126: Sickly Sweet: How Sugar is Crushing Our Health

Dr. Jacoby discovers a critical connection.

Dr. Jacoby was trained initially in podiatry, so you may wonder how a foot doctor became an expert on sugar-related illnesses?

Well, Dr. Jacoby's specialty in podiatry led him to see patients with diabetic polyneuropathy - which is the number one problem in the United States. Diabetic polyneuropathy is a neurological disorder of all the nerves in the body as a result of diabetes. Diabetic polyneuropathy often affects a person's feet when they have diabetes.

About twenty years ago, Dr. Jacoby attended a lecture and discovered a novel neuropathy treatment using decompressions on the extremities' nerves. The speaker invited Dr. Jacoby down to Johns Hopkins, where he worked.

Dr. Jacoby took him up on the offer, went down there, read his textbooks and articles, and discovered how nerves in the lower extremities are being compressed physically by the chemical reaction of sugar that causes numbness, tingling, and burning sensations. This doctor concluded through intense research that diabetic neuropathy and carpal tunnel syndrome are the same things.

Taking what he learned back to Scottsdale, this was only the beginning of the many dots that Dr. Jacoby begins connecting, which led him to some powerful conclusions and treatments.

Along the way, Dr. Jacoby has treated thousands of patients, developing a unique holistic approach to understanding how sugar and carbs harm the body and the steps patients take to help regenerate nerves and rehabilitate their normal function dramatically.

Time to drop the candy and listen to this fantastic episode!

In this podcast, we cover:

• How a podiatrist like Dr. Jacoby became a leading authority on sugar-related illnesses
• How the simple formula: trauma + sugar = dysfunction explains the cause of so many diseases
• Why cholesterol is a "healing molecule" - not a bad guy
• What are the differences in the diseases related to corn-based sugars vs. wheat-based sugars?
• The role your microbiome plays in sugar-related disease
• Some aspects of the medical field that hinder progress and healing
• Why high fructose corn syrup causes more disease than cane sugar
• Actions you can take at any age to begin healing from sugar damage

How a trip to Taiwan led to more evidence convicting sugar of physical abuse

Forty years ago, the Surgeon General of Taiwan invited Dr. Jacoby to visit his country to help figure out why diabetes was popping up in that country for the first time? His name was Dr. Luke Chu - M.D. Ph.D. in pharmacology.

While Dr. Jacoby was there, he didn't find a new patient with diabetes. Because it was still so rare back then, today, it's prevalent almost everywhere. When Dr. Jacoby asked Dr. Chu what the word for diabetes is in Mandarin, Chu replied, "diabetes." Dr. Jacoby pointed out that the word has a Greek origin, which means the country and culture had no word to explain the symptoms Dr. Chu was beginning to see in Taiwan. Dr. Jacoby concluded that the nation's current diet must have something to do with it.

A colossal study recently conducted looked at fast-food receipts from 37 countries. Many variables were analyzed - meat, cheese, bread, condiments, and drinks.

The study concluded what Dr. Jacoby suspected was happening in Taiwan 40 years ago: the number one variable connected to diabetes is sugary drinks or sodas.

The MS, Fibromyalgia, ALS connections to sugar

Dr. Jacoby spends a lot of time in this interview talking about the connections he has found between sugar and some of the most widely known diseases today - from multiple sclerosis to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis...do you see the common word there? "Sclerosis." In medicine, the word sclerosis means an "abnormal hardening of body tissue." In Dr. Jacoby's opinion, based on decades of research, sugar affects our body tissues.

If you don't know - these diseases have the same symptoms of numbness, tingling, burning, and motor control loss. Carpal tunnel is the same. Sugar damages nerves like the glossopharyngeal nerve that is a part of your swallowing reflex.

Dr. Jacoby also explains how sugar plays a significant role in arteriosclerosis (there's that word "sclerosis" again), a.k.a. hardening of the arteries.

Breaking out of the "specialization silo" of podiatry has enabled Dr. Jacoby to make some exciting connections that a specialist would never find because they typically look only at the same things and talk to the same people throughout their medical career.

Don't be another statistic for diabetes and the horrible health results that often occur to those who abuse sugar or cannot process sucrose due to no fault of their own. Check out Dr. Jacoby for answers.

You already know that too much sugar is not suitable for you. Whatever you may call it: "doughnut cocaine," "pixy stix," or "carney crack," the sweet white sand commonly called sugar is a wrecking ball on your body.

Tune in to this episode. Dr. Jacoby can help you overcome the health issues sugar brings to those who love it too much.

Episode Resources:

Dr. Jacoby's Extremity Health Centers
Dr. Jacoby's Book Sugar Crush
Dr. Jacoby on Facebook
Dr. Jacoby on LinkedIn
Richard Jacoby on YouTube