DOHA: ‘Hey Sugar, you’re killing me’ was the title of a discussion that marked the launch of the first registered Café Scientifique in Qatar, hosted by Anti Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ).
Café Scientifique is a global forum to discuss current questions in science in informal settings, such as cafes, in gatherings of friends — men and women — from the whole range of scientific backgrounds, including PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, clinicians and professors of all ages.
The topic was serious — of a diet high in sugar leading to life threatening diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease — hidden in the title.
The history of the debate on sugar goes back to the 1960s when the scientific community said the rise of heart diseases was a result of high fat in the diet. The food industry produced and put on supermarket shelves low-fat alternatives to almost all we consume. However, to make low-fat products tasty they added increasing amounts of sugar and sweeteners to the alternatives.
This rang alarm bells and some scientists, especially Professor John Yudkin, a nutritional scientist at University of London, who had been saying in the late 1960s and in 1970s that it was high-sugar rather than high-fat that was the real cause of increased heart disease.
He published a book, Pure, White and Deadly in 1972 to highlight the dangers of a high-sugar diet. However, because of vested interests of the powerful food industry and other scientists, Yudkin’s prophesies remained dormant for some 30 years until recently researchers at University of California, especially Professor Robert Lustig and his group, spearheaded a campaign to re-evaluate the dangers of high-sugar as opposed to high-fat in our diets.
The event was organised by Mashael Al Ansari, Director of Marketing, and her team, with the café formally registered with International Café Scientifique and the topic announced globally.
In his inaugural address, Dr Mohammed Ghanim Al Ali Al Maadheed, Chairman, Qatar Red Crescent, gave a reflective and personal perspective of the Arab and Muslim tradition of such gatherings over coffee.
He linked it to the Japanese tea ceremony and highlighted the importance of such gatherings in the learning process.
Al Maadheed stressed that the relaxed atmosphere can often bring forth ideas from the most unexpected corners and lead to new perspectives and discoveries.
The discussion was rich through contributions from all around the room with some saying a high-sugar diet is only related to disease because it leads to obesity and others emphasising the importance of moderation and the need to burn off the sugary intake by more exercise.
The increased intake of chocolate being good for you was well received by the audience, only to be disappointed to learn this meant the high cocoa containing dark variety that is not sweet enough for many people.
Dr Stephen L Atkin, Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College Qatar, a specialist in diabetes and obesity, Professor Hilal Lashuel, Executive Director, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, Dr Hadi Abderrahim, Managing Director, Qatar Biobank, Dr Aisha Al Obaildly, Research Manager, Health Sciences, Qatar Science and Technology Park participated along with others in the debate.
Dr Mohammed Alsayrafi, General Manager, ADLQ, raised the question of the importance of ethics and integrity in scientific research, especially when funded by industry with vested interests in the outcome of the work. Is this what has happened with the question of high-sugar rather than high-fat being the real culprit when it comes to leading to heart disease? Have we been slightly misguided?
The Peninsula
