I read an interesting article on a french web site. It's based on a study called :

Assocation between sugars consumption and calcium fiber consumption - V. Deschamps, S. Daniel, DA. Cassuto, MA Chalres, JM Borys; Inserm U25, Villejuif, CEDUS, paris Association Fleurbaix laventie Ville Sante, Lille, France

This is a summary of the article, as I am sure most won't appreciate if just cut and paste the french version

The study is on ongoing 10 years follow up of 1459 people, both adults and children.

They compared sugar consumption among 3 age groups: 8-13 years, 14-17 years and 18 and over. Within each age groups they compared the group who ate the most amount of simple carbs to the group who ate the most. They found that adolescents were the biggest consumers of sugar with an average of 91 grams per day. The group who consumed the most simple carbs also consumed the most fat, proteins, calcium and fibers compared to the other group.

The strange thing however, is they found that the group who consumed the most simple carbs happened to have a lesser BMI than the same age group who ate the least amount of simple carbs. The percentage of overweight individuals was also lower.

The researchers concluded these surprising results were caused by the increased consumption of fibers and calcium.

Another interesting note is that the groups who ate the most simple carbs considered themselves to have an appropriate weight and didn't watch their weight or try to diet compared to the other groups.

Interesting results that seem somehow counterintuitive. Not sure what to make of them.

---- we come from France (the coneheads, Saturday Night Live)

Hi Angeline,

Please post the link to the original page, we have quite a few French speakers here.

Wa'il

I'll try to get it monday. A co-worker printed it out for me because I keep harping on the dangers of sugar, and this article basically concluded sweets aren't so bad. I threw away the original printout. Now the trick is to find which coworker put it on my desk, and hope s/he remembers where s/he got it

I guess it is this one:

http://www.doctissimo.fr/html/sante...ucre_minces.htm

In addition to the exact summary of the article which Angeline has given, I think there is one more point worth translating, as it sheds light on discussions elsewhere in this forum ("why does obesity seem to be more widespread in the US than in the rest of the world?")

"[...] according to the latest national [French] study on the subject, 13 million people are overweight, and more than 4 million are obese. The figure to remember is that almost 40% of the French have a weight problem. While France recently had the lowest number of obese persons in Europe, we are currently catching up with the US. If this tendency does not change, one out of five [in France] will be obese in 2020."

So we Europeans are keeping up with the Joneses

Jesper

That's the the link ! thanks for posting it Jespere.

You live in Denmark ? It's a wonderful wonderful place. I visited Copenhagen last summer. Loved every minute of it. Great city.

On behalf of my city: thank you for the compliment!

And if anybody else should like to experience Copenhagen, do like Angeline ... come here in the summer! As charming it is in July, as boring it is in November!

And maybe you could help spreading the word on LC here - one of our citizens is Arne Astrup, who is considered one of the leading scientists in the world on the subject of obesity ... and as he has been promoting low fat for the last couple of decades, he insists on describing LCing as "pop science"!

Jesper

We have this great Friend from Denmark.
I think our favorite meal that we would have for her is when my mother and she would go to a deli that was in Calgary and buy danish cheeses and meats and whole grain pumpernickel bread and we would eat sandwichs on that break with salad and fruit for dessert..
Yuummy!
I would love to see Denmark anytime..
Remember those of us that haven't been there wouldn't even be bored in the winter!! :-)
Poofie!