Chris Knobbe, M.D. - Obesity & diabetes: is it the sugar, ‘carbs,’ vegetable oils, or all three?

This is Chris Knobbe and I will gladly answer the recurrent questions regarding the definition of "added sugars," as used in these graphs. In short, the sugar does indeed include high-fructose corn syrup! In fact, I will quote from our soon to be published book, as follows:   "The data (since 1961) on "Sugar Consumption" are derived directly from the FAO and are corrected for post-production losses using the USDA’s current loss estimate of 28.8%.  The FAO and U.S. FDA definition of “added sugars” is as follows: “Added sugars include sugars added during the processing of foods (such as sucrose and dextrose), foods packaged as sweeteners (such as table sugar), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices.  They do not include naturally occurring sugars that are found in milk, fruits, and vegetables... For most Americans, the main sources of added sugars are sugar-sweetened beverages, baked goods, desserts, and sweets.” (Reference: 1) US FDA, and 2) FAOSTAT.)    Data before 1961 are derived from The Department of Commerce and the USDA (continuous yearly sweetener sales from 1822 to 2005), as published by Stephan Guyenet, and are also corrected for losses. (References:  1) The Hungry Brain, Stephan Guyenet, PhD, and 2) C. Knobbe, Stojanoska, M. Medical Hypotheses. 2017;109:184-198., and 3) C. Knobbe, A. Luff, R. Sommer, et al., scientific publication pending).  Thus, added sugars in the diet as used in all of the graphs shown in this presentation (and pending scientific publication) include all forms of added sugars, including all forms of granulated sugars, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, and all fruit or vegetable juices.  I hope this answers the sugar questions!

To me, this is the single most important video that we ALL need to see!

This information shows how important it is to eat a diet of whole foods and eliminate highly processed junk foods 😊

Fast food restaurants use a lot of vegetable oil. It is getting impossible to eat out without getting a ton of oils in your food. I think it is best to cook your own food and eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

This is the most important video of the year 2022 (so far), and it only has 1.3k views.

This was a very compelling presentation, and I do believe that seed oils are not a natural food for humans and toxic, but I would have liked to have seen an examination of differences in activity level between late 19th century and modern day to flesh the case out a bit. I believe this may well be a confounder which could explain at least some of the increase in obesity and diabetes we see, despite some downward trend with sugar and carbs (and please note again I'm not negating the role of seed oils in this at all - I believe Dr Knobbe really is onto a very major contributory factor to modern health issues with that!). It's possible that those people in the 19th century/early 20th could indeed have had a surprising sugar and carb consumption but offset it maybe by being more active. In the modern era it's possible that sugar and carb consumption are still too high and toxic for us because so many people are now so sedentary, with more labour-saving devices etc, and therefor not burning up as much of the sugar they do eat, causing a glycation burden on their bodies' systems. I personally believe that seed oils, plus other industrialized, processed junk filled with sugar and carbs we no longer burn off in daily activities, along with general lack of real food and sound nutrition, are all factors behind the current public health crises around the developed world or anywhere the population no longer eats a species appropriate, real food diet. The bad dietary advice in the 80's telling people not to eat the ancestral animal fats hominid species have eaten for millions of years was totally insane and has been a complete disaster for us health-wise, as we have seen. Replacing these with industrialized seed oils just smacks of a corporate interest-based scam to my mind. I've seen nothing to change my mind about this suspicion, and plenty to reinforce it.

As others have mentioned, the sugar in these charts comes from consumption of cane sugar/table sugar. It's not including actual sugar analogs added to processed foods or even high fructose corn syrup. It's also missing out of two more things...the increased glycemic load of processed carbs and also the concept of hyperpalatibity. These things AND seed oils lead to an average ncrease intake of 200 to 300 calories per week for an average American. His charts on total calories is disputed by many studies. The take away is this: processed foods are super bad and cause weight gain, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. A lower carb diet with good protein manages hunger, keeps insulin low, leads to weight loss and t2d reversal. Eat real food.

don't forget to add how we have adopted the couch potato lifestyle, starting as video game marathoners as kids and growing into netflix bingwatchers as adults. Most of our work (and the years of school leading up to it) is sitting in a chair staring at a screen. And there is the constant stress from "performance anxiety", from a schoolkid worrying about jumping through the hoop of the next test, to our work that tells us to work harder so you will get a (probably pitiful) raise, or at least not get fired. I like these thoughts about vegetable oils. With keto/low carb, they can take someone off sugar/carbs and immedately improve their weight, get them off their diabetes drugs, and their blood work is better. I haven't seen something nearly as convincing with vegatable oils.

Although he makes a good case that vegetable oils are a cause of obesity and diabetes, there are plenty of randomized trials showing sugars and starches are a significant factor in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems.

The problem with sugar isn't so much that it detrimental effects don't scales in correlation with consumption in terms of weight the problem with sugar is that it weakens and compromises the system leaving the body open for all sorts of issues and making it harder for it to defend and regenerate itself

Thanks for your talks on seed oils. A fourth factor would be keeping insulin jacked up by eating from the time you get up in the morning until you go to bed.

This video should have many millions of views.

Oh shoot, now I have to throw away most of my food! No chips, no canned chili, no mayo, no peanut butter..... Ok im going to check all labels now!

Hey Chris, you need to show where these oils actually are in our food, like Lecithin being 70% Omega 6/ Linoleic Acid in chocolate bars and candies, most Jamba Juice drinks, store bought smoothies. In AG1 the latest craze in YouTube vids.

It's ALL Three. Stop all Carbs, Sugars, and Vegetable Oils and Vegetables period!!!

The problem with your data is that you don’t include high fructose corn syrup, only sugar. Which I will assume does not include hfcs. And your graph doesn’t include highly processed foods. I’m pretty sure you will find those two items would also mirror the escalating obesity.

Stick with wild caught and pasture raised, grass fed grass finished whole foods and you should be fine. Stay away from vegetable oils and other processed foods. Stay away from grains too.

I remember him from low carb down under channel. I think he even demonstrated details in krebs cycle.

Great Great Great to watch, Thanks

The deluge of poorly regulated, added factory chemicals to our farming and food manufacturing since the 1980s is another piece of the (Ultra Processed Food) picture missing here.