Toxins in Food

The list of foods that contain toxins of various kinds may be surprising to some people.  The presence of toxins in plants is the reasoning behind Kurt Harris’ (paleonu.com) “defenseless when dead” premise, and is another reason to consider using veggies more as condiments than as a main course.

Here’s a list of food toxins derived from one that I found in "Chemical Sensitivity Volume 2"; by William Rea, including notes taken from the text; I've added a few comments of my own to the author’s.

[[MORE]]Humans have evolved to handle low levels of toxins from food and the environment.  However, the side-effects of poor overall nutrition, combined with widespread exposure to low-level environmental toxins, and food from depleted soils and over-industrialized agriculture is low levels of the micronutrients the body needs to property detoxify them.  As a result, the less well you are, the more important it is to avoid them.

So it’s not too surprising to note that some well-known "healing" diets, such as macrobiotics, eliminate nearly all of these foods (from the following list, strict macro only allows cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and legume, which are all listed together in one group below).

Nightshades (potato, tomato, eggplant, green pepper, tobacco): nicotine, glycoalkaloids, chaconine, cholinesterase inhibitors

Chaconine and solanine are steroidal glycoalkaloids and potent cholinesterase inhibitors (which are poisons).  They are found in especially high levels in white potatoes.  Potatoes exposed to light, resulting in greening, and those that are diseased or bruised, can have levels high enough to result in human illness.

Cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, sweet potato, legume: glucoinolates, goiterogens, cyanogens

Peanuts (a legume) also often contain aflatoxin (from the aspergillus mold), which is one of the most potent carcinogens known

Cheese, banana: pressor amines
Orange, citrus fruit: flavonoids quercitin

Although quercitin also appears to have some beneficial properties, it can be toxic, and may be carcinogenic to the general population.  See "Fecalase: A model for activation of dietary glycosides to mutagens by intestinal flora", G. Tamura, et al, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 1980, 77:4961:4965.

Derivative of sassafras, black pepper: safrole, estrogole, methyleugenol

Safrole is mutagenic and carcinogenic in rodents.  Black pepper also contains piperine, which is related to safrole.  Extracts of black pepper have been shown to produce tumors in various sites in mice.

False morel: hydrazines
Cotton seed, Okra:  gossypol (contraceptive), cyclopropenoic acids (steroic and malvalic acids) (toxic fatty acids)
Alfalfa: canavanine (toxic arginine analogue) (lupus-like syndrome)

See Merck #1745.  Canavanine is present in alfalfa seeds and sprouts at about 1.5%  of dry weight.  It is an arginine analog, which is what enables it to be a potent growth inhibitor of many organisms.  It is toxic to mammals, and can induce hematologic and serologic abnormalities characteristic of systemic lupus in monkeys.

Celery, parsnip, parsley, fig: furocoumarins such as psoralen, (damaged DNA induces skin tanning)

When activated by sunlight, psoralen may damage DNA and induce tanning when placed on the skin. Furocoumarins are mutagenic and carcinogenic.

Rhubarb, blue grape: quinones, natural phenols
Coffee: catechol (chlorogenic acid), (catecholamine), (cardiomyopathy)
Coffee, tea, cocoa: theobromine (DNA damage, testicular atrophy, sperm cell)
Honey, some herbs: pyrolizidine alkaloids (lung and liver lesions)

Present in a large number of plant species; they are mutagenic, carcinogenic and teratogenic.

Fava bean: vicine, convicine (bad in g-6-phosphatase deficiency)

These also accentuate glutathione deficiencies found in blood cells.

Oil of mustard, mustard seed, horseradish: allyl isothiocyanate

Allyl Isothiocyanate is also called "volatile oil of mustard".  It’s not related to onions or garlic.  It’s the principal component of mustard gas. It's also present in raw cabbage, where it is a weak goitrogen.  It's also used as a fungicide, an insecticidal fumigant and as a repellant for cats and dogs.

Egg white, tomato, tuna, salmon, crustaceans, strawberry, pork, chocolate: histamine liberators

This doesn't refer to allergies, rather to things like ovo-mucoids in eggs.

Pineapple, papaya: proteolytic enzymes (bromelain, papain)

Bromelain and papain are also histamine liberators.  Pineapple and papaya also contain alcohol from acetaldehyde.

Some tropical fish, dinoflagellates: fish toxins, saxitoxin
Spinach: natural nitrates (methemoglobin and hepatic disease)

The original sources referenced are:
"Toxicants of Plant Origin, Vols 1-4", P.R. Check, 1989, CRC Press, and
"Not to Worry", J. Tierney, Hippocrates, 1988, Jan/Feb, 29-30.

Interview with the pilot who dropped the first atomic bomb

Here's a link to an interview of Paul Tibbets, who was the pilot who dropped the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima:

http://dalesdesigns.net/interview.htm

[[MORE]]There are some interesting lessons here:

1. To get someone to kill thousands of innocent civilians, all you need to do is convince them that it's for the "greater good" -- the fact that the people being killed are, in fact, innocent, has no bearing. Applying that concept to the world as it is today leads to some pretty ugly thoughts.


2. The US made plans to nuke Europe at the same time as Japan. I don't recall hearing that before. Hitler was vilified for having thousands killed in Berlin in the last days of the war; imagine how many more would have died if a bomb had been dropped there. Also, the US almost certainly would not have been able to withdraw their forces before the bomb was dropped, due to secrecy.


3. The winners write the history, and spin it their way. The pilot and crew of the plane that killed thousands is a hero. If Japan had won, the US would certainly have been cast in a much different light.


4. There was a third bomb. From the tone of the discussion, it sounds like Japan would have had a third one dropped on them if they hadn't surrendered. I don't recall ever hearing that before, either.

In case it's not clear, I actually agree with the reasons why the bombs were dropped on Japan -- but that's a subject for another post.

Seasonality of Influenza

On the subject of the seasonality of influenza, here’s an interesting chart that shows the seasonality of Vit D levels and the correlation with the flu season.  The chart is from the following article:

http://www.jsonline.com/features/health/44680902.html

Note, however, that the 30 ng/mL that it calls “optimal” is now considered much too low (Dr Joe Prendergast recommends a target range of 100 to 200 ng/mL).

Getting enough Vitamin D

Dr John Cannell at the Vitamin D Council did a thorough review of the literature and found that 10,000 IU of Vit D3 is safe for long-term supplementation.  The skin can make that much Vit D after a relatively short exposure to the sun (well before it turns pink). In some parts of the world (such as the UK), local atmospheric conditions absorb significant amounts of UV light, so even being outside in the sun isn’t a guarantee of having enough Vit D.

It’s not uncommon these days for people to need one to three months of 50,000 IU/day to get their levels corrected.  Always take Vit D3, not D2, and take it in the morning.  Bio-Tech is a good brand; they are a high-quality manufacturer.  I've used them for years, and have followed-up with lab tests to verify levels, with excellent results.

[[MORE]]One Vit D site I like:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Dr T at Nephropal talks a lot about it:
http://nephropal.blogspot.com/search/label/vitamin%20d

Dr Joe Prendergast’s talk to the Smart Life Forum is also worthwhile:
http://smartlifeforum.org/wiki/2007/02
He suggests a target range of 100-200 ng/mL (250-500 nmol/L)

Carlson makes a liquid version, with 2000 IU per drop, in a coconut oil base (sugar free):
http://www.iherb.com/Carlson-Labs-Ddrops-Vitamin-D3-2000-IU-10-ml/10364
Adding the drops to a little cream works great.

Vit D isn’t really a vitamin in the usual sense; it’s actually a pro-hormone.

Vit D is a strong immune booster; my family and I take a loading dose at the first sign of a cold or sore throat (or before being in a confined space with many other people for an extended period, such as on a plane flight overseas), and have found it to be very effective (much better than Vit C).  It’s also important for vasodilatation (blood pressure) and insulin sensitivity.

One interesting statistic I remember is that although cancers seem to start in any season, the most common season people die from cancer is in the Winter, when Vit D levels are at their lowest.

If you shop at iHerb (my favorite online vitamin store, and they have very inexpensive overseas shipping, too), you can get $5.00 off of your first order by using my referral code, if you like: RIC830 (if you do, they also give me a small credit).

Increased fasting blood glucose in low-carb diets

When you're relatively insulin resistant, even a slight rise in glucose production or intake can cause a blood glucose (BG) peak.

It goes something like this: low-carb intake reduces insulin; low insulin activates hormone-sensitive lipase (LIPE); LIPE breaks down triglycerides in the muscle or adipose tissue and releases non-essential fatty acids (NEFA); NEFA induces insulin resistance.

[[MORE]]In the morning, you normally have a growth hormone surge; that causes NEFAs to peak, and you have a spike in fasting BG (FBG).  When you eat a low-carb meal, the protein in it will cause insulin to be released -- although not nearly as much as if you ate carbs.  The insulin inhibits LIPE, so NEFAs decline; insulin sensitivity comes back; BG goes down.

However, if you have too much protein, BG can decline too far; then the body secretes catecholamines (adrenaline) to help bring BG back up again; that stimulates GNG (I'm not sure of the mechanism--it may be by stimulating glucagon release from the pancreas); you start to feel jittery; if it happens in the evening, it can contribute to insomnia.  Sometimes people mistake the jitteriness from low BG with what they feel from caffeine.  Also, you can become acclimated to the elevated catecholamine levels, which is why diabetics can be at severe risk for not recognizing low BG (a diabetic relative of mine passed out at the wheel and was killed as a result of this).

Caffeine and cocoa

One of the goals of the Paleo diet is to reduce the level of insulin in the body.  Insulin is a pro-aging hormone; it encourages excess energy to be stored as fat, and acts to inhibit lipolysis.  One of the side-effects of a low-carb diet is increased insulin resistance, which can lead to higher levels of insulin and larger peaks in blood glucose (BG) levels (high BG levels are worth avoiding because they can damage many internal systems, particularly nerves).

[[MORE]]Maintaining insulin sensitivity, or even increasing it, should be part of a comprehensive Paleo program.  There are many ways to do that, but I thought I would mention two that might be of interest: caffeine and cocoa.  In addition to improving insulin sensitivity, caffeine also decreases TNF-alpha, which lowers inflammation (which should, in theory, also be anti-cancer).  Cocoa contains not just caffeine, but also flavonoids, and cocoa consumption has been documented as having a strong inverse association with mortality from heart disease.

More details at Dr. T’s Nephropal blog:
http://nephropal.blogspot.com/2009/10/beans-coffe-and-cacao.html

Part of what this means to me is that drinks with coffee or tea or cocoa and cream, are acceptable on a Paleo diet not just for their low-carb, high-fat content, but because of the caffeine and flavonoids too.

Here's a link to a study that supports the idea that a low-carb diet increases insulin resistance:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=7895958 

As it says in the abstract: "Studies in both humans and experimental animals indicate that the adaptive (phenotypic) response to low-carbohydrate intake is insulin resistance."

What happens with a low-carb diet is that with lower levels of BG, muscles adapt to burning fat as fuel.  Then, in order to conserve glucose for areas like the brain, the muscles become insulin resistant.

The often-neglected issue with the high-carb Kitavans is that they have a high sensitivity to insulin that's derived directly from their genetics; that's how they can get away with a diet like that and remain healthy.  Most people don't share those genes.

Here are links to a few more related papers:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=9288547

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=10889799

Here are a few references for coffee and cocoa/chocolate (low adiponectin is associated with insulin resistance):

Williams, CJ, et al: Coffee consumption is associated with higher plasma adiponectin concentrations in women with or without type 2 diabetes: a prospective cohort study. Diabetes Care. 2008 Mar;31(3):504-7.

Janszky I, Mukamal KJ, Ljung R, Ahnve S, Ahlbom A, Hallqvist J: Chocolate consumption and mortality following a first acute myocardial infarction: the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program. J Intern Med. 2009 Sep;266(3):248-57.

Ding, E, et al: Chocolate and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review. Nutrition and Metabolism. Jan 2006, 3(2):1743-707

Grassi D, et,al : Short-term administration of dark chocolate is followed by a significant increase in insulin sensitivity and a decrease in blood pressure in healthy persons. Am J Clin Nutr 2004;81:611– 4

I'm not trying to suggest that caffeine or flavonoid supplementation is a requirement; I'm confident that you can be perfectly healthy without them.  Rather, it seems like they could be an optimization, particularly for people who don't get enough vigorous exercise.

In addition to the Paleo diet, our evolutionary metabolic environment also included plenty of moving around, which decreases insulin resistance.  For those of us who are relatively sedentary, foods like caffeine and flavonoids may offset some of the negative effects of not getting enough exercise, by helping to maintain insulin sensitivity.

Calcium supplementation and Paleo

Most people don’t require calcium supplementation, particularly when eating Paleo.  Meat and green vegetables are rich sources of highly bioavailable forms of calcium.

I would even suggest the reverse, which is that most people get too much calcium.  Calcium is actually a cellular poison; if too much calcium gets into a cell, it dies; before it dies, it becomes sluggish and poor-performing.  One aspect of arteriosclerosis is arterial calcification, which may be encouraged by having too much calcium.

[[MORE]]Also, since magnesium deficiency is so wide-spread, and because they offset each other in your muscles, supplementing calcium while magnesium is low could cause or aggravate all sorts of problems, including muscle cramps, migraine headaches, blood pressure spikes, etc.

This is true even with osteoporosis: calcium supplementation can do more harm than good (osteoporosis is not a disease of insufficient calcium).  One theory of osteoporosis is that excessive calcium can slow down or kills osteoblast cells, which are responsible for building bone.  Those cells are apparently affected before the osteoclasts, which break down bone; less effective bone building + continuing bone break down = a net loss of bone.

The above associations with heart disease and osteoporosis are reasons why EDTA chelation therapy, which pulls a lot of calcium from the body, can be an effective treatment for both conditions.

There are of course exceptions, but unless you have a documented need, I would avoid calcium supplements.  Getting enough vitamin D is much more important.

An approach to high blood pressure

The best approach to high blood pressure will of course depend on the cause.  Metabolic syndrome (chronic high levels of insulin with associated insulin resistance) is one well-documented cause of hypertension, as is diabetes.  The theory is that chronically high BG (even below levels considered diabetic) can damage nerves, including the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for controlling blood pressure (among many other things).  In the long-term, the Paleo diet should help improve things by eliminating what may have been one aspect of the initial cause.

[[MORE]]There are many other causes too, though.  Calcium is required for muscles to contract, and magnesium is needed for them to relax – that includes the muscles in arterial walls, which, when they contract, raises your blood pressure.  Increasing your magnesium to the point of bowel tolerance for a few months helps some people.  Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is wide-spread and often hard to correct.  Avoid magnesium oxide; amino acid chelates, such as magnesium orotate or aspartate are much more readily absorbed.  Time-release mag chloride (“Slow Mag”) is another option. Mag citrate (Natural Calm) is also OK, although you need to take more of it to get the same effect.

Another area that helps for some is nitric oxide (NO) releasers, such as arginine, ginkgo biloba, panax ginseng, resveratrol, green tea, garlic and quercitin.  NO is involved with blood vessel dilation.  Since NO is a strong oxidant, be sure to take extra antioxidants with NO releasers.

Problems with chronic IBS, constipation, etc

I’ve had chronic IBS and associated problems most of my life.  My solution to this is to take 1 tbsp of soluble fiber daily; works great.  If you’re into supplements, you can also add 1 tbsp of Natural Calm, which is a magnesium supplement (Mg is a natural laxative). The psyllium-based fibers are too rough for me.  Look for a soluble fiber that doesn’t have sugar or sweeteners and that isn’t wheat-derived.  Apple pectin or glucomannan are other options.  Increasing fluid intake slightly is also helpful.

[[MORE]]I had a fair amount of gut-related discomfort when making the initial switch to Paleo.  Among its many other effects, I’ve read that it encourages a completely different type of gut flora.  The good news is that 80% of the achiness associated with my IBS is now gone, for the first time ever.

Long-term low-carb tips

Something that happens to many people on a low-carb diet is that their insulin resistance increases slowly over time.  In an initial low-glucose environment, the large muscles begin to burn fat (ketosis).  As they do so, they need less glucose, and therefore become resistant to insulin.  The result is that fasting blood glucose levels increase, along with HbA1c.

[[MORE]]In addition to further lowering your carb intake, which should help, isometric training is another good approach to addressing this (isometrics is better at increasing insulin sensitivity than aerobics).  It also helps a lot to exercise only after you’ve been fasting for 12 to 15 hours (exercise after fasting improves insulin sensitivity more than when you’re not fasting).  The idea is to work on two fronts: decreasing carb intake to further lower blood glucose (BG) and insulin, and working on the muscles to increase insulin sensitivity.

If you’re into supplements, you can also add some insulin-sensitizing ones, such as resveratrol, melatonin (also helps with sleep), vanadyl sulfate, lipoic acid, and N-acetyl-carnitine.  Those last two also help reduce the glycation that creates HbA1c, as do benfotiamine (B1), B6 and carnosine.

You might also be interested to know that the shakiness you might feel when your BG gets low is usually due to the release of adrenaline, which is part of the mechanism your body uses to raise BG in the absence of food.  It’s one cause of insomnia in some people.  Improving insulin sensitivity and cutting back on protein (which releases insulin) will help there too.

Another tidbit: there’s good documentation out there that a glucose tolerance test isn’t very meaningful when you’ve been on an extended low-carb diet.  The usual suggestion is to have carb-rich meals for at least two days before the test (at least 150 gr carbs each day), to help re-establish insulin sensitivity.  A few scientists I know also recommend having one day a week of high-carbs, partly for the same reason – the idea is to come out of ketosis, but only for 24 hrs per week or so.  I don’t do that myself, although I think it might make sense for some people.

What about legumes?

Legumes contain anti-nutrients such as phytoestrogens and phytic acid (both are particularly high in soy).  Phytoestrogens encourage the growth of certain cancers, and are pseudo-hormones that can wreak havoc on the body.  Phytic acid can block the uptake of essential minerals, including calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc.

Unlike animal products, legumes are actually not safe to eat unless they've been either fermented or sprouted or soaked and cooked, but even then, the toxins aren't completely gone.  In fact, the phytic acid in soy is actually resistant to long, slow cooking.

More scientific support for Paleo

Those looking for additional technical / scientific support for a Paleo-style diet might enjoy the following books:

Life Without Bread: How a Low-Carbohydrate Diet Can Save Your Life
By Christian Allan PhD and Wolfgang Lutz MD

Dangerous Grains: Why Gluten Cereal Grains may be Hazardous to Your Health
By James Braly MD and Ron Hoggan MA

[[MORE]]Both are rich with technical citations (as is Taubes, of course).

Then there’s the Hyperlipid blog: http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/, also written by a scientist.

One post that I found particularly enlightening:
http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2009/03/cholesterol-within-nations-studies.html

It includes the graphs below (derived from published papers), which say that your relative risk of heart disease is much more strongly correlated to your HbA1c level than to total cholesterol.  How do you minimize HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin, which is caused by high levels of blood sugar)?  With a low-carb / paleo diet.

What is a "Paleo" diet, anyway?

My interpretation of the "Paleo" diet is that it’s not about eating the exact same things that the Paleolithic people ate, or somehow returning to the primitive.  Rather, it’s about duplicating the human metabolic environment of the period.

Quite a bit is known about the diet and lifestyle of the period.  For example, have a look at Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, by Wrangham, or  Meat-Eating and Human Evolution, by Stanford and Bunn.

[[MORE]]While dairy wasn’t consumed in the Paleo period, it is certainly compatible with Paleolithic metabolism in the sense that it’s an animal product, high in fat and protein.  Two of the best tools you have to replace carbs are butter and milk fat.  They may not be “orthodox” Paleo, but they are definitely acceptable in terms of metabolic affects, provided you aren’t allergic.  Many dairy allergies seem to be provoked by gluten; once gluten is removed from the diet, those sensitivities often go away; sensitivities are also minimized by using dairy products with a high fat (and therefore low protein) content.

Here’s Dr Kurt Harris’ step-by-step approach to the paleo diet, which I think is fabulous (and is what I’m following).  See his blog at http://www.paleonu.com/.  He thinks that by the time you get to step #9 you have 80% of the benefits, and by adding proper exercise at step #10, you have 99%; eliminating dairy provides only a very small benefit after that.

1. Eliminate sugar (including fruit juices and sports drinks) and all flour
2. Start eating proper fats - animal fats and monounsaturated fats like olive oil - substituting fat calories for carb calories. Drink whole milk or half and half instead of skim.
3. Eliminate grains
4. Eliminate grain and seed derived oils (cooking oils) Cook with butter, coconut oil, olive oil or animal fats.
5. Get daily midday sun or take 4-6000 iu vit D daily
6. Intermittent fasting and infrequent meals (2 meals a day is best)
7. Fruit is just a snickers bar from a tree. Stick with berries and avoid watermelon which is pure fructose. Eat in moderation.
8. Eliminate legumes
9. Adjust your 6s and 3s. Grass fed beef or bison avoids excess O-6 fatty acids and are better than supplementing with 0-3 supplements.
10. Proper exercise - emphasizing cross-fit or interval training over long aerobic sessions
11. Eliminate milk (if you are sensitive to it, move this up the list)
12. Eliminate other dairy including cheese (now you are "orthodox paleolithic")

One natural consequence of this approach is that it tends to be relatively low carb. If you start with a SAD-like diet and eliminate sugar, grains, fruit and legumes, the resulting diet will have fewer carbs than when you started.

Effect of grain on livestock

It’s interesting to think about why farmers feed grain (including corn) to livestock: they do it to make them fat.  Grain-fed livestock don’t just “mature early”; they’re obese.  Unfortunately, feeding them grain also weakens their immune systems and makes them prone to infection, which is why they require antibiotics.  Grass-fed livestock don’t have those problems.  In fact, grass-fed cattle can be amazingly lean animals.

[[MORE]]What’s surprising to me is that more people don’t make the connection between the obvious effect on livestock, and the same effect on people: grain makes us fat, and weakens our immune systems, too.

Oh, and FWIW, I would avoid livestock that are finished with grain, as well as those who are raised on it.  Just a few weeks on a grain-based diet can completely distort / reverse the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in favor of omega-6 – which encourages inflammation, pain, etc.

Paleo questions from a newbie

1. Do we know the quantities of types of foods that Paleo people ate?  If not, would this knowledge change the diet recommendations?

One thing we know is that a typical hunter-gatherer tended to eat a few leftovers in the morning, hunt/gather all day, then have a big meal at the end of the day.  They were metabolically well-equipped to handle food scarcity / fasting.

[[MORE]]An important aspect of the diet recommendations is that they are based on the metabolic conditions that we evolved under.  Since those conditions are only loosely associated with quantity, I think even if we knew more details about exactly how much the Paleo people ate, that it wouldn't significantly affect the recommendations.

2. Humans obviously ate grains (they got the idea to cultivate them after all), but was the quantity just greatly reduced to the post- agriculture quantity? Or perhaps they started eating them just recently before agriculture was developed?

Monocot grass seeds and gluten cereal grains were at best inconsistent and trivial sources of food prior to the advent of agriculture.  Also, the fact that a food was available or sometimes used tells us nothing about its long-term impact on health, or whether it's better to eat that food vs. something else.

Unfortunately, cereal grains (and legumes, including peanuts) contain anti-nutrients with clinically significant health effects -- and we are poorly adapted to consuming them.

4. Honey, agave nectar, coconut sugar, stevia, maple syrup....good, bad, same as cane sugar? I don't understand the differences well. From what I've read, people seem to think that while they may be less processed and have a lower GI than cane sugar, they all still have the same addictive properties.

From a health perspective, there are three primary factors to consider with sweeteners: total carb content, and the fraction that's fructose, and whether it's artificial.  It turns out that GI or GL are poor indicators.  What's more important for long-term health is total insulin produced, rather than the size of the post-meal spike -- and the total is directly correlated to carb content.

Fructose is evil, and I would avoid it as much as you can.  It's responsible for conditions like gout; it goes directly to the liver, where it's converted to triglycerides; it drives insulin resistance in the liver.  Fructose may be the single biggest cause of a broken metabolism (although gluten is right up there too).

For artificial sweeteners, history says they don't have a good record when it comes to health effects.  Also, even though they're artificial, they can still cause insulin to be released.  Even brushing your teeth with an artificially sweetened toothpaste can cause an insulin spike.

The sweetener I prefer is glucose, also known as dextrose -- although I only use it in very small amounts.