Lifeboat Foundation

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Robert Lustig, M.D., neuroendocrinologist, professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and a bestselling author on nutrition and metabolic health. We address the “calories in-calories out” (CICO) model of metabolism and weight regulation and how specific macronutrients (protein, fat, carbohydrates), fiber and sugar can modify the CICO equation. We cover how different types of sugars, specifically fructose, sugars found in liquid form, taste intensity, and other factors impact insulin levels, liver, kidney, and metabolic health. We also explore how fructose in non-fruit sources can be addictive (acting similarly to drugs of abuse) and how sugar alters brain circuits related to food cravings and satisfaction. We discuss the role of sugar in childhood and adult obesity, gut health and disease and mental health. We also discuss how the food industry uses refined sugars to create pseudo foods and what these do to the brain and body. This episode is replete with actionable information about sugar and metabolism, weight control, brain health and body composition. It ought to be of interest to anyone seeking to understand how specific food choices impact the immediate and long-term health of the brain and body. For the show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit https://www.hubermanlab.com/episode/dr-robert-lustig-how-sug…our-health Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Levels: https://levels.link/huberman AeroPress: https://aeropress.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman Huberman Lab Social & Website Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hubermanlab Twitter: https://twitter.com/hubermanlab Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hubermanlab TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hubermanlab LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-huberman Website: https://www.hubermanlab.com Newsletter: https://www.hubermanlab.com/newsletter Dr. Robert Lustig Website: https://robertlustig.com Books: https://robertlustig.com/books Publications: https://robertlustig.com/publications Blog: https://robertlustig.com/blog UCSF academic profile: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/robert.lustig Metabolical (book): https://amzn.to/48mNhOE SugarScience: http://sugarscience.ucsf.edu X: https://twitter.com/RobertLustigMD Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrRobertLustig LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-lustig-8904245 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertlustigmd Threads: https://www.threads.net/@robertlustigmd Timestamps 00:00:00 Dr. Robert Lustig 00:02:02 Sponsors: Eight Sleep, Levels & AeroPress 00:06:41 Calories, Fiber 00:12:15 Calories, Protein & Fat, Trans Fats 00:18:23 Carbohydrate Calories, Glucose vs. Fructose, Fruit, Processed Foods 00:26:43 Fructose, Mitochondria & Metabolic Health 00:31:54 Trans Fats; Food Industry & Language 00:35:33 Sponsor: AG1 00:37:04 Glucose, Insulin, Muscle 00:42:31 Insulin & Cell Growth vs. Burn; Oxygen & Cell Growth, Cancer 00:51:14 Glucose vs. Fructose, Uric Acid; “Leaky Gut” & Inflammation 01:00:51 Supporting the Gut Microbiome, Fasting 01:04:13 Highly Processed Foods, Sugars; “Price Elasticity” & Food Industry 01:10:28 Sponsor: LMNT 01:11:51 Processed Foods & Added Sugars 01:14:19 Sugars, High-Fructose Corn Syrup 01:18:16 Food Industry & Added Sugar, Personal Responsibility, Public Health 01:30:04 Obesity, Diabetes, “Hidden” Sugars 01:34:57 Diet, Insulin & Sugars 01:38:20 Tools: NOVA Food Classification; Perfact Recommendations 01:43:46 Meat & Metabolic Health, Eggs, Fish 01:46:44 Sources of Omega-3s; Vitamin C & Vitamin D 01:52:37 Tool: Reduce Inflammation; Sugars, Cortisol & Stress 01:59:12 Food Industry, Big Pharma & Government; Statins 02:06:55 Public Health Shifts, Rebellion, Sugar Tax, Hidden Sugars 02:12:58 Real Food Movement, Public School Lunches & Processed Foods 02:18:25 3 Fat Types & Metabolic Health; Sugar, Alcohol & Stress 02:26:40 Artificial & Non-Caloric Sweeteners, Insulin & Weight Gain 02:34:32 Re-Engineering Ultra-Processed Food 02:38:45 Sugar & Addiction, Caffeine 02:45:18 GLP-1, Semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Tirzepatide), Risks; Big Pharma 02:57:39 Obesity & Sugar Addiction; Brain Re-Mapping, Insulin & Leptin Resistance 03:03:31 Fructose & Addiction, Personal Responsibility & Tobacco 03:07:27 Food Choices: Fruit, Rice, Tomato Sauce, Bread, Meats, Fermented Foods 03:12:54 Intermittent Fasting, Diet Soda, Food Combinations, Fiber, Food Labels 03:19:14 Improving Health, Advocacy, School Lunches, Hidden Sugars 03:26:55 Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, YouTube Feedback, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter #HubermanLab #Science #Nutrition Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac — https://www.blabacphoto.com Disclaimer: https://hubermanlab.com/disclaimer

Despite the company’s commitment to making its founder’s dream come true, the virtual reality market is contracting.

Sales of VR headsets and augmented reality glasses in the U.S. plummeted nearly 40% to $664 million in 2023, as of Nov. 25, according to data shared with CNBC by research firm Circana. That’s a much steeper drop than last year, when sales of AR and VR devices slid 2% to $1.1 billion.

The two-year decline underscores Meta’s continuing challenge in bringing the immersive technology out of a niche gaming corner and into the mainstream. While Zuckerberg said, in announcing Facebook’s pivot to Meta in late 2021, that it would likely take a decade to reach a billion users, he may need to start showing more optimistic data to appease a shareholder base that’s been critical of the company’s hefty and risky investments.

Join the discussion on this paper page.

Could Earth end up with a runaway greenhouse effect like Venus someday, and what could this mean for finding life on exoplanets? This is something a recent study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers used a 3D global climate model to investigate if Earth is destined to develop a runaway greenhouse effect like the planet Venus, which precious studies speculate was once much like Earth long ago. This study holds the potential to bring awareness of the long-term consequences of climate change and what steps can be taken to mitigate the effects.

A Runaway greenhouse effect can turn a habitable planet like Earth with a surface liquid water ocean into an inhospitable planet like Venus. (Credit: Thibaut Roger / UNIGE)

“Until now, other key studies in climatology have focused solely on either the temperate state before the runaway, or either the inhabitable state post-runaway,” said Dr. Martin Turbet, who is a research scientist at CNRS laboratories of Paris and Bordeaux and a co-author on the study. “It is the first time a team has studied the transition itself with a 3D global climate model and has checked how the climate and the atmosphere evolve during that process.”

SpaceX’s next Starship prototype is undergoing tests and preparations for launch, while other companies like Rocket Lab and ULA are also making progress in their space endeavors.

Questions to inspire discussion.

Continue reading “SpaceX Starship Prototype Prepares for IFT-3 Launch, Rocket Lab and ULA Make Strides” »

Tesla’s innovative design and manufacturing processes, as well as their focus on safety features, set them apart from traditional automakers and position them as a formidable competitor in the industry.

Questions to inspire discussion.

Continue reading “Tesla’s Innovative Design and Manufacturing Processes Set Them Apart in the Automotive Industry” »

And so… you still believe in the Dyson Spheres …‘No predictions, especially about the future is advice attributed to physicist Niels Bohr by some and to…

Kerry Vahala and collaborators from UC Santa Barbara have found a unique solution to an optics problem. When we last checked in with Caltech’s Kerry Vahala three years ago, his lab had recently reported the development of a new optical device called a turnkey frequency microcomb that has applications in digital communications, precision time keeping, spectroscopy, and even astronomy.

This device, fabricated on a silicon wafer, takes input laser light of one frequency and converts it into an evenly spaced set of many distinct frequencies that form a train of pulses whose length can be as short as 100 femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second). (The comb in the name comes from the frequencies being spaced like the teeth of a hair comb.)

Now Vahala (BS ’80, MS ’81, PhD ’85), Caltech’s Ted and Ginger Jenkins Professor of Information Science and Technology and Applied Physics and executive officer for applied physics and materials science, along with members of his research group and the group of John Bowers at UC Santa Barbara, have made a breakthrough in the way the short pulses form in an important new material called ultra-low-loss silicon nitride (ULL nitride), a compound formed of silicon and nitrogen.

While auroras occur at high latitude, the associated phenomena Steve and the picket fence occur farther south and at lower altitude. Their emissions also differ from aurora. A physics graduate student has proposed a physical mechanism behind these emissions, and a rocket launch to test the theory. She argues that an electric field in the upper atmosphere parallel to Earth’s magnetic field could explain the green picket fence spectrum and perhaps Steve and the enhanced aurora.

The shimmering green, red and purple curtains of the northern and southern lights — the auroras — may be the best-known phenomena lighting up the nighttime sky, but the most mysterious are the mauve and white streaks called Steve and their frequent companion, a glowing green “picket fence.”

First recognized in 2018 as distinct from the common auroras, Steve — a tongue-in-cheek reference to the benign name given a scary hedge in a 2006 children’s movie — and its associated picket fence were nevertheless thought to be caused by the same physical processes. But scientists were left scratching their heads about how these glowing emissions were produced.