Top all-time · #3015
Alan Aragon
Personal blog · alanaragonblog.comhealth
Alan Aragon's personal blog at alanaragonblog.com covers health. Since 2010, 26 different Hacker News readers have linked it 44 times, most often “The bitter truth about fructose alarmism”. The last post was in 2016, but the archive is still widely read.
Often recommended · 15 of 34 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Alan Aragon's blog as a counterpoint to Robert Lustig's fructose and sugar-alarmism claims. Commenters cite its sourced rebuttals and say they are a no-nonsense nutrition resource.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 34 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- The bitter truth about fructose alarmism17 people · 20 mentions · first linked 2010-03-26
- /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/9 people · 11 mentions · first linked 2010-03-26
What Hacker News says?
Lustig just doesn't give up. He has already been crushed by Alan Aragon five years ago. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-...
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “Cutting Back Sugar Improves Obese Children's Health in Just 10 Days”Submitted The bitter truth about fructose alarmism as a story · 46 points
HN discussionOh god. What the hell does "clean" mean. That's orthorexic nonsense. Unprocessed foods can be very helpful, but they aren't magically different kcal, If you eat too much potatoes and nuts (instead of cake) you'll still gain the same amount of fat (controlling for fiber and protein energy loss). http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-cle... Regarding fructose: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/2…
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”Here's another serious and level-headed look at Dr. Lustig's claims. He's an alarmist, and we don't need those. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Too much fructose can damage your liver, just like too much alcohol”Dr. Lustig's argumentation is questionable at best. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/brainwaves/is-sugar-rea... Eat less sugar? Sure! But don't do it because of Dr. Lustig's exaggerations and paranoia. Do it because sugar is calorie-heavy with no real benefit.
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Too much fructose can damage your liver, just like too much alcohol”I'm seeing two major factual problems with many of the comments here. 1. In terms of determining how much weight you are going to lose/gain. A calorie is a calorie. Calories in/calories out is the secret sauce to every successful weight loss diet, even keto. That is a simple fact, backed by all of the truly solid nutritional research in modern science. 2. If we are talking about lean body mass, body fat percentage g…
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “The sugar conspiracy: sugar—not fat—is the greatest danger to our health”Googling 'Lustig criticism' gives you a good place to start. Though with nutritional science, everything is so far from consensus (and when there is a consensus, it's 20 years behind the science) that you should treat this as a jumping-off point to read the literature instead of an authoritative rebuttal. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... There's a section about halfway down where he di…
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “The Liver: A ‘Blob’ That Runs the Body”You are correct that fructose with fiber is pretty harmless, but that video is bullshit. See here: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-...
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “Actually eat healthily for £1 per day”You might be interested in Alan Aragons take on it too: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar”Obligatory rebuttal whenever this video is posted http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “What happens to your brain when you stop eating sugar”Also check out this critisism: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-...
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “What happens to your brain when you stop eating sugar”most knowledgeable people disagree with him. for an intro look at his wikipage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lustig or i.e. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Show HN: App creates a meal plan that satisfies your nutrition constraints ”Lustig has his critics[1]. In fact, seems the mainstream almost thinks of him as a quack (almost). Myself, I can't discern who's right and wrong. I can see that a lot of people are overstating their level of certainty. [1] http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Always Hungry? Here’s Why”He's probably referring to the anti-carb/fructose people, see Lustig. Fructose alarmism is IMHO, BS. See here for more information: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-... I view it a bit more simply. Find me a person who is fat because they ate too much fruit or drank too much real OJ. Obviously those things contain calories, but in an overall scheme of a persons diet, whole fruit in particu…
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “End artificial scarcities to increase productivity”"Googling it brings up things I don't like so I'll call them fabricated". What is fabricated about it exactly? This is a man who directly lies all the time. He claims "sugar is toxic" and "sugar is poison". These are both outright lies, and not claims any respected scientist would make. The data doesn't even support his modest claims, much less his poison lies. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-tru…
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “How the food lobby fights sugar regulation in the EU [pdf]”Sigh. A good criticism of Lustigs demonizing fructose: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... Key takeaway that Lustig ignores - USDA numbers by the way: Total energy intake in 1970 averaged 2172 kcal. By 2007 this hiked up to 2775 kcal, a 603 kcal increase.
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Why do people resist the idea that carbs are worse than fat?”Sigh. So much misinformation in this thread. The main person who champions that fructose interferes with satiety is a guy named Lustig. Here some real research is placed up against Lustig's claims: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... and http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-... From the article: "Hold on a second…Lustig is forgetting that most fructose in both the c…
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “The Startup Diet: How I Lost 35 Pounds While Working Overtime”Obviously if you're fructose intolerant you need to avoid it, but HFSC isn't the evil it's been painted to be. I like reading this guys blog because it's no nonsense nutritional information with ALL his sources. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “The Startup Diet: How I Lost 35 Pounds While Working Overtime”Lustig has an agenda and has been questioned (I feel outright debunked) numerous times on his cherry picked studies and lack of rigor. See here for a good overview. http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away from Bad Diets”Lustig makes a few great points, but it's important to keep in mind there are some who argue he is a "fructose alarmist" and argue it's not as simple as "blaming fructose alone." A good quote from Alan Aragon: "I would add that fiber is only one of the numerous phytochemicals in fruit that impart health benefits. Thus, it’s not quite as simple as saying that fructose is evil, but once you take it with fiber, you’ve…
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Sugar and Health: Interview with UCSF professor Robert Lustig ”Dr. Lustig's rebuttals: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “60 minutes: Is sugar toxic?”Compare: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/about/ to: http://chc.ucsf.edu/coast/faculty_lustig.htm I'm not saying that's dispositive, but why exactly is Alan Aragon more credible than a medical doctor and UCSF clinical pediatrics professor?
Comment linking /about/
on “60 minutes: Is sugar toxic?”I'm a big fan of Alan Aragon, one of the country's leading experts on nutrition/health (in my and a lot of people's opinion). He did a pretty well informed takedown of Dr. Lustig's alarmist stance... check it out here and make up your own minds: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab... http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-...
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “60 minutes: Is sugar toxic?”Strongly recommend you read any of the numerous rebuttals to Lustig's psuedoscience, such as this one: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Fructose: The Poison Index”Gary Taubes is so incredibly wrong that it makes me sad. If you want to read some intelligent analysis of dieting/nutrition, I suggest reading Lyle McDonald ( http://www.bodyrecomposition.com ) and Alan Aragon ( http://www.alanaragonblog.com ).
Comment linking /
on “Calories, fat or carbohydrates? Why diets work (when they do)”These health posts never turn out good. It always ends up with hackers/geeks arguing how to eat, lose weight, be healthy, etc and so forth. No one agrees. There is too much arguing about what is right, wrong, can't be done, you have to eat this... as if nothing is safe to eat now. Anyway, I don't want to argue or comment that certain foods are evil, carbs are bad and should be avoided, or about anything what Gary Ta…
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Learning to Eat Well and Stay Healthy”It is great indeed, and nobody would recommend people eat lots of sugar, but I found this a good article with some nuances about the specifics mentioned in that long video: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Learning to Eat Well and Stay Healthy”http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Is Sugar Really Toxic?”Although I don't completely agree with the author, he accuses Lustig of a similar fallacy: using the popularity of his Youtube video to justify where the truth stands. See his retrospective of the original article: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-... It has a decent (although one-sided) summarization of the comments from the original.
Comment linking /2010/02/19/a-retrospective-of-the-fructose-alarmism-debate/
on “The bitter truth about fructose alarmism”A more scientific assessment of a a few different types of fruits is here: http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-ab...
Comment linking /2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/
on “Princeton researchers find that HFCS prompts considerably more weight gain”
