanism, the glutamine/glutamate cycle. However, overly high levels of blood glucose due to a recent meal rich in simple sugars can disrupt the cycle , paradoxically depriving the brain of energy while the body has an over-supply of energy, which it converts into fat. Though honey is composed of roughly 40% glucose and 40% fructose (another simple sugar that is metabolized to glucose), the natural polyphenols and bioflavonoids in honey protect the glutamine/glutamate cycle from disruption, ensuring the brain is not starved of energy and contribute to the healthy utilization of honey's energy.
Looking at the“sugar sickness syndromes” independently, there is abundant research linking sugar consumption to obesity: it's now common knowledge that eating too much sugar or simple carbohydrates often leads to unhealthy weight gain. Consumed carbohydrates are metabolized to blood glucose, the primary energy source for human cells. In the presence of hormones such as insulin and glucagon, excess glucose is converted into glycogen and stored in the liver to be released as glucose between meals. Further excess energy in the form of blood glucose leads to the creation of fat, the body's long term energy stores. While the hormonal system regulating glucose, glycogen and fat metabolism has existed since early in human evolution, for most of human history, our diet has not had the over-abundance of simple carbohydrates that has arisen in developed countries over the last few decades. Our native homeostatic mechanisms are not yet well-adapted to deal with our modern over-consumption of simple carbohydrates. When not associated with increased physical activity, over-indulging in carbohydrates leads to obesity, a process that McInnes refers to as a“neurologic disorder”. He justifies this in part by noting how the glutamine/glutamate cycle transferring energy from the body to the brain is involved in the development of obesity and points to studies showing that bariatric surgery, used to treat obesity by reducing the absorption of consumed carbohydrates, also improves cognitive function in obese individuals.
As with sugars and obesity, a large body of research links the rising incidence of type 2 diabetes to increases in simple carbohydrates and sugars in the modern diet. Type 1 diabetes is caused by an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes, increasingly more common than type 1 diabetes, results when the body becomes insensitive to the effects of insulin in response to years of being overloaded with too much energy from simple carbohydrates and processed sugars. Eating simple sugars results in a rapid spike in blood glucose, followed by an extreme insulin spike as the body reacts and attempts to return blood glucose levels to a healthy range. Over time, repeated blood sugar and insulin spikes cause the body's cells to gradually become less sensitive to insulin. Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) results, followed by type 2 diabetes. Honey is metabolized quite differently than processed sugars, with a more gradual, healthier blood sugar peak that invokes a slower, less harmful insulin release from the pancreas.
According to“Honey Sapiens”,“Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by declining neurologic function, social communication and language (demetia)”. A 2022 article in“The Lancet”, a leading journal for medical research, found that high blood sugar is one of the four main risk factors for developing Alzheimer's disease. According to McInnes, the neurotoxicity of insulin, decreased cerebral metabolic rate and involvement of the glutamine/glutamate cycle in its development justify calling Alzheimer's disease“type 3 diabetes”.
In the case of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), normal fetal brain development is hypothesized to be impaired by maternal carbohydrate excesses. ASD are a heterogeneous family of conditions that with an incidence that has increased 200-fold since 1980. McInnes uses the example of ASD incidence rising in China together with a dietary shift to sugar-rich fast foods to support the connection of ASD with increased processed sugar intake by the mother. He postulates that different presentations of ASD may be due to the timing of maternal excess glucose consumption with respect to fetal development.
Despite the book's title, most of the book is dedicated to detailing how eating processed sugars causes each of the four“sugar sickness syndromes”. An alternative to the toxicity of consuming processed sugars is the healthiness associated with eating natural honey . Though McInnis pushes the benefits of honey beyond the commonly acknowledged ones, and some of his assertions should be taken with healthy skepticism, he backs his theories with an impressive catalog of scientific research references.
Jeremy Wendell
Wendell Estate Honey
+1 204-564-2599
email us here
Tim & Isy Talk Raw Honey & Health
MENAFN05042024003118003196ID1108063156
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.