Immune system and Sugar..

G

Garratt

New Member
Aparently after you consume a certain amount of sugar, it pretty much makes your macrophages (VERY important to the immune system) completely halt under a certain ammount of sugar (For 6 hours).
Sugar has many negative side effects. It depletes calcium from your bones, feeds the bad bacteria in your gut, and a bunch of other crap.
I have a question im hoping someone can answer. In the winter time I get a million colds, which effects my progress in the gym. I know theres TONS of things like ecinecea etc that help your colds, a good multivitamin, etc. but I don't like taking alot of pills. Plus they can get expensive. So heres my question.
Is there a carb that I can have before a workout and after a workout, that won't kill my immune system, but still give me results at the gym?
So far here are my thaughts.
Carrot juice
grapes (high GI)
Grade C maple syrup
Dates
Whats your opinion on this subject?
And is it still believed that it's not really the KIND of carbs you have, but the ammount? If thats the case I could just eat some complex carbs and not worry, but from what I've gather, you want a HUGE insulin surge before and after a workout.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Aparently after you consume a certain amount of sugar, it pretty much makes your macrophages (VERY important to the immune system) completely halt under a certain ammount of sugar (For 6 hours).
Click to expand...

reference?

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Sugar has many negative side effects. It depletes calcium from your bones,
Click to expand...

reference?

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]and a bunch of other crap.
Click to expand...

reference?

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]feeds the bad bacteria in your gut
Click to expand...

so does any food

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]And is it still believed that it's not really the KIND of carbs you have, but the ammount?
Click to expand...

reference?
 
Now why sucrose (= glucose + fructose) would do such a bunch of devastating things to our body while grapes (glucose + fructose) would be ok ? Only Barry Sears would claim a thing like that :D
 
I'll look for some concrete references, I've found about 100 sites that say it (just go to yahoo and type "sugar suppresses the immune system") But none that show the study as where they got the information. So I'll look and post again. Possibly grapes have phytonutrients and vitamins and ezymes that sugar doesn't have. Im not to sure if it's the INSULINE surge that suppresses the immune system, or it's the that sugar takes nutrients from your body, or what it is. I'll do more research, I was hoping someone would have insight into this.
 
Here is one site that I got it from:
http://www.123relax.com/articles/H_eathealthy.html
"Some studies, and much more clinical data, point to sugar as an immune suppressant. These are common scenarios: a sore throat that develops after bingeing on sweets, or children who have recurrent ear infections or chronic tonsillitis if they consume a lot of candy, sugared beverages, and other treats. Other stimulants-such as coffee and sodas-seem to have a similar result if they are overused. The common theme here is energy: foods that are solid sources of energy and vitality build us up; foods that cause intermittent boosts of artificial energy leave us depleted. Foods that are loaded with chemicals leave us burdened, rather than energized. This concept is quite logical, but many do not consider diet important to wellness, when in fact it is crucial."

http://www.thebody.com/bp/dec02/food.html

The Bad Guys
Sugar: There is strong evidence that sugar has a negative effect on the function of the immune system. When white blood cells are exposed to high levels of sugar in the bloodstream, they have a decreased ability to engulf bacteria and have weakened systemic resistance to all infections. What is a high level of sugar? The normal sugar level in the bloodstream is approximately one teaspoon. A single can of soda or a bowl of ice cream has 12 teaspoons of sugar. The digestive system is overtaxed trying to prevent all that sugar from entering the bloodstream all at once, and the pancreas is also working hard to produce enough insulin to process the sugar. This is a lot of stress on your body. Refined carbohydrates, such as most breads and baked goods act pretty much like sugar in the body. These refined foods also lack the beneficial nutrients and fiber that are present in whole grains, and actually cause a depletion of minerals in your body. Try finding foods that are more gently sweetened with fruit juice, rice syrup or barley malt.



http://www.stonyfield.com/HealthyPeople/ImmuneSystemBoosting7_02.shtml


Four Diet Habits that Weaken the Immune System


Too much sugar. It has been found that eating or drinking 100 grams or ½ cup sugar can reduce the white blood cells' (WBC) ability to kill germs by 40%. The decrease in immune response starts in less than 30 minutes and can last up to 5 hours. Too much sugar isn't healthy for anyone but especially those with an impaired immune system.
 
Heres and INteresting Study:

Influence of carbohydrate status on immune responses before and after endurance exercise.

Mitchell JB, Pizza FX, Paquet A, Davis BJ, Forrest MB, Braun WA.

Exercise Physiology Laboratory, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas 76129, USA. [email protected]

To determine the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) status on immune responses after long-duration exercise, on two occasions, 10 men completed a glycogen-depleting bout of cycle ergometry followed by 48 h of either a high-CHO diet (HiCHO; 8.0 g CHO/kg) or a low-CHO diet (LoCHO; 0.5 g CHO/kg). After the 48 h, subjects completed a 60-min ride at 75% maximal O2 uptake (EX). Blood samples were taken predepletion, pre-EX, post-EX, and 2 and 24 h post-EX and were assayed for leukocyte number and function, glucose, glutamine, and cortisol. The glucose responses were significantly higher in the HiCHO (4.62 +/- 0.26 mM) vs. the LoCHO (3.19 +/- 0.15 mM) condition post-EX, and glutamine was significantly higher in the HiCHO (0.472 +/- 0.036 mM) vs. the LoCHO (0.410 +/- 0.025 mM) condition throughout. Cortisol levels were significantly greater in the LoCHO (587 +/- 50 nM) vs. the HiCHO (515 +/- 62 nM) condition throughout the trial. Lymphocyte proliferation (phytohemagglutinin) was significantly depressed after exercise. However, there was no difference between conditions, and the depression was not correlated with elevations in cortisol. Circulating numbers of leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, and lymphocyte subsets were significantly greater in the LoCHO vs. the HiCHO condition at the post-EX and 2 h post-EX time points. These data indicate that the exercise and diet manipulation altered the number of circulating leukocytes but did not affect the decrease in lymphocyte proliferation that occurred after exercise.

Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
Randomized Controlled Trial

PMID: 9609785 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
 
First three sites you cite are nothing more than wacky 'alternativists' that don't cite a single study but reference equally wacky sites. Where are PubMed references ?

Statements like "Refined sugar creates a sudden surge of energy as it is absorbed rapidly into the bloodstream" show the depth of their ignorance as actually refined sugar has lower GI than many fruits and/or complex carbs (potatoes, for example).

As for the PubMed study:

1) Immunosuppression is tested only at post-EX and post-EX + 2h, but no further. More than likely, it is just temporary.

2) Sugar is mentioned nowhere, even if these results meant something this would apply to all kind of carbs.
 
Garret, dont worry about it

Low carb diets are a good way to potentially decrease immunity, as carbs are "required" by the immune system.
Especially when under hard training, Neisman I think is a common researcher on the subject, and endurance athletes suffer more URTI if they eat a diet with insufficient carbs.

Is their potential for the same effect when high carbs are introduced, possibly, but this hasnt really been researched much in terms of athletes.

Most of the 'references' that you gave are not exactly the most reliable sources of information
 
Haha, no i totally agree the resources I placed, piss me off.. And Im in not way siding with what the publishers claim..
Cuz I hate no having references.. I'm just posting this to kinda debate, and find the best/healthiest carbs possible..
 
Alright I found a pub med that states that sugar competes for transportation that Vitamin C:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez....bstract

Qoute: "The membrane transport of ascorbic acid.

Mann GV, Newton P.

A system for measuring the rate of transport of dehydroascorbate into human red blood cells shows Michaelis-Menten type kinetics with substrate inhibition at levels above 150 muM DHA. The addition of sugars impairs this transport in the diminishing hierarchy D-glucose, D-mannose, D-xylose, D-galactose, L-lyxose, D-araboascorbate, L-sorbose and 2-deoxy-D-ribose. The effect of glucose on transport of ascorbate is marked at physiological levels. Transport of DHA is accelerated by copper ion and allows dehydroascorbate to move against a concentration gradient. The evidence supports the hypotheses proposing that hyperglycemia will impair the intracellular availability of vitamin C.

PMID: 944 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
"
 
Without the full paper, you dont know the level of blood sugar that inhibits this. if its >10mmol, its really getting worthless, as large quantities of anything in the blood will cause issues.
 
Furthermore:

1) This has nothing to do with refined table sugar. It would apply to all carbs ( 'sugars' refers to glucose, galactose etc.)

2) Hyperglycemia to a level that would impair transportation of vit.C would only be a problem for diabetics. I don't know of any studies showing such problems with diabetics, but in any case this would be the least of their problems.
 
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