Evolutionary Medicine: New Avenues of Research on Sugar

Received: 24-Mar-2021;Accepted Date: Apr 07, 2021; Published: 14-Apr-2021

Introduction

In the book The Origin of Species, which “is the most rad- ical reconfiguration of our place in the universe as individ- uals and as a single speciesˮ [1], Charles Darwin advanced his theory of evolution by natural selection, “the single best idea anyone has ever hadˮ [2] (p. 289). Since 1859 when that book first appeared, “many tens of thousands of scien- tific research papers confirming the legitimacy of Darwin- ian natural selection have been publishedˮ [3]. Consequent- ly, “Darwin’s work on natural selection and the evolution of species is no longer a theory; rather it is a law of primary importance to contemporary biology and medicineˮ [3]. In- deed, “evolution is the unifying concept of biology and the basis for all modern biological research, including much research that affects our daily livesˮ [4]. Not only our daily lives, but also our daily meals may be affected by future research based on evolution, if an untested evolutionary hypothesis will prove right experimentally. This hypoth- esis was first advanced in 1997 [5], underpinned another evolutionary hypothesis [6,7], and was invoked in critiques [8-10]. Its complete version, including a proposed dietary trial to test it, appeared in 2004 [11]. This hypothesis argues that the impact of sugar on human health reflects its form of ingestion, not its ingested quantity. Ergo, this hypoth- esis (thereinafter: the “sugar formˮ hypothesis), contrasts strikingly with the inveterate medical tenet that resulted in the failure of tens of authors and coauthors to specify the forms of ingestion of sugar in their experimental studies on sugar [12-22].

Importantly, “evolutionary theorizing points to hypotheses that we otherwise might not even think ofˮ [23] (p. 642). One of them is the “sugar formˮ hypothesis. Although 16 years have elapsed since its published extensive discussion [11], hitherto no researcher tested it, perhaps because “research funders are mainly concerned with practical factual research, not with research that develops theories … But theories are at the heart of practice, planning, and research … Because theories powerfully influence how evidence is collected, analyzed, understood, and used, it is practical and scientific to examine themˮ [24] (p. 1007). Moreover, a “new theory may lead to new experiments that herald the downfall of the old dogmaˮ [25] (p. 845). This may greatly benefit humankind by fostering progress, because “sciencemoves forward when orthodoxy is challengedˮ [26] (p. 15) and “science is unique among all human activities unlike law, business, art, or religion in its identification with pro-gressˮ [27].

This article aims primarily at emphasizing the scientific need to test experimentally the “sugar formˮ hypothesis, because “the issue of dietary sucrose must assume a prom- inent role in the discussion of the dietary treatment of di- abetesˮ [28] (p. 62), which “is becoming the plague of the 21st centuryˮ [29]. This implies that the need to fund and perform the unprecedented study to test the “sugar formˮ hypothesis is urgent, because its potentially enlightening findings may revolutionize both the dietary treatment of diabetes and the prevention of this plague. As argued else- where [11], the “sugar formˮ hypothesis can easily be test- ed by an unprecedented dietary trial aimed at comparing the metabolic effects of, say, 100 g/day of concentrated sugar with the effects of 100 g/day of diluted sugar. All evolution- ary considerations are omitted purposely in the first part of this article, because “current funding mechanisms reinforce a disjunction between evolutionary biology and medical science and make the development of research programs at their intersection problematic. The National Science Foun- dation and the National Institutes of Health each currently see this area as outside their respective domainsˮ [30] (p. 1694). Thus, to make the funding of that urgent research less problematic, here the reasons for doing it are discussed in non-evolutionary terms. Only later will the physiological reasons be interpreted in evolutionary perspective.

Current Status of Knowledge

Many “discrepancies between studiesˮ [31] (p. 251S) characterize the research on sugar. For example, “several authors have reported no change in plasma cholesterol in response to sucrose, even when sucrose was given as a very high proportion of the diet (11%-65% of energy) … In con- trast, in other studies, plasma cholesterol concentrations were observed to rise in response to sucrose consumption within a broad range (18%-52% of energy)ˮ [31] (p. 251S). Moreover, some authors wrote “there is evidence from several well-controlled prospective studies demonstrating that the consumption of moderate amounts of sucrose may result in hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriglycer- idemia, hypercholesterolemia, and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. The fact that not all studies demonstrate these deleterious effects does not negate the positive dataˮ [28] (p. 62). These conflicting re- sults originated “considerable debate concerning the effects of sucrose on plasma lipids and in particular triglyceride levelsˮ [32] (p. 498). Discrepancies between studies also regard the effects of sugar on glycemic control. Indeed, “studies that have examined the addition of sucrose to the diet of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) subjects for periods of 2-6 wk have produced conflicting resultsˮ [33] (p. 474). These originated discrepant medical guidelines. Indeed, their recommended ingestion of sugar ranges conflictingly from 5% to 25% of energy requirement [34].

Comparative Reasons for Testing the “Sugar Formˮ Hypothesis

The abovementioned experimental inconsistencies are ex- plainable by comparing the findings of the few studies that administered sugar in a single form and chose to specify it. This comparison reveals that diluted sugar is harmless and concentrated sugar is harmful. Here the terms “dilutedˮ and “concentratedˮ, for physiological reasons discussed below, refer to sugar within 1.08 kcal/ml and to sugar above this density, respectively. After administering sugar solely in a liquid diet [35], some researchers wrote “the feeding of 80% of calories as sucrose did not lead to an impairment of the GTT [glucose tolerance test] in any subjectˮ [35] (p. 600). Conversely, after administering only 30% of cal- ories as sucrose patties [36], other researchers wrote “su- crose feeding produces undesirable changes in several of the parameters associated with glucose toleranceˮ [36] (p. 2206). The virtually opposite effects of diluted sugar [35] and concentrated sugar [36] are in keeping with the observation that “diabetes was absent in cane cutters who atelarge amounts of sugar by chewing cane, but common in their employers who ate large amounts as refined sugarˮ [37] (p. 62). However, sugar contained in cane is always in a naturally diluted form, whereas refined sugar often is ingested in concentrated forms.

Another comparative example emerges from the results of two studies [38,39] that used different forms for adminis- tering an almost identical quantity of sugar. After adminis- tering 220 g/day of sugar mainly in “a specially prepared sweetened beverageˮ [38] (p. 194), some researchers con- cluded that sugar “did not affect glycemic or triglycer- idemic control in type II diabetic patientsˮ [38] (p. 193). Conversely, after administering 210 g/day of sugar as “a sucrose pattyˮ [39] (p. 1661), other researchers wrote “to- tal serum lipids, triglycerides, and total cholesterol levels were significantly higher when the subjects consumed the sucrose dietˮ [39] (p. 1659).

Physiological Reasons for Testing the “Sugar Formˮ Hypothesis

Physiologically, “gastric emptying is a major factor in blood glucose homeostasis, in normal subjects and in patients with diabetesˮ [40] (p. 857). Indeed, “the rate of gastric emptying is an important determinant of carbohydrate ab- sorptionˮ [41] (p. 79). Actually, “it is the rate of absorption of nutrients by the small intestine that is the most important factor in controlling gastric emptyingˮ [42] (p. 2025). The following physiological data explain why diluted sugar is harmless and concentrated sugar is harmful:

1. Diluted glucose and diluted sucrose, which is a mixture of glucose and fructose [43], empty identically from the stomach [43]. Indeed, “the effects of sucrose and a glucose and fructose mixture … are indistinguishable … in slowing gastric emptyingˮ [43] (p. 323-4). This identical gastric emptying reflects the identical caloric density of di- luted sugar and diluted glucose, because “the rate of gastric emptying is a function of the caloric density of the ingested mealˮ [44] (p. 553).

2. In humans and in monkeys, the gastric emptying of diluted glucose is “linearˮ, i.e., it is “a slow and cal- orie-constant emptying patternˮ [45] (p. 76), which proceeds “progressively more slowly with increasing concentrationsˮ [46] (p. R254), thereby determining the absorption of a constant quantity of calories per unit time [45,46]. Indeed, “glucose empties so as to maintain a constant rate of delivery of calories to the small intestine over a range of energy densities of 0.2-1.0 kcal/mlˮ [46] (p. R256). Consequently, “although gastric emptying slowed as glucose concentration increased, when gastric emptying was expressedas the rate of calories delivered to the intestine, all three glucose solutions emptied at indistinguishable ratesˮ [45] (p. 78).

3. Within the range 0.2-1.0 kcal/ml, “doubling the volume of a glucose meal does not significantly alter the rate of emptyingˮ [46] (p. R256), so that “the number of glucose calories passed per unit time (2.13 kcal/min) re- mained the same over a fivefold concentration rangeˮ [45] (p. 78). Within this range (0.2-1.0 kcal/ml), “such constan- cy suggests in humans, as in the monkey, that glucose emp- tying differs from the emptying of physiological saline in being subject to tight regulationˮ [45] (p. 80).

4. In sharp contrast with the calorie-constant emp- tying pattern of diluted glucose, the gastric emptying of concentrated glucose is “exponentialˮ, i.e., precipitous and massive. Indeed, “when glucose concentration exceeds 1.0 kcal/ml, gastric emptying does not slow further. As a result with each increment in concentration above 1.0 kcal/ml, there is more rapid delivery of calories to the small bow- el, i.e., a loss of regulation to caloric concentrationˮ [46] (p. R256). More precisely, this loss of regulation occurs at a currently indefinite concentration between 1.08 kcal/ml and 1.33 kcal/ml. Indeed, although “extremely prolongedˮ [47] (p. 379), the gastric emptying of glucose solutions is still linear “after ingestion of the 400-kcal glucose (100 g in 300 cc H₂O) solutionˮ [47] (p. 378), which contains 1.08 kcal/ml, but their gastric emptying is exponential when their density is 1.33 kcal/ml [46].

The abovementioned physiological data show that dilut- ed sugar proved harmless [35,38] because its absorption was linearly slow and calorie-constant, thereby preserving blood glucose homeostasis. Conversely, concentrated sugar proved harmful [36,39] because its absorption was expo- nentially precipitous and massive, thereby compromising blood glucose homeostasis and enhancing abnormally the endogenous production of blood lipids. Remarkably, those data corroborate the central notion of the “sugar formˮ hy- pothesis, namely, the concept that the form of ingestion of sugar is metabolically more important than its ingest- ed quantity [11]. Indeed, the absorption of diluted glucose, which empties identically to diluted sucrose [43], remains linear even doubling its ingested quantity [46] but be- comes exponential when its density increases even moder- ately from 1.08 kcal/ml [47] to 1.33 kcal/ml [46].

Should the “sugar formˮ hypothesis prove right exper- imentally, its practical and clinical implications will be far-reaching. For instance, the failure to disentangle the effects of diluted sugar from those of concentrated sugar will presumably originate a reanalysis of a recent investigation [48] that raised several comments [49-54]. Its conclusion that there is “a significant relationship between added sugar consumption and increased risk for CVD [cardiovascular disease] mortalityˮ [48] (p. 516) will sound misleading should future studies demonstrate that the metabolic effects of sugar depend on its form of ingestion, not on its ingested quantity.

Heuristic Ability of Evolutionary Medicine

Some authors wondered: “why do meals of high caloric concentrations empty more slowly in volume but just slow- ly enough as to deliver the same number of calories over time as more dilute meals?ˮ [55] (p. R413). This question can be answered thanks to the heuristic ability of Evolu- tionary Medicine (thereinafter: EvolMed) [56-58], which is a relatively “new, interdisciplinary field that brings together physicians, biologists, anthropologists, psychologists, and others to address questions about the evolutionary origins of many medical problems facing modern humansˮ [58] (p. 99). EvolMed “is supplanting its predecessor synonym “Darwinian medicineˮˮ [59] (p. 1), which was preferred previously [60-64]. The fundamental concept of EvolMed is that “medicine needs evolutionˮ [65], because “nothing in medicine makes sense except in the light of evolutionˮ [66,67].

Thanks to its heuristic ability and explanatory capacity, “evolutionary thinking on medical issues can sometimes illuminate features quite unexpected by nonevolutionary approachesˮ [30] (p. 1691). For example, “evolution does offer a way to ground the otherwise faddish area of nutri- tion research in a solid general understanding of the diets of our ancestorsˮ [68] (p. 40). EvolMed argues that their diets represent “the nutrition for which human beings are in essence genetically programmedˮ [69] (p. 283).

Indeed, “the introduction of agriculture and animal hus- bandry ~10000 y ago occurred too recently on an evolu- tionary time scale for the human genome to adjustˮ [70] (p. 341). Therefore, “genetically speaking, humans today live in a nutritional environment that differs from that for which our genetic constitution was selectedˮ [71] (p. S10). Consequently, “from a genetic standpoint, humans living today are Stone Age hunter-gatherersˮ [72] (p. 739), whose dietary requirements “were met exclusively by unculti- vated vegetables and wild gameˮ [73] (p. 591). Of note, “wild animals hunted for prey as food do not accumulate the high percentage of fat seen in domesticated pigs, sheep, or cattleˮ [74] (p. 914). Also, “since they had no domes- ticated animals, Stone Age people had no dairy products whatsoever after they were weanedˮ [75] (p. 816). Ergo, “the genetically ordered physiology of contemporary hu- mans was selected over eons of evolutionary experience for a nutritional pattern affording much less fatˮ [75] (p. 814). Indeed, “the fat intake in late Paleolithic diets was estimat- ed to be ~10%-20% of caloriesˮ [76] (p. 202).

There is “evidence that men with familial hypercholester-olemia can avoid early coronary deathˮ [77], simply “by strictly adhering to a low-fat diet without drugsˮ [77] (p. 224). This indirectly explains why “migration studies have clearly shown that the change from a low-fat diet (15% of energy as fat) to a diet similar to that usually consumed in the United States (37% of energy as fat) is associated with 20% higher body weight, 20% higher plasma cholesterol levels, and a three-fold higher incidence of coronary heart disease mortalityˮ [78] (p. 1454). This disease is one of the undesirable conditions that “are virtually unknown among the few surviving hunter gatherer populations whose way of life and eating habits most closely resemble those of preagricultural human beingsˮ [69] (p. 283).

The first 10 experimental studies on the Paleolithic diet were published between 2007 and 2015 [79-88]. All of them demonstrate its beneficial effects, as many papers based on EvolMed had heuristically predicted before 2007 [69,72,89-112]. A recent systematic review and meta-anal- ysis [113] concluded that “the Paleolithic diet resulted in greater short-term improvements in metabolic syndrome components than did guideline-based control dietsˮ [113] (p. 922).

Evolutionarily Conserved Physiological Traits

EvolMed recalls that “humans are not self-made creations dietarily, but rather have an evolutionary history as anthro- poid primates stretching back more than 25 million years, a history that shaped their nutrient requirements and di- gestive physiology well before they were humans or even protohumans. In hominoids, features such as nutrient re- quirements and digestive physiology appear to be geneti- cally conservative and probably were little affected by the hunter-gatherer phase of human existenceˮ [114] (p. 665). Accordingly, EvolMed argues that the linear absorption of diluted sugars is an evolutionarily conserved physiological trait that was selected well before the existence of Paleo- lithic humans. EvolMed can explain that linear absorption because its “evolutionary perspective fundamentally chal- lenges the prevalent but fundamentally incorrect metaphor of the body as a machine designed by an engineerˮ [68] (p. 28). Indeed, “bodies are not designed; they are shaped by natural selectionˮ [68] (p. 42). The evolutionary genetic molding of bodies occurs because “natural selection tends to increase the frequencies of alleles of individuals that survive and reproduce better than others in specific envi- ronmentsˮ [115] (p. 1800). Hence, these individuals are selectively “better adapted to their environmentsˮ [115] (p. 1800).

We should bear in mind that “one of the most important influences affecting genetic selection and adaptation is the interaction between a species and its food supplyˮ [75] (p. 814). Consequently, “available food shapes all species, and we were shaped by the fruit of the treeˮ [116] (p. 737), because “during the Miocene era (from about 24 to about 5 million years ago) fruits appear to have been the main di- etary constituent for hominidsˮ [69] (p. 284). Indeed, “early hominids ate fleshy fruitsˮ [117] (p. 368), and “the known early Miocene hominoids … probably had diets consisting largely of fruitˮ [118] (p. 630). We should also remember that “modern humans and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor who was chimp-like, forest-dwelling, and predominantly arboreal and fruit-eating between 5 and 8 Myr [million years] agoˮ [119] (p. 219). Anthropoids is “the group of higher primates that includes humans as well as monkeys and apesˮ [120] (p. 1516). These latter species of nonhuman primates still live on fruits. Notably, “the an- thropoid lineage may have emerged as many as 50 million or even 60 million years agoˮ [120] (p. 1516). Evolutionarily, “inside we’re all primate, equipped with the instinctive and anatomical arrangements for eating mainly fruitˮ [116](p. 737). Indeed, “our eating instincts, and our bodies that receive the food, were unalterably moulded during those 50 million years in the treesˮ [116] (p. 738). This corroborates the suggestion that “scenarists of hominid evolution wouldbe wise to pay more attention to arboreal lodging behavior in nonhuman primates because the reliance on trees was part of the hominid adaptive complex during much of our ancestryˮ [121].

Regarding the physiological data discussed above, “phys- iologists are interested in how organisms work. A subset of physiologists also wants to know why organisms are designed to work in particular ways. Unless one assumes special creation of all organisms, an understanding of such why questions requires an evolutionary perspectiveˮ [122] (p. 581). Accordingly, EvolMed explains that the linearly slow and calorie-constant absorption of diluted sugars con- stitutes an optimal adaptation to fresh fruits. This adapta- tion is really optimal because it preserves the blood glu- cose homeostasis of primates living on fresh fruits, which precisely contain mainly diluted sugars [123-125]. Fresh fruits are virtually “solid juicesˮ, because their solidity is due only to their tiny quantity of fiber. For instance, “the total fiber (unavailable carbohydrate and lignin) content of apples is only about 1.5% by weight, but this fiber is wholly responsible for the solidity of applesˮ [126] (p. 679). More- over, “as the time after ingestion of a solid meal increases it becomes a suspension of solid particles mixed with gas- tric secretions and thus comes to resemble a viscous liquid mixture rather than a solid mealˮ [127] (p. S11).

Some authors “postulated that, with fiber-depleted foods, there is abnormally rapid absorption of carbohydrate and hence excessive stimulation of insulin secretion, which could lead eventually to diabetesˮ [126] (p. 679). However, “with grapes, the insulin response to the whole fruit was, paradoxically, more than that to the juiceˮ [128] (p. 211). Nonetheless, it is true that the juices of other fruits, such as apples [126] and oranges [128,129], are slightly more in- sulinogenic than the whole fruits [126,128,129]. However, this difference, which may well reflect a somewhat slower absorption of the sugars from the whole fruits, cannot be of clinical importance in the prevention of diabetes. Indeed, the linearly slow and calorie-constant absorption of such fiber-free foods as glucose solutions [45-47] is already reg- ulatory enough to prevent any diabetogenic disruption of blood glucose homeostasis.

The range 0.2-1.08 kcal/ml [45-47] within which our ab- sorption of sugars is linear virtually overlaps the caloric range of the solutions of sugars present in fresh fruits [123- 125]. This further confirms that fresh fruits shaped our metabolic physiology of sugars. The “loss of regulation to caloric concentrationˮ [46] (p. R256) of glucose solu- tions exceeding the caloric range of sugars present in fresh fruits suggests that concentrated sugars are “genetically un- known foodsˮ [6,7]. One might object that our prehistoric ancestors also ingested such concentrated sugars as honey and dried fruits. Before apiculture, however, honey was rare and guarded by bees. Dried fruits were virtually non- existent in the “relatively heavily wooded habitatsˮ [117] (p. 368) of early African hominids, because of the frequent tropical-equatorial rains and the shade of those tick forests. Ergo, the ingestion of dense sugars was not frequent and abundant enough to produce a genetic adaptation similar to that originated by the daily and large ingestions of fresh fruits. This ancestral adaptation also explains why a diet rich in fresh fruits is beneficial to contemporary humans [130-137].

Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs)

The intake of SSBs has frequently been associated with diabetes [138-142], metabolic syndrome [143-146], and cardiovascular disease [147-154]. Besides being linked to these diseases, the intake of SSBs is also associated with weight gain [155-162] and obesity [163-168]. Obesityin itself is not a disease but “is a risk factor for chronic diseases and premature mortalityˮ [169] (p. 89), because it “is an independent predictor of clinical CVDˮ [170] (p. 1156), and “predisposes to non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, hypertension, dyslipidemia, cholelithiasis, some malignancies and osteoarthritisˮ [171] (p. 360). The asso- ciation of SSBs intake with those diseases and unwanted conditions is currently attributed to the “large quantities of easily absorbable sugarsˮ [141] (p. 1325) present in SSBs. Indeed, this attribution, although paraphrased with sub- stantially similar words, has been expressed by others, who wrote that SSBs are harmful because they “contain large amounts of rapidly resorbed carbohydratesˮ [142] (p. 6), and because of their “high content of rapidly absorbable carbohydratesˮ [146] (p. 2477). Notably, the adverb “rap- idlyˮ betrays the failure to realize that the absorption of diluted sugars, such as those of SSBs, is actually “slow and calorie constantˮ [45] (p. 76).

The deep-seated medical tenet attributing the harmfulness of SSBs to their quantity of sugar stigmatizes sugar and implicitly blames their heavy consumers. That settled ten- et seems to disprove the “sugar formˮ hypothesis. Indeed, “the sugar content of colas, soft drinks, fruit punches, 100% fruit juices, and liquid shakes is ~10–12 g/100 gˮ [172] (p. 658). Since sugar provides 4 kcal/g, one can easily calculate that all of those beverages are far from exceeding 1.08 kcal/ ml, which is the safety limit of sugar, according to the “sug- ar formˮ hypothesis. EvolMed once again demonstrates its heuristic ability by enabling us to realize that the quantity of sugar contained in SSBs is not responsible for their harmful effects. These damages are due to two neglected nutritional factors. We can detect them only thanks to the “maieuticˮ art that allows EvolMed to display its heuristic ability. This art derives its metaphorical meaning from the Greek words “μαιευτική τέχνηˮ (maieutiké téchne, i.e., ob- stetric art). The Greek philosopher Socrates used this art “to stimulate critical thinking and expose faulty reasoning through a series of questions and responsesˮ [173] (p. 538), which eventually delivered philosophical “truthsˮ. Like- wise, EvolMed raises three questions to identify the real culprits of the harmful effects misattributed to the quantity of sugar present in SSBs.

Lack of Potassium Makes SSBs Harmful

EvolMed poses this first maieutic question “Can we attri- bute the harmfulness of SSBs to their quantity of sucrose? Reason forces us to answer negatively. In fresh fruits, su- crose is generally the most abundant carbohydrate and its quantity often exceeds that of the other sugars combined [123-125]. Examples: 100 g of ripe banana contain 9.64 g of sucrose, 2.26 g of glucose, and 0.02 g of fructose [124]; 538 g of oranges contain 26.3 g of sucrose, 11.8 g of glu- cose, and 12.4 g of fructose [123]. Ergo, it is clear that our prehistoric ancestors living on fresh fruits ate sucrose in quantities exceeding those ingested by heavy consumers of SSBs. If we attribute the harmfulness of SSBs to their quantity of sucrose, then the untenable implication is that our remote ancestors were severely harmed by their main foods. Many nutritionists could object that SSBs are harm- ful because they contain added sugar, whereas fresh fruits are harmless because they contain naturally-occurring sug- ar. However, “there is often no difference in responses be- tween foods containing added sugars and those containing naturally-occurring sugarsˮ [174] (p. 613). This reflects the fact that “the classification of natural and added sugars is not very instructive because they are indistinguishable in metabolism or chemical compositionˮ [175] (p. 1486).

Other nutritionists discriminate “intrinsicˮ sugars from “extrinsicˮ sugars [176]. However, “such a classification of sugars was not based on scientific research and it remains impossible to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic sugars using any form of chemical analysisˮ [176] (p. 503).

A physical analysis, however, reveals that naturally-occur- ring and intrinsic sugars are always ingested in naturally diluted forms. Conversely, added and extrinsic sugars can be ingested in concentrated forms, too. Therefore, only the evolutionary discrimination between diluted sugars and concentrated sugars is clinically useful.

Both the absorption of diluted sugar of SSBs and the ab- sorption of solutions of sugar present in fruits are linear- ly slow and calorie-constant. However, SSBs are harmful, whereas those solutions are harmless. Hence, EvolMed poses this second maieutic question: What differentiates metabolically SSBs from the sugar solutions of fruits? Lack of potassium (K) is the answer. K has been defined “a non-celebrity cationˮ [177], because its medical impor- tance is generally neglected. SSBs, being solutions of refined sugar, do not contain K, whereas fresh fruits are rich in K [178]. This abundance of K in their main foods ex- plains why early humans “became exceedingly well adapt- ed to this very high-K diet. Such a diet could be considered the “naturalˮ diet of humansˮ [179] (p. 273). In view of the various benefits of K [180-187], it is arguable that K large- ly explains the benefits of fresh fruits [130-137]. Indeed, “fruits and vegetables have been associated with a benefit to bone health. Potassium levels in fruits and vegetables have been a leading candidate for this benefitˮ [180] (p. 371S). Furthermore, “higher dietary potassium intake is as- sociated with lower rates of stroke and might also reduce the risk of CHD [coronary heart disease] and total CVDˮ [181] (p. 1210). Unsurprisingly, “cardiovascular as well as total mortality was significantly lower among men with high fruit consumptionˮ [137] (p. 337). Moreover, many independent studies show that potassium protects against cancer [185]. K may well explain why “a diet that includes four or five fruits or vegetables per day substantially reduc- es the incidence of many types of cancersˮ [186]. The view that K largely explains the benefits of fresh fruits is further strengthened by the conclusion that “a low daily dietary supplement of K, equivalent to the content of five portions of fresh fruits and vegetables, induced a substantial reduc- tion in MAP [mean arterial pressure], similar in effect to single-drug therapy for hypertensionˮ [187] (p. 53).

EvolMed argues that the high content of K dissolved in fresh fruits played a central role in their ancestral shaping effects on our metabolic physiology of sugars. Hence, EvolMed predicts that a lack of K may compromise our metabolic responses to sugars. As an additional confirmation that EvolMed possesses remarkable heuristic abilities, “a large body of experimental evidence indicates that potassium de- ficiency leads to deterioration of carbohydrate toleranceˮ [188] (p. 1138). Indeed, “potassium depletion causes glu- cose intolerance, which is associated with impaired insulin secretionˮ [189] (p. 498). Predictably, “potassium supple- mentation during a 2-week fast was associated with a sta- tistically significant improvement in GTTˮ [190] (p. 1592). Thus, EvolMed surmises that the enormous quantities of diluted sucrose (80% of calories) that produced a “signifi- cant improvement in the oral GTTˮ [35] (p. 604) were sup- plemented with K. Indeed, those large amounts of diluted sugar were ingested in a liquid diet “supplemented with vi- tamins and mineralsˮ [35] (p. 600), which were unspecified but intuitively included K.

Many foods contain adequate K, thereby making glucose intolerance caused by K depletion improbable in moderate consumers of SSBs. However, to prevent glucose intoler- ance in persons whose caloric intake derives mainly from SSBs, EvolMed recommends supplementing SSBs with at least ~90 mg/100 ml of K, because 83 mg/100 g is the lowest content of K found in 23 varieties of fresh fruits [178]. That supplementation should be in the form of K citrate, not K chloride, to mimic as much as possible fresh fruits, which contain K in non-chloride salts [191]. Chlo- ride concurs to produce hypertensive effects [192]. This may explain why K citrate proved more beneficial than K chloride in reducing blood pressure [193]. Other studies [194,195] found that the effects of K citrate and K chloride “did not differ significantlyˮ [194] (p. 1284). Nonetheless, leaving aside possible economic reasons, there is no scien- tific reason to supplement SSBs with K chloride instead of non-chloride salts.

Dietary Salt Makes SSBs More Harmful

EvolMed poses this third maieutic question: Which dietary factor absent in prehistoric nutrition can alter the metabolic response to SSBs? Dietary salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) is the answer. As rightly stressed, “the diet of early humans was unsalted, and the Na content of breast milk (6 mmol/ kg) shows how little NaCl is needed even during the most rapid period of growthˮ [196] (p. S35). EvolMed argues that the tiny content of Na of breast milk is an evolution- arily conserved result of the ancestral diets based on fruits, in which the disproportion between K and Na is impres- sive. For instance, “a single serving (150 g) of raw, sliced bananas contains 594 mg (15.2 mmol) of K,..., and 1 mg (0.043 mmol) of Naˮ [197] (p. 649). However, “humans began to use large amounts of salt for the main purpose of food preservation approximately 5,000 years agoˮ [198] (p. 83). This period is 10,000 times shorter than the 50 million years of our evolutionary lineage as anthropoids [120] liv- ing on unsalted diets based on fresh fruits, which abound in K but contain little Na [178,197]. So, “in response to these dietary habits, evolutionary forces (acting over millions of years) fostered the development of physiological systems (primarily renal) that conserved sodium and excreted potas- siumˮ [199] (p. 45E). That period of 5,000 years is “brief, by evolutionary standards … and thus, there has been little time for the physiologic systems that promote sodium re- tention and potassium excretion to adaptˮ [199] (p. 45E). Even an incomplete adaptation to salt would have rendered it almost harmless. In fact, a complete evolutionary ad- aptation of a given species to any environmental dietary component entails that this component became not only harmless, but also beneficial to that species. For example, the evolutionary adaptation of early humans to fresh fruits was so perfectly complete that these foods are beneficial to modern humans [130-137]. By implication, the various harmful effects of salt [200] show that we are far from be- ing adapted to salt, which was nutritionally unknown for the 99.99% of our evolutionary history.

Virtually all the harmful effects of salt are opposite to the beneficial effects of fruits or K. Salt favors hypertension [201-205]; fruits or K prevent it [206-209]. Salt favors car- diovascular disease [210-214]; fruits or K prevent it [214- 216]. Salt favors stroke [217-219]; fruits or K prevent it [220-222]. Salt favors osteoporosis [223-225]; fruits or K prevent it [180,226]. Salt favors cancer [227-230]; fruits or K prevent it [231-234]. Salt favors asthma [235-237]; fruits prevent it [238-240]. Salt favors kidney stone forma- tion [241-243]; fruits or K prevent it [244-246]. Salt favors heart failure [247-249]; K prevents it [250,251]. Revealingly, the authors who found “a low sodium, high water, high potassium regimenˮ [251] to be very beneficial “even in refractory cardiac failureˮ [251] (p. 243) unknowingly used a regimen mimicking the composition of fresh fruits. Finally, salt restriction benefits also patients with chronic kidney disease [252- 255]. Hence, “substantial health benefits might be achieved when added salt is removed from processed foodsˮ [256] (p. 446).

Because of the “multiorgan targetsˮ of Na [257], salt has been defined “the neglected silent killerˮ [258]. Indeed, “higher sodium intake is associated with increased total mortality in the general US populationˮ [259] (p. 1183). This association also reflects the neglected harmful effects of salt on the absorption of SSBs. Many consumers of SSBs ingest them jointly with salt-containing foods. For example, afterschool programs served SSBs and “salty snacksˮ [260] (p. 118). In the stomach, at least a tiny part of their salt unavoidably passes into SSBs, thereby unhealth- ily compromising their normal physiological absorption. Indeed, “at low concentrations the addition of sodium chlo- ride and sodium sulphate to test meals increased the rate of gastric emptyingˮ [261] (p. 268). As additional evidence that Na and K almost invariably produce opposite effects, “potassium chloride was … effective in slowing gastric emptyingˮ [261] (p. 256). The accelerating effect of Na on absorption occurs because Na “greatly facilitates glucose uptakeˮ [262] (p. 1228). Consequently, “sodium ion … increases the rate of absorption of glucoseˮ [43] (p. 318). This confirms the importance of “the role of sodium in in- testinal glucose absorption in manˮ [263]. Indeed, “a small amount of NaCl in the solutions can potentiate intestinal absorption of sugarsˮ [44] (p. 558). As a metabolic conse- quence, “the addition of sodium chloride enhances the gly- cemic response to glucose ingestion through facilitation of intestinal absorptionˮ [264] (p. 458). Therefore, dietary salt unnaturally accelerates the absorption of diluted glucose, thereby abnormally turning its typically linear and harm- less absorption into a virtually exponential harmful absorp- tion. Remembering that the absorption of diluted glucose and diluted sucrose are physiologically identical [43], it is evident that the salt-induced hastened absorption of SSBs largely accounts for their observed harmfulness [138-154].

The accelerating effect of salt on the absorption of diluted sugar is also responsible for the weight gain and obesity linked to SSBs consumption [155-168]. Some authors did realize that dietary salt concurs to explain the association between SSBs and obesity [265-267]. However, they failed to mention the accelerating effect of salt on the absorption of sugar. Those authors merely suggest that salt, by causing thirst, “may drive greater consumption of SSBs and con- tribute to obesity riskˮ [266] (p. 189). Without salt, SSBs are unlikely to favor obesity, because EvolMed suggests that the linear absorption of diluted sugar is a function of exogenous glucose oxidation [268,269]. This entails that the rate of absorption of SSBs is regulated by the personal caloric needs of their individual consumer, thereby mak- ing his/her weight gain virtually impossible. Tellingly, the Yanomamo Indians, who live mainly on bananas [270], the most caloric fruits [123-125], “are seldom obese and rare- ly demonstrate weight gain with advance in ageˮ [270] (p. 150), thanks to their “no-saltˮ diet [270] and to the linear absorption of diluted sugars of bananas. Of note, those In- dians “are physically a highly active peopleˮ [270] (p. 150). Thus, as was appropriately remarked, “these observations on an unacculturated people provide further support for Dahlʼs conclusion that in civilized societies “salt appetite is not to be equated with salt requirementˮ”[270] (p. 151).

Fructose

Although “both controversy and confusion exist concern- ing fructose, sucrose, and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) with respect to their metabolism and health effectsˮ [271] (p. 236), this article so far focused only on sucrose. How- ever, for the sake of completeness, now it is opportune to add a brief discussion about fructose and HFCS in evolu- tionary perspective. Once again, the explanatory capacities of EvolMed enable us to shed a clarifying light on another otherwise obscure medical issue, namely, the controversial and confuse topic regarding fructose and HFCS.

EvolMed explains that pure fructose proved harmful [272- 276] because it represents one of the “genetically unknown foodsˮ [6,7] that were unavailable to our prehistoric ances- tors. Indeed, pure fructose is inexistent in nature. They in- gested fructose only by eating fresh fruits, in which fructose is always diluted and indivisibly commingled with diluted glucose [123-125]. Consequently, the linear absorption of diluted glucose [45-47] prevents fructose from display- ing its typically exponential absorption, which conversely is evident when fructose is investigated isolatedly [277]. In fact, “fructose empties exponentially and more rapidly than the other sugarsˮ [277] (p. R25). Considering that “the rate of delivery of fructose is twice that seen with glucoseˮ [277] (p. R26), it is clear why pure fructose proved harmful [272-276].

As to fructose contained in HFCS, “some would like to continue to demonize HFCSˮ [278] (p. 1715S) by claim- ing that “the large amounts of fructose now consumed from sugar or HFCS are hazardous to our healthˮ [279] (p. 1004). HFCS “has replaced sucrose as the predominant sweetener used in soft drinksˮ [280] (p. 1195). EvolMed argues that diluted HFCS cannot be harmful because “HFCS is very similar to sucrose, being about 55% fructose and 45% glu- coseˮ [278] (p. 1715S). Indeed, sucrose “is composed of 50% glucose and 50% fructoseˮ [280] (p. 1195). Therefore, “not surprisingly, few metabolic differences were found comparing HFCS and sucroseˮ [278] (p. 1715S). The over- lapping effects of sucrose and HFCS have been confirmed by a study entitled “Consumption of honey, sucrose, and high-fructose corn syrup produces similar metabolic effects in glucose-tolerant and intolerant individualsˮ [281]. Notably, honey is metabolically similar to sucrose and HFCS because it shares their composition, i.e., fructose and glucose. Indeed, “the principal carbohydrate constitu- ents of honey are fructose (32.56% to 38.2%) and glucose (28.54% to 31.3%), which represents 85%–95% of total sugarsˮ [282] (p. 732).

Conclusion

In fresh fruits, fructose is always present, often abundant- ly. Some fruits contain more fructose than the other sugars combined. For instance, 100 g of apples contain 6.08 g of fructose, 3.62 g of sucrose, and 1.72 g of glucose [125] (p. 94). Hence, it is intuitive that our prehistoric ancestors living on fresh fruits for tens of millions of years ate fructose in daily quantities exceeding those ingested today by consumers of SSBs containing mainly HFCS. Therefore, it is absurd to define “fructose as a weapon of mass destruction” [283]. These evolutionarily nonsensical words, written in the title of a medical article aimed at demonizing unjustly HFCS, constitute a sad and disheartening proof that “the canyon between evolutionary biology and medicine is wide” [68] (p. 28). Indeed, “evolutionary biology is an essential basic science for medicine, but few doctors and medical researchers are familiar with its most relevant principles” [68] (p. 28). Therefore, it is appropriate to conclude this article by emphasizing that “teaching medical students about our evolutionary legacy and the biological forces that shaped our past will help them to be better prepared for our future” [284] (p. 8).

References

1. R. E Pollack, Book Review. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, N Engl J Med, 337 (1997), 137.
2. P. H Clayton, A promise rather than a threat, Am Sci, 84 (1996), 289-91.
3. J. S Alpert, In medicine, signs of evolution are ever-present, Am J Med, 119 (2006), 291.
4. R. B Hanson, F. E Bloom, Fending off furtive strategists, Science, 285 (1999). 1847.
5. R Baschetti, Sucrose metabolism, N Z Med J, 110 (1997), 43.
6. R Baschetti, Diabetes epidemic in newly westernized populations: is it due to thrifty genes or to genetically unknown foods? J R Soc Med, 91 (1998), 622-5.
7. R Baschetti, Genetically unknown foods or thrifty genes? Am J Clin Nutr, 70 (1999), 420-1.
8. R Baschetti, Sucrose in weight-loss regimens, Am J Clin Nutr, 67 (1998), 150-1.
9. R Baschetti, High-sucrose diets and insulin sensitivity, Am J Clin Nutr, 69 (1999), 575-6.
10. R Baschetti, Concentrations of sugars in high-carbohydrate diets, Am J Clin Nutr, 73 (2001), 129-30.
11. R Baschetti, Evolutionary legacy: form of ingestion, not quantity, is the key factor in producing the effects of sugar on human health, Med Hypotheses, 63 (2004), 933-8.
12. P Marckmann, A Raben, A Astrup, Ad libitum intake of low-fat diets rich in either starchy foods or sucrose: effects on blood lipids, factor VII coagulant activity, and fibrinogen, Metabolism, 49 (2000), 731-5.
13. M. E Daly, C Vale, M Walker, A Littlefield, KGMM Alberti, et al, Acute effects on insulin sensitivity and diurnal metabolic profiles of a high-sucrose compared with a high-starch diet, Am J Clin Nutr, 67 (1998), 1186â??96.
14. J. P Bantle, J. E Swanson, W Thomas, D. C Laine, Metabolic effects of dietary sucrose in type II diabetic subjects, Diabetes Care, 16 (1993), 1301-5.
15. J Yudkin, O Eisa, S. S Kang, S Meraji, K. R Bruckdorfer, Dietary sucrose affects plasma HDL cholesterol concentration in young men, Ann Nutr Metab, 30 (1986), 261â??6.
16. A. M Coulston, C. B Hollenbeck, C. C Donner, R Williams, Y. A Chiou, et al, Metabolic effects of added dietary sucrose in individuals with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), Metabolism, 34 (1985), 962â?? 6.
17. G Liu, A Coulston, C Hollenbeck, G Reaven, The effect of sucrose content in high and low carbohydrate diets on plasma glucose, insulin, and lipid responses in hypertriglyceridemic humans, J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 59 (1984), 636â??42.
18. F Grande, J. T Anderson, A Keys, Sucrose and various carbohydrate-containing foods and serum lipids in man, Am J Clin Nutr, 27 (1974), 1043-51.
19. M. G Dunnigan, T Fyfe, M. T McKiddie, S. M Crosbie, The effects of isocaloric exchange of dietary starch and sucrose on glucose tolerance, plasma insulin and serum lipids in man, Clin Sci, 38 (1970), 1-9.
20. S Szanto, J Yudkin, The effect of dietary sucrose on blood lipids, serum insulin, platelet adhesiveness and body weight in human volunteers, Postgrad Med J, 45 (1969), 602-7.
21. A. M Cohen, A Teitelbaum, M Balogh, J. J Groen, Effect of interchanging bread and sucrose as main source of carbohydrate in a low fat diet on the glucose tolerance curve of healthy volunteer subjects, Am J Clin Nutr, 19 (1966), 59-62.
22. P. T Kuo, D. R Bassett, Dietary sugar in the production of hyperglyceridemia, Ann Intern Med, 62 (1965), 1199â??212.
23. M Konner, A dose of Dr Darwin, Nature, 375 (1995), 641-2.
24. P Alderson, The importance of theories in health care, BMJ, 317 (1998), 1007-10.
25. L Holmberg, M Baum, Work on your theories!, Nat Med, 2 (1996), 844-6.
26. M. A Goldman, Evolution rising from the grave, Nature, 404 (2000), 15-6.
27. A Kornberg, Science in the stationary phase, Science, 269 (1995), 1799.
28. C. B Hollenbeck , A. M Coulston, G. M Reaven, Effects of sucrose on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in NIDDM patients, Diabetes Care, 12 (1989), 62-6.
29. Editorial. Diabetes: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, Lancet, 386 (2015), 932.
30. S. C Stearns, R. M Nesse, D. R Govindaraju, P. T Ellison, Evolutionary perspectives on health and medicine, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 107 ( 2010), 1691-5.
31. K. N Frayn, S. M Kingman, Dietary sugars and lipid metabolism in humans, Am J Clin Nutr, 62 (1995), 250S-261S.
32. J. B Smith, B. E Niven, J. I Mann, The effect of reduced extrinsic sucrose intake on plasma triglyceride levels, Eur J Clin Nutr, 50 (1996), 498-504.
33. S Colagiuri, J. J Miller, R. A Edwards, Metabolic effects of adding sucrose and aspartame to the diet of subjects with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Am J Clin Nutr, 50 (1989), 474-8.
34. S Gibson, P Gunn, A Wittekind, R Cottrell, The effects of sucrose on metabolic health: a systematic review of human intervention studies in healthy adults, Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 53 (2013), 591-614.
35. J. W Anderson, R. H Herman, D Zakim, Effect of high glucose and high sucrose diets on glucose tolerance of normal men, Am J Clin Nutr, 26 (1973), 600-7.
36. S Reiser, H. B Handler, L. B Gardner, J. G Hallfrisch , O. E Michaelis, 4th, E. S Prather, Isocaloric exchange of dietary starch and sucrose in humans. II. Effect on fasting blood insulin, glucose, and glucagon and on insulin and glucose response to a sucrose load, Am J Clin Nutr, 32 (1979), 2206-16.
37. G. D Campbell, E. L Batchelor, M. D Goldberg, Sugar intake and diabetes, Diabetes, 16 (1967), 62-3.
38. C Abraira, J Derler, Large variations of sucrose in constant carbohydrate diets in type II diabetes. Am J Med 1988;84:193-200.
39. S Reiser, J Hallfrisch, O. E Michaelis 4th, F. L Lazar, R. E Martin, et al, Isocaloric exchange of dietary starch and sucrose in humans. I. Effects on levels of fasting blood lipids, Am J Clin Nutr, 32 (1979), 1659-69.
40. M Horowitz, M. A Edelbroek, J. M Wishart, J. W Straathof, Relationship between oral glucose tolerance and gastric emptying in normal healthy subjects, Diabetologia, 36 (1993), 857-62.
41. B Eliasson, E Björnsson, V Urbanavicius, H Andersson, J Fowelin, et al, Hyperinsulinaemia impairs gastrointestinal motility and slows carbohydrate absorption, Diabetologia, 38 (1995), 79- 85.
42. W. T Phillips, J. G Schwartz, R Blumhardt, C. A McMahan, Determining gastric emptying rate, J Nucl Med, 32 (1991), 2025.
43. E Elias, G. J Gibson, L. F Greenwood, J. N Hunt, J. H Tripp, The slowing of gastric emptying by monosaccharides and disaccharides in test meals, J Physiol, 194 (1968), 317-26.
44. J. A Calbet, D. A MacLean, Role of caloric content on gastric emptying in humans, J Physiol, 498 (1997), 553-9.
45. W Brener, T. R Hendrix, P. R McHugh, Regulation of the gastric emptying of glucose, Gastroenterology, 85 (1983), 76-82.
46. P. R McHugh, T. H Moran, Calories and gastric emptying: a regulatory capacity with implications for feeding, Am J Physiol, 236 (1979), 254-60.
47. W. T Phillips, J. G Schwartz, R Blumhardt, C. A McMahan, Linear gastric emptying of hyperosmolar glucose solutions, J Nucl Med, (1991), 377-81.
48. Q Yang, Z Zhang, E. W Gregg, W. D Flanders, R Merritt, et al. Added sugar intake and cardiovascular diseases mortality among US adults, JAMA Intern Med, 174 (2014), 516-24.
49. N. V Dhurandhar, D Thomas, The link between dietary sugar intake and cardiovascular disease mortality: an unresolved question, JAMA, 313 (2015), 959-60.
50. N. M Avena, M. N Potenza, M. S Gold, Why are we consuming so much sugar despite knowing too much can harm us? JAMA Intern Med, 175 (2015), 145-6.
51. Q Yang, Z Zhang, F. B Hu, Why are we consuming so much sugar despite knowing too much can harm us?-Reply,JAMA Intern Med, 175 (2015), 146.
52. M McCarthy, Higher sugar intake linked to raised risk of cardiovascular mortality, study finds, BMJ, 348 (2014), 1352.
53. B. M Mearns, Public health: Increased risk of cardiovascular death in adults who eat high levels of added sugar, Nat Rev Cardiol, 11 ( 2014), 187.
54. L. A Schmidt, New unsweetened truths about sugar, JAMA Intern Med, 174 (2014), 525-6.
55. P. R McHugh, T. H Moran, J. B Wirth, Postpyloric regulation of gastric emptying in rhesus monkeys, Am J Physiol, 243 ( 1982), 408-15.
56. M Brüne, Z Hochberg, Evolutionary medicine--the quest for a better understanding of health, diseaseand prevention, BMC Med, 11 (2013), 116.
57. S. C Stearns, Evolutionary medicine: its scope, interest and potential, Proc Biol Sci, 279 (2012), 4305-4321.
58. L Sattenspiel, Evolutionary medicine, JAMA 284 (2000), 99-100.
59. Alcock Joe, Emergence of evolutionary medicine: publication trends from 1991-2010, J Evol Med, 1 (2012), 235572.
60. E Pennisi, Darwinian medicine's drawn-out dawn Science, 334 (2011), 1486-1487.
61. R. M Nesse, How is Darwinian medicine useful? West J Med, 174 (2001), 358-360.
62. R Finn, Darwinian medicine, J R Soc Med, 89 (1996), 475-476.
63. M. E Goldsmith, Ancestors may provide clinical answers, say 'Darwinian' medical evolutionists, JAMA, 269 (1993),1477-1480.
64. G. C Williams, R. M Nesse, The dawn of Darwinian medicine, Q Rev Biol, 66 (1991), 1-22.
65. R. M Nesse, S. C Stearns, G. S Omenn, Medicine needs evolution, Science 311 (2006), 1071.
66. M Lee, Evolution and healing, Lancet, 346 (1995), 686.
67. A Varki, Nothing in medicine makes sense, except in the light of evolution, J Mol Med, 90 (2012) 481-494.
68. R. M Nesse, S. C Stearns, The great opportunity: Evolutionary applications to medicine and public health, Evol Appl, 1 (2008) 28-48.
69. S. B Eaton, M Konner, Paleolithic nutrition. A consideration of its nature and current implications, N Engl J Med, 312 (1985), 283-289.
70. L Cordain, S. B Eaton, A Sebastian, N Mann, S Lindeberg,et.al, Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century, Am J Clin Nutr, 81 (2005) 341-354.
71. A. P Simopoulos, Genetic variation and nutrition, Nutr Rev, 57 (1999), 9-10.
72. S. B Eaton, M Konner, M Shostak, Stone agers in the fast lane: chronic degenerative diseases in evolutionary perspective, Am J Med, 84 (1988); 739-749.
73. W. C Roberts, Preventing and arresting coronary atherosclerosis, Am Heart J, 130 (1995) 580-600.
74. K. J Carpenter, Protein requirements of adults from an evolutionary perspective, Am J Clin Nutr, 55 (1992) 913-917.
75. S. B Eaton, Humans, lipids and evolution, Lipids, 27 (1992) 814-820.
76. W. S Poston 2nd, JP Foreyt, Obesity is an environmental issue, Atherosclerosis, 146 (1999), 201-209.
77. R. R Williams, S. J Hasstedt, D. E Wilson, K. O Ash, F. F Yanowitz, et al, Evidence that men with familial hypercholesterolemia can avoid early coronary death. An analysis of 77 gene carriers in four Utah pedigrees, JAMA, 255 (1986) 219-224.
78. E. J Schaefer, A. H Lichtenstein, S Lamon-Fava, J. R McNamara, M. M Schaefer, H Rasmussen, J. M Ordovas, Body weight and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol changes after consumption of a low-fat ad libitum diet. JAMA 274 (1995), 1450-1455.
79. U Masharani, P Sherchan, M Schloetter, S Stratford, A Xiao, et al, Metabolic and physiologic effects from consuming a hunter-gatherer (Paleolithic)-type diet in type 2 diabetes, Eur J Clin Nutr, 69 (2015), 944-948.
80. R. L Pastore, J. T Brooks, J. W Carbone, Paleolithic nutrition improves plasma lipid concentrations of hypercholesterolemic adults to a greater extent than traditional heart-healthy dietary recommendations, Nutr Res, 35 (2015), 474-479.
81. H. F Bligh, I. F Godsland, G Frost, K. J Hunter, P Murray, et al, Plant-rich mixed meals based on Palaeolithic diet principles have a dramatic impact on incretin, peptide YY and satiety response, but show little effect on glucose and insulin homeostasis: an acute-effects randomised study, Br J Nutr, 113 (2015), 574-584.
82. I Boers, F. A Muskiet, E Berkelaar, E Schut, R Penders, et al, Favourable effects of consuming a Palaeolithic-type diet on characteristics of the metabolic syndrome: a randomized controlled pilot-study, Lipids Health Dis, 13 (2014), 160.
83. T Jönsson, Y Granfeldt, S Lindeberg, A. C Hallberg, Subjective satiety and other experiences of a Paleolithic diet compared to a diabetes diet in patients with type 2 diabetes, Nutr J, 12 (2013), 105.
84. T Jönsson, Y Granfeldt, C Erlanson-Albertsson, B Ahrén, S Lindeberg, A paleolithic diet is more satiating per calorie than a mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischemic heart disease, Nutr Metab, 7 (2010), 85.
85. T Jönsson, Y Granfeldt, B Ahrén, U. C Branell, G Pålsson, et al, Beneficial effects of a Paleolithic diet on cardiovascular risk factors in type 2 diabetes: a randomized cross-over pilot study, Cardiovasc Diabetol, 8 (2009) 35.
86. L. A Frassetto, M Schloetter, M Mietus-Synder, R. C Morris Jr, A Sebastian, Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet, Eur J Clin Nutr, 63 (2009), 947-955.
87. M Osterdahl, T Kocturk, A Koochek, P. E Wändell, Effects of a short-term intervention with a paleolithic diet in healthy volunteers, Eur J Clin Nutr, 62 (2008) 682-685.
88. S Lindeberg, T Jönsson, Y Granfeldt, E Borgstrand, J Soffman, et al, A Palaeolithic diet improves glucose tolerance more than a Mediterranean-like diet in individuals with ischaemic heart disease, Diabetologia, 50 (2007) 1795-1807.
89. R Baschetti, Carbohydrate intake, serum lipids and evolution, J Am Coll Nutr, 25 (2006), 437.
90. R Baschetti, Definition of low-fat diets, Arch Intern Med, 166 (2006), 1419-1420.
91. R Baschetti, Diabetes susceptibility, CMAJ, 174 (2006), 1597-1598.
92. S. B Eaton, The ancestral human diet: what was it and should it be a paradigm for contemporary nutrition? Proc Nutr Soc, 65 (2006), 1-6.
93. R Baschetti, The ideal diet is the one indicated by evolution, Am J Cardiol, 96 (2005), 166.
94. J. H O'Keefe Jr, L Cordain, Cardiovascular disease resulting from a diet and lifestyle at odds with our Paleolithic genome: how to become a 21st-century hunter-gatherer, Mayo Clin Proc, 79 (2004), 101-108.
95. R Baschetti, The diet-heart hypothesis: an evolutionary support, J Am Coll Cardiol, 44 (2004), 1934-1935.
96. R Baschetti, Preventing Type 2 diabetes: an evolutionary view, Diabet Med, 21 (2004), 649-650.
97. S. B Eaton, B. I Strassman, R. M Nesse, J. V Neel, P. W Ewald, et al, Evolutionary health promotion, Prev Med, 34 (2002), 109-118.
98. S. B Eaton, L Cordain, S Lindeberg, Evolutionary health promotion: a consideration of common counterarguments, Prev Med, 34 (2002) 119-123.
99. S. B Eaton, S. B Eaton 3rd, Paleolithic vs. modern diets--selected pathophysiological implications, Eur J Nutr , 39 (2000), 67-70.
100. R Baschetti, Effect of dietary manipulations on plasma leptin, Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord, 24 (2000), 1542-1543.
101. R Baschetti, Diabetes in aboriginal populations, CMAJ, 162 (2000), 969.
102. R Baschetti, Vegetarian diet, QJM, 93 (2000), 387.
103. R Baschetti, Very-low fat diets, Circulation, 100 (1999), 1013.
104. R Baschetti, Comment on Laurila and colleagues' article, Atherosclerosis, 147 (1999) 199-200.
105. R Baschetti, Evolution, cholesterol, and low-fat diets, Circulation, 99 (1999) 166.
106. R Baschetti, Low carbohydrate intake and oral glucose-tolerance tests, Lancet, 352 (1998),1223-1224.
107. R Baschetti, Low-fat diets and HDL cholesterol, Am J Clin Nutr, 68 (1998), 1143-1144.
108. S. B Eaton, S. B Eaton 3rd, MJ Konner, Paleolithic nutrition revisited: a twelve-year retrospective on its nature and implications, Eur J Clin Nutr, 51 (1997), 207-216.
109. R Baschetti, Paleolithic nutrition, Eur J Clin Nutr, 51 (1997), 715-716.
110. R Baschetti, The low fat/low cholesterol diet, Eur Heart J, 18 (1997), 1514-1515.
111. S. B Eaton, S. B Eaton 3rd, MJ Konner, M Shostak, An evolutionary perspective enhances understanding of human nutritional requirements, J Nutr, 126 (1996), 1732-1740.
112. D. P Burkitt, SB Eaton, Putting the wrong fuel in the tank, Nutrition, 5 (1989), 189-191.
113. E. W Manheimer, E. J van Zuuren, Z Fedorowicz, H Pijl, Paleolithic nutrition for metabolic syndrome: systematic review and meta-analysis, Am J Clin Nutr, 102 (2015), 922-932.
114. K Milton, Hunter-gatherer diets-a different perspective, Am J Clin Nutr, 71 (2000), 665-667.
115. R. M Nesse, CT Bergstrom, PT Ellison, JS Flier, P Gluckman, et al, Making evolutionary biology a basic science for medicine, Proc Natl Acad Sci, 107 (2010), 1800-1807.
116. E Hackett, The fruit people. Part 1, Med J Aust, 141 (1984), 736-738.
117. M Sponheimer, J. A Lee-Thorp, Isotopic evidence for the diet of an early hominid, Australopithecus africanus, Science, 283 (1999), 368-370.
118. R. F Kay, Diets of early Miocene African hominoids, Nature, 268 (1977), 628-630.
119. B Wood, A Brooks, We are what we ate, Nature, 400 (1999), 219-220.
120. E Culotta, A new take on anthropoid originsm, Science, 256 (1992), 1516-1517.
121. R. H Tuttle, Great ape societies, Am Sci, 86 (1998), 90.
122. T Garland Jr, P. A Carter, Evolutionary physiology, Annu Rev Physiol, 56 (1994), 579-621.
123. M Lunetta, M Di Mauro, S Crimi, L Mughini, No important differences in glycaemic responses to common fruits in type 2 diabetic patients, Diabet Med, 12 (1995), 674-678.
124. C Roongpisuthipong, S Banphotkasem, S Komindr, V Tanphaichitr, Postprandial glucose and insulin responses to various tropical fruits of equivalent carbohydrate content in non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, Diabetes Res Clin Pract, 14 (1991), 123-131.
125. J Hoover-Plow, J Savesky, G Dailey, The glycemic response to meals with six different fruits in insulin- dependent diabetics using a home blood-glucose monitoring system, Am J Clin Nutr, 45 (1987), 92-97.
126. G. B Haber, K. W Heaton, D Murphy, L .F Burroughs, Depletion and disruption of dietary fibre. Effects on satiety, plasma-glucose, and serum-insulin, Lancet, 2 (1977), 679-682.
127. I. A Macdonald, Physiological regulation of gastric emptying and glucose absorption, Diabet Med, 13 (1996), 11-15.
128. R. P Bolton, K. W Heaton, Burroughs L. F, The role of dietary fiber in satiety, glucose, and insulin: studies with fruit and fruit juice, Am J Clin Nutr, 34 (1981), 211-217.
129. R. M Kay, Stitt S. Food form, postprandial glycemia, and satiety, Am J Clin Nutr, 31 (1978), 738-739.
130. Z. M Liu, J Leung, S. Y Wong, C. K Wong, R Chan, et al, Greater fruit intake was associated with better bone mineral status among Chinese elderly men and women: results of Hong Kong Mr. Os and Ms. Os studies, J Am Med Dir Assoc, 16 (2015), 309-315.
131. M. A Davis, J. P Bynum, B. E Sirovich, Association between apple consumption and physician visits: appealing the conventional wisdom that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, JAMA Intern Med, 175 (2015), 777-783.
132. S Subash, M. M Essa, S Al-Adawi, M. A Memon, T Manivasagam, et al, Neuroprotective effects of berry fruits on neurodegenerative diseases, Neural Regen Res, 9 (2014), 1557-1566.
133. Q Wang, Y Chen, X Wang, G Gong, I . G L. , et al, Consumption of fruit, but not vegetables, may reduce risk of gastric cancer: results from a meta-analysis of cohort studies, Eur J Cancer, 50 (2014), 1498-1509.
134. C Ciacci, I Russo, C Bucci, P Iovino, L Pellegrini, et al, The kiwi fruit peptide kissper displays anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects in in-vitro and ex-vivo human intestinal models, Clin Exp Immunol, 175 (2014), 476-484.
135. S Asgary, A Sahebkar, M. R Afshani, M Keshvari, S Haghjooyjavanmard, et al, Clinical evaluation of blood pressure lowering, endothelial function improving, hypolipidemic and anti-inflammatory effects of pomegranate juice in hypertensive subjects, Phytother Res, 28 (2014), 193-199.
136. S Gorinstein, A Caspi, I Libman, E Katrich, H. T Lerner, et al, Preventive effects of diets supplemented with sweetie fruits in hypercholesterolemic patients suffering from coronary artery disease, Prev Med, 38 (2004), 841-847.
137. E Strandhagen, P. O Hansson, I Bosaeus, B Isaksson, H Eriksson, High fruit intake may reduce mortality among middle-aged and elderly men. The Study of Men Born in 1913, Eur J Clin Nutr, 54 (2000), 337-341.
138. M Wang, M Yu, L Fang, R. Y Hu, Association between sugar-sweetened beverages and type 2 diabetes: A meta- analysis, J Diabetes Investig, 6 (2015), 360-366.
139. N Teshima, M Shimo, K Miyazawa, S Konegawa, A Matsumoto, et al, Effects of sugar-sweetened beverage intake on the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance: the mihama diabetes prevention study, J Nutr Sci Vitaminol, 61 (2015), 14-19.
140. L O'Connor, F Imamura, M. A Lentjes, K. T Khaw, N. J Wareham, et al, Prospective associations and population impact of sweet beverage intake and type 2 diabetes, and effects of substitutions with alternative beverages, Diabetologia, 58 (2015), 1474-1483.
141. L de Koning, V. S Malik, E. B Rimm, W. C Willett, F. B Hu, Sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverage consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in men, Am J Clin Nutr, 93 (2011), 1321-1327.
142. J. R Palmer, D. A Boggs, S Krishnan, F. B Hu, M Singer, et al, Sugar-sweetened beverages and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in African American women, Arch Intern Med, 168 (2008), 1487-1492.
143. P Mirmiran, E Yuzbashian, G Asghari, S Hosseinpour-Niazi, F Azizi, Consumption of sugar sweetened beverage is associated with incidence of metabolic syndrome in Tehranian children and adolescents, Nutr Metab , 12 (2015), 25.
144. H. S Ejtahed, Z Bahadoran, P Mirmiran, F Azizi, Sugar-sweetened beverage consumption is associated with metabolic syndrome in Iranian adults: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study, Endocrinol Metab, 30 (2015), 334-342.
145. T. F Chan, W. T Lin, H. L Huang, C. Y Lee, P. W Wu, et al, Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with components of the metabolic syndrome in adolescents, Nutrients, 6 (2014), 2088-2103.
146. V. S Malik, B. M Popkin, G. A Bray, J. P Després, W. C Willett, et al, Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes: a meta-analysis, Diabetes Care, 33 (2010), 2477-2483.
147. G. L Ambrosini, W. H Oddy, R. C Huang, T. A Mori, L. J Beilin, et al, Prospective associations between sugar- sweetened beverage intakes and cardiometabolic risk factors in adolescents, Am J Clin Nutr, 98 (2013), 327-334.
148. E. C Kosova, P Auinger, A. A Bremer, The relationships between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and cardiometabolic markers in young children, J Acad Nutr Diet, 113 (2013), 219-227.
149. B Richelsen, Sugar-sweetened beverages and cardio-metabolic disease risks, Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care,16 (2013), 478-484.
150. L de Koning, V. S Malik, M. D Kellogg, E. B Rimm, W. C Willett, et al, Sweetened beverage consumption, incident coronary heart disease, and biomarkers of risk in men, Circulation, 125 (2012), 1735-1741.
151. M. D Huffman, Association or causation of sugar-sweetened beverages and coronary heart disease: recalling Sir, Austin Bradford Hill. Circulatio, 125 (2012), 1718-20.
152. I Aeberli, P. A Gerber, M Hochuli, S Kohler, S R Haile, et al, Low to moderate sugar-sweetened beverage consumption impairs glucose and lipid metabolism and promotes inflammation in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial, Am J Clin Nutr, 94 (2011), 479-85.
153. V. S Malik, B. M Popkin, G. A Bray, J. P Després, F. B Hu, Sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular disease risk, Circulation, 121 (2010), 1356-64.
154. T. T Fung, V Malik, K. M Rexrode, J. E Manson, W. C Willett, et al, Sweetened beverage consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in women, Am J Clin Nutr, 89 (2009), 1037-42.
155. L Lim, C Banwell, C Bain, E Banks, S. A Seubsman, et al, Sugar sweetened beverages and weight gain over 4 years in a Thai national cohort - a prospective analysis, PLoS One, 9 (2014), 95309.
156. V. S Malik, A Pan, W. C Willett, F. B Hu, Sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in children and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Am J Clin Nutr, 98 (2013), 1084-102.
157. J. C de Ruyter, M. R Olthof, J. C Seidell, M. B Katan, A trial of sugar-free or sugar-sweetened beverages and body weight in children, N Engl J Med, 367 (2012), 1397-406.
158. C. B Ebbeling, H. A Feldman, V. R Chomitz, T. A Antonelli, S. L Gortmaker, et al, A randomized trial of sugar-sweetened beverages and adolescent body weight, N Engl J Med, 367 (2012), 1407-16.
159. K. S Collison, M. Z Zaidi, S. N Subhani, K Al-Rubeaan, M Shoukri, et al, Sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage consumption correlates with BMI, waist circumference, and poor dietary choices in school children, BMC Public Health, 10 (2010), 234.
160. A Jiménez-Aguilar, M Flores, T Shamah-Levy, Sugar-sweetened beverages consumption and BMI in Mexican adolescents: Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2006, Salud Publica Mex, 51 (2009), S604-12.
161. V. S Malik, M. B Schulze, F. B Hu, Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review, Am J Clin Nutr, 84 (2006), 274-88.
162. M. B Schulze, J. E Manson, D. S Ludwig, G. A Colditz, M. J Stampfer, et al, Sugar-sweetened beverages, weight gain, and incidence of type 2 diabetes in young and middle-aged women, JAMA, 292 (2004), 927-34.
163. F. B Hu, Resolved: there is sufficient scientific evidence that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases, Obes Rev, 14 (2013), 606-19.
164. X. W Shang, A. L Liu, Q Zhang, X. Q Hu, S. M Du, et al, Report on childhood obesity in China (9): sugar-sweetened beverages consumption and obesity, Biomed Environ Sci, 25 (2012), 125-32.
165. J. J Rhee, J Mattei, H Campos, Association between commercial and traditional sugar-sweetened beverages and measures of adiposity in Costa Rica, Public Health Nutr, 15 (2012), 1347-54.
166. Q Qi, A. Y Chu, J. H Kang, M. K Jensen, G. C Curhan, et al, Sugar-sweetened beverages and genetic risk of obesity, N Engl J Med, 367 (2012), 1387-96.
167. A. O Odegaard, A. C Choh, S. A Czerwinski, B Towne, E. W Demerath, Sugar-sweetened and diet beverages in relation to visceral adipose tissue, Obesity, 20 (2012), 689-91.
168. F. B Hu, V. S Malik, Sugar-sweetened beverages and risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes: epidemiologic evidence, Physiol Behav, 100 (2010), 47-54.
169. L. M Donini, C Savina, E Gennaro, M. R De Felice, A Rosano, et al, A systematic review of the literature concerning the relationship between obesity and mortality in the elderly, J Nutr Health Aging, 16 (2012), 89-98.
170. A Pérez Pérez, J Ybarra Muñoz, V Blay Cortés, P de Pablos Velasco, Obesity and cardiovascular disease, Public Health Nutr, 10 (2007), 1156-63.
171. H. P Dustan, Cardiovascular consequences of obesity, Chin Med J, 105 (1992), 360-3.
172. A Drewnowski, F Bellisle, Liquid calories, sugar, and body weight, Am J Clin Nutr, 85 (2007), 651-61.
173. R. C Oh , The Socratic Method in medicine-the labor of delivering medical truths, Fam Med, 37 (2005), 537-9.
174. J. B Miller, E Pang, L Broomhead, The glycaemic index of foods containing sugars: comparison of foods with naturally-occurring v. added sugars, Br J Nutr, 73 (1995), 613-23.
175. G. H Anderson, Sugars and health: a review, Nutr Res, 17 (1997), 1485-98.
176. C. H Ruxton, F. J Garceau, R. C Cottrell, Guidelines for sugar consumption in Europe: is a quantitative approach justified, Eur J Clin Nutr, 53 (1999), 503-13.
177. C Roffidal-Blanco, T. D Giles, Potassium: a non-celebrity cation, J Clin Hypertens, 13 (2011), 541-2.
178. H. M Ramona Cristina, H. M Gabriel, N Petru, S Radu, N Adina, et al, The monitoring of mineral elements content in fruit purchased in supermarkets and food markets from Timisoara, Romania, Ann Agric Environ Med, 98 (2014), 98-105.
179. L Tobian, Potassium and hypertensionm, Nutr Rev, 46 (1988), 273-83.
180. C. M Weaver, Potassium and health, Adv Nutr, 4 (2013), 368S-77S.
181. L D'Elia, G Barba, F. P Cappuccio, P Strazzullo, Potassium intake, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, A meta- analysis of prospective studies, J Am Coll Cardiol, 57 (2011), 1210-9.
182. F. J He, MacGregor GA, Beneficial effects of potassium on human health, Physiol Plant, 133 (2008), 725-35.
183. F. J He, G. A MacGregor, Fortnightly review: Beneficial effects of potassium, BMJ, 323 (2001), 497-501.
184. K. T Khaw, E Barrett-Connor, Dietary potassium and stroke-associated mortality. A 12-year prospective population study, N Engl J Med, 316 (1987), 235-40.
185. B Jansson, Geographic cancer risk and intracellular potassium/sodium ratios, Cancer Detect Prev, 9 (1986), 171-94.
186. P. H Abelson, Adequate supplies of fruits and vegetables, Science, 266 (1994), 1303.
187. D. J Naismith, A Braschi, The effect of low-dose potassium supplementation on blood pressure in apparently healthy volunteers, Br J Nutr, 90 (2003), 53-60.
188. J. W Conn, Hypertension, the potassium ion and impaired carbohydrate tolerance, N Engl J Med, 273(1965), 1135- 43.
189. J. W Rowe, T. D Tobin, R. M Rosa, R Andres, Effect of experimental potassium deficiency on glucose and insulin metabolism, Metabolism, 29 (1980), 498-502.
190. J. W Anderson, R. H Herman, K. L Newcomer, Improvement in glucose tolerance of fasting obese patients given oral potassium, Am J Clin Nutr, 22 (1969), 1589-96.
191. N Kopyt, F Dalal, R. G Narins, Renal retention of potassium in fruit, N Engl J Med, 313 (1985), 582-3.
192. T. W Kurtz, H. A Al-Bander, R. C Morris Jr, "Salt-sensitive" essential hypertension in men. Is the sodium ion alone important? N Engl J Med, 317 (1987), 1043-8.
193. A Overlack, B Maus, M Ruppert, M Lennarz, R Kolloch, et al, Potassium citrate versus potassium chloride in essential hypertension. Effects on hemodynamic, hormonal and metabolic parameters, Dtsch Med Wochenschr, 120 (1995), 631-5.
194. A Braschi, D J Naismith, The effect of a dietary supplement of potassium chloride or potassium citrate on blood pressure in predominantly normotensive volunteers, Br J Nutr, 99 (2008), 1284-92.
195. F. J He, N. D Markandu, R Coltart, J Barron, G. A MacGregor, Effect of short-term supplementation of potassium chloride and potassium citrate on blood pressure in hypertensives, Hypertension, 45 (2005), 571-4.
196. T. C Beard, A salt-hypertension hypothesis, J Cardiovasc Pharmacol, 16 (1990), S35-8.
197. K. C Miller, Plasma potassium concentration and content changes after banana ingestion in exercised men, J Athl Train, 47 (2012), 648-54.
198. L D'Elia, F Galletti, P Strazzullo, Dietary salt intake and risk of gastric cancer, Cancer Treat Res, 159 (2014), 83-95.
199. M Packer, Potential role of potassium as a determinant of morbidity and mortality in patients with systemic hypertension and congestive heart failure, Am J Cardiol, 65 (1990), 45E-51E.
200. H. E de Wardener, G. A MacGregor, Harmful effects of dietary salt in addition to hypertension, J Hum Hypertens, 16 (2002), 213-23.
201. H Takase, T Sugiura, G Kimura, N Ohte, Y Dohi, Dietary sodium consumption predicts future blood pressure and incident hypertension in the Japanese normotensive general population, J Am Heart Assoc, 4 (2015), 001959.
202. S. K Ha , Dietary salt intake and hypertension, Electrolyte Blood Press, 12 (2014), 7-18.
203. P Elliott, L. L Walker, M. P Little, J. R Blair-West , R. E Shade, et al, Change in salt intake affects blood pressure of chimpanzees: implications for human populations, Circulation, 116 (2007), 1563-8.
204. A. R Dyer, R Stamler, P Elliott, J Stamler, Dietary salt and blood pressure, Nat Med, 1 (1995), 994-6.
205. D Denton, R Weisinger, N. I Mundy, E. J Wickings, A Dixson et al, The effect of increased salt intake on blood pressure of chimpanzees, Nat Med, 1 (1995), 1009- 16.
206. L. M Kieneker, R. T Gansevoort, K. J Mukamal, R. A de Boer, G Navis, et al, Urinary potassium excretion and risk of developing hypertension: the prevention of renal and vascular end-stage disease study, Hypertension, 64 (2014), 769-76.
207. S Du, C Batis, H Wang, B Zhang, J Zhang, et al, Understanding the patterns and trends of sodium intake, potassium intake, and sodium to potassium ratio and their effect on hypertension in China, Am J Clin Nutr, 99 (2014), 334-43.
208. H. J Adrogué, N. E Madias, The impact of sodium and potassium on hypertension risk, Semin Nephrol, 34 (2014), 257-72.
209. H Castro, L Raij, Potassium in hypertension and cardiovascular disease, Semin Nephrol, 33 (2013), 277-89.
210. M O'Donnell, A Mente, S Yusuf, Sodium intake and cardiovascular health, Circ Res, 116 (2015), 1046-57.
211. M. J Bruins, M Dötsch-Klerk, J Matthee, M Kearne, K van Elk, et al, modelling approach to estimate the impact of sodium reduction in soups on cardiovascular health in the Netherlands, Nutrients, 7 (2015), 8010-9.
212. K Maruyama, S Kagota, B. N Van Vliet, H Wakuda, K Shinozuka, A maternal high salt diet disturbs cardiac and vascular function of offspring, Life Sci, 136 (2015), 42-51.
213. D. G Edwards, W. B Farquhar, Vascular effects of dietary salt, Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens, 24 (2015) 8-13.
214. K. J Aaron, P. W Sanders, Role of dietary salt and potassium intake in cardiovascular health and disease: a review of the evidence, Mayo Clin Proc, 88 (2013), 987-95.
215. N. J Aburto, S Hanson, H Gutierrez, L Hooper, P Elliott, et al, Effect of increased potassium intake on cardiovascular risk factors and disease: systematic review and meta-analyses, BMJ, 346 (2013), 1378.
216. K Ando, H Matsui, M Fujita, T Fujita, Protective effect of dietary potassium against cardiovascular damage in salt-sensitive hypertension: possible role of its antioxidant action, Curr Vasc Pharmacol, 8 (2010), 59-63.
217. L. J Appel, Reducing sodium intake to prevent stroke: time for action, not hesitation, Stroke, 45 (2014), 909-11.
218. T Tomonari, M Fukuda, T Miura, M Mizuno, T. Y Wakamatsu, et al, Is salt intake an independent risk factor of stroke mortality? Demographic analysis by regions in Japan, J Am Soc Hypertens, 5 (2011), 456-62.
219. I. J Perry, Dietary salt intake and cerebrovascular damage, Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis, 10 (2000), 229-35.
220. B. D Hunt, F. P Cappuccio, Potassium intake and stroke risk: a review of the evidence and practical considerations for achieving a minimum target, Stroke, 45 (2014), 1519-22.
221. L D'Elia, C Iannotta, P Sabino, R Ippolito, Potassium-rich diet and risk of stroke: updated meta-analysis, Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis, 24 (2014), 585-7.
222. M. W Gillman, L. A Cupples, D Gagnon, B. M Posner, R. C Ellison, et al, Protective effect of fruits and vegetables on development of stroke in men, JAMA, 273 (1995), 1113-7.
223. B Teucher, J. R Dainty, C. A Spinks, G Majsak-Newman, D. J Berry, et al, Sodium and bone health: impact of moderately high and low salt intakes on calcium metabolism in postmenopausal women, J Bone Miner Res, 23 (2008), 1477-85.
224. R. P Heaney, Role of dietary sodium in osteoporosis, J Am Coll Nutr, 25 (2006), 271S-276S.
225. A Devine, R. A Criddle, I. M Dick, D. A Kerr, R. L Prince, A longitudinal study of the effect of sodium and calcium intakes on regional bone density in postmenopausal women, Am J Clin Nutr, 62 (1995), 740-5.
226. F. J He, M Marciniak, C Carney, N. D Markandu, V Anand, et al, Effects of potassium chloride and potassium bicarbonate on endothelial function, cardiovascular risk factors, and bone turnover in mild hypertensives,, Hypertension, 55 (2010), 681-8.
227. J Golledge, J. V Moxon, R. E Jones, G. J Hankey, B. B Yeap, et al, Reported amount of salt added to food is associated with increased all-cause and cancer-related mortality in older men in a prospective cohort study, J Nutr Health Aging, 19 (2015), 805-11.
228. S. H Lin, Y. H Li, K Leung, C. Y Huang, X. R Wang, Salt processed food and gastric cancer in a Chinese population, Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 15 (2014), 5293-8.
229. J. A Gaddy, J. N Radin, J. T Loh, F Zhang, M. K Washington, et al, High dietary salt intake exacerbates Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric carcinogenesis, Infect Immun, 81 (2013), 2258-67.
230. S Ge, X Feng, L Shen, Z Wei, Q Zhu, et al, Association between habitual dietary salt intake and risk of gastric cancer: a systematic review of observational studies, Gastroenterol Res Pract, 808 (2012), 120.
231. F Turati, M Rossi, C Pelucchi, F Levi, C La Vecchia, Fruit and vegetables and cancer risk: a review of southern European studies, Br J Nutr, 113 (2015), 102-10.
232. K. E Bradbury, P. N Appleby, T. J Key, Fruit, vegetable, and fiber intake in relation to cancer risk: findings from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), Am J Clin Nutr, 100 (2014), 394S-8S.
233. S. K Jaganathan, M. V Vellayappan, G Narasimhan, E Supriyanto, D. E Octorina Dewi, et al, Chemopreventive effect of apple and berry fruits against colon cancer, World J Gastroenterol, 20 (2014), 17029-36.
234. S. K Jaganathan, M. V Vellayappan, G Narasimhan, E Supriyanto, Role of pomegranate and citrus fruit juices in colon cancer prevention, World J Gastroenterol, 20 (2014), 4618-25.
235. T. D Mickleborough, Salt intake, asthma, and exercise-induced bronchoconstriction: a review. Phys Sportsmed, 38 (2010). 118-31.
236. S Sausenthaler, I Kompauer, S Brasche, J Linseisen, J Heinrich, Sodium intake and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in adults, Respir Med, 99 (2005), 864-70.
237. T. D Mickleborough, M. R Lindley, S Ray, Dietary salt, airway inflammation, and diffusion capacity in exercise- induced asthma, Med Sci Sports Exerc, 37 (2005), 904-14.
238. E Seyedrezazadeh, M. P Moghaddam, K Ansarin, M. R Vafa,S Sharma, et al, Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of wheezing and asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Nutr Rev, 72 (2014), 411-28.
239. U Nurmatov, G Devereux, A Sheikh, Nutrients and foods for the primary prevention of asthma and allergy: systematic review and meta-analysis, J Allergy Clin Immunol, 127 (2011), 724-33.
240. F Njå, W Nystad, K. C Lødrup Carlsen, O Hetlevik, K. H Carlsen, Effects of early intake of fruit or vegetables in relation to later asthma and allergic sensitization in school-age children, Acta Paediatr, 94 (2005), 147-54.
241. L. K Massey, S. J Whiting, Dietary salt, urinary calcium, and kidney stone risk, Nutr Rev, 53 (1995), 131-9.
242. T. F Antonios, G. A MacGregor, Salt intake: potential deleterious effects excluding blood pressure, J Hum Hypertens, 9 (1995), 511-5.
243. K Sakhaee, J. A Harvey, P. K Padalino, P Whitson, C. Y Pak, The potential role of salt abuse on the risk for kidney stone formation, J Urol, 150 (1993), 310-2.
244. M. A McNally, P. L Pyzik, J. E Rubenstein, R. F Hamdy, E. H Kossoff, Empiric use of potassium citrate reduces kidney-stone incidence with the ketogenic diet, Pediatrics, 124 (2009), 300-4.
245. J. E Zerwekh, C. V Odvina, L. A Wuermser, C. Y Pak, Reduction of renal stone risk by potassium-magnesium citrate during 5 weeks of bed rest, J Urol, 177 (2007), 2179-84.
246. M Cirill, M Laurenzi, W Panarelli, J Stamler, Urinary sodium to potassium ratio and urinary stone disease, The Gubbio Population Study Research Group, Kidney Int, 46 (1994), 1133-9.
247. F. J He, M Burnier, G. A Macgregor, Nutrition in cardiovascular disease: salt in hypertension and heart failure, Eur Heart J, 32 (2011), 3073-80.
248. J Arcand, J Ivanov, A Sasson, V Floras, A Al-Hesayen, et al, A high- sodium diet is associated with acute decompensated heart failure in ambulatory heart failure patients: a prospective follow-up study, Am J Clin Nutr, 93 (2011), 332-7.
249. J He, L G Ogden, L. A Bazzano, S Vupputuri, C Loria, et al, Dietary sodium intake and incidence of congestive heart failure in overweight US men and women: first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Follow-up Study, Arch Intern Med, 162 (2002), 1619-24.
250. F. J He, G. A MacGregor, Potassium: more beneficial effects, Climacteric, 6 (2003), 36-48.
251. D Sodi-Pallares, B. L Fishleder, F Cisneros, M Vizcaino, A Bisteni, et al, A low sodium, high water, high potassium regimen in the successful management of some cardiovascular diseases, Preliminary clinical report, Can Med Assoc J, 83 (1960), 243-57.
252. J. K Humalda, G Navis, Dietary sodium restriction: a neglected therapeutic opportunity in chronic kidney disease, Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens, 23 (2014), 533-40.
253. E. J McMahon, J. D Bauer, C. M Hawley, N. M Isbel, M Stowasser, et al, A randomized trial of dietary sodium restriction in CKD, J Am Soc Nephrol, 24 (2013), 2096-103.
254. J. A Krikken, G. D Laverman, G Navis, Benefits of dietary sodium restriction in the management of chronic kidney disease, Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens, 18 (2009), 531-8.
255. E Ritz, N Koleganova, G Piecha, Role of sodium intake in the progression of chronic kidney disease, J Ren Nutr, 19 ( 2009), 61-2.
256. M. A Hendriksen, R. T Hoogenveen, J Hoekstra, J. M Geleijnse, H. C Boshuizen, et al, Potential effect of salt reduction in processed foods on health, Am J Clin Nutr, 99 (2014), 446-53.
257. E. D Frohlich, D Susic, Sodium and its multiorgan targets, Circulation, 124 (2011), 1882-5.
258. S Shaldon, J Vienken, Salt, the neglected silent killer, Semin Dial, 22 (2009), 264-6.
259. Q Yang, T Liu, E. V Kuklina, W. D Flanders, Y Hong, et al, Sodium and potassium intake and mortality among US adults: prospective data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Arch Intern Med, 171 (2011), 1183-91.
260. M. W Beets, R. G Weaver, F Tilley, G Turner-McGrievy, J Huberty, et al, Salty or sweet? Nutritional quality, consumption, and cost of snacks served in afterschool programs, J Sch Health, 85 (2015), 118- 24.
261. J. N Hunt, J. D Pathak, The osmotic effects of some simple molecules and ions on gastric emptying, J Physiol, 154 (1960), 254-69.
262. G. M Gray, Carbohydrate digestion and absorption. Role of the small intestine, N Engl J Med, 292 (1975), 225-30.
263. W. A Olsen, F. J Ingelfinger, The role of sodium in intestinal glucose absorption in man, J Clin Invest, 47 (1968), 1133-42.
264. E Ferrannini, E Barrett, S Bevilacqua, J Dupre, R. A Defronzo, Sodium elevates the plasma glucose response to glucose ingestion in man, J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 54 (1982), 455-8.
265. C. A Grimes, L. J Riddell, K. J Campbell, C. A Nowson, Dietary salt intake, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, and obesity risk, Pediatrics, 131 (2013), 14-21.
266. C. A Grimes, J. D Wright, K Liu, C. A Nowson, C. M Loria, Dietary sodium intake is associated with total fluid and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in US children and adolescents aged 2-18 y: NHANES 2005-2008, Am J Clin Nutr, 98 (2013), 189-96.
267. F. J He, N. M Marrero, G. A MacGregor, Salt intake is related to soft drink consumption in children and adolescents: a link to obesity? Hypertension, 51 (2008), 629-34.
268. R Baschetti, Gender differences in gastric emptying, Eur J Nucl Med, 26 (1999), 295-6.
269. R Baschetti, Gastric emptying: gender differences, N Z Med J, 110 (1997), 238.
270. W. J Oliver, E. L Cohen, J. V Neel, Blood pressure, sodium intake, and sodium related hormones in the Yanomamo Indians, a "no-salt" culture, Circulation, 52 (1975), 146-51.
271. J. M Rippe, T. J Angelopoulos, Sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, and fructose, their metabolism and potential health effects: what do we really know? Adv Nutr, 4 (2013), 236-45.
272. I Aeberli, M Hochuli, P. A Gerber, L Sze, S. B Murer, et al, Moderate amounts of fructose consumption impair insulin sensitivity in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial, Diabetes Care, 36 (2013), 150-6.
273. G Silbernagel, J Machann, S Unmuth, F Schick, N Stefan, et al, Effects of 4-week very-high- fructose/glucose diets on insulin sensitivity, visceral fat and intrahepatic lipids: an exploratory trial, Br J Nutr, 106 (2011), 79-86.
274. E. T Ngo Sock, K. A Lê, M Ith, R Kreis, C Boesch, et al, Effects of a short-term overfeeding with fructose or glucose in healthy young males, Br J Nutr, 103 (2010), 939-43.
275. K. A Lê, M Ith, R Kreis, D Faeh, M Bortolotti, et al, Fructose overconsumption causes dyslipidemia and ectopic lipid deposition in healthy subjects with and without a family history of type 2 diabetes. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;89:1760-5.
276. K. A Lê, D Faeh, R Stettler, M Ith, R Kreis, et al, A 4-wk high-fructose diet alters lipid metabolism without affecting insulin sensitivity or ectopic lipids in healthy humans, Am J Clin Nutr, 84 (2006), 1374-9.
277. T. H Moran, P. R McHugh, Distinctions among three sugars in their effects on gastric emptying and satiety, Am J Physiol, 241 (1981), 25-30.
278. Fulgoni V 3rd, High-fructose corn syrup: everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, Am J Clin Nutr, 88 (2008), 1715S.
279. G. A Bray, Fructose: pure, white, and deadly? Fructose, by any other name, is a health hazard, J Diabetes Sci Technol, 4 (2010), 1003-7.
280. K. L Stanhope, S. C Griffen, B. R Bair, M. M Swarbrick, N. L Keim, et al, Twenty-four-hour endocrine and metabolic profiles following consumption of high-fructose corn syrup-, sucrose-, fructose-, and glucose- sweetened beverages with meals, Am J Clin Nutr, 87 (2008), 1194-203.
281. S. K Raatz, L. K Johnson, M. J Picklo, Consumption of honey, sucrose, and high-fructose corn syrup produces similar metabolic effects in glucose-tolerant and -intolerant individuals, J Nutr, 145 (2015), 2265-72.
282. T Eteraf-Oskouei, M Najafi, Traditional and modern uses of natural honey in human diseases: a review, Iran J Basic Med Sci, 16 (2013), 731-42.
283. M Basaranoglu, G Basaranoglu, E Bugianesi, Carbohydrate intake and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: fructose as a weapon of mass destruction, Hepatobiliary Surg Nutr, 4 (2015), 109-16.
284. B. H Hidaka, A Asghar, C. A Aktipis, R. M Nesse, T. M Wolpaw, et al, The status of evolutionary medicine education in North American medical schools, BMC Med Educ, 15 (2015), 38.