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Re:Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit by a8da6b0c91d on Tuesday August 12, 2014 @09:30AM (#8167627)
The idea of essential amino acids is silly because it's impossible not to get enough from almost any diet. No experiment has ever succeeded in inducing an EFA deficiency. It's like calling air essential. Well, yes, but that's not a factor worth worrying about here on the surface of the earth.

Sugar/starch is more rightfully considered essential because glucose is clearly the preferred fuel for animal cells. Glucose deprivation leads to disease.

Re:Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit by Evgeny on Tuesday August 12, 2014 @10:26AM (#8167838)
No experiment has ever succeeded in inducing an EFA deficiency.

You may look up Pellagra. It is, of course, not a threat in a modern western society, but it used to kill people. Not even an experiment, but something that happened in nature. Yes, there are reasons to consider EFA deficiency.

Would a person die horribly if good sources of fat and protein are abundant, but glucose is not? I don't think so.

Glucose deprivation leads to disease.

Again, I would like to see some source. What particular diseases? There are whole groups of peoples (i.e. Inuit, Maasai) who were eating diets almost entirely lacking glucose before Western foods became available to them.

Do you realise, at least, that the body can produce it's own glucose from the excess fat (Gluconeogenesis)?

Re:Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit by a8da6b0c91d on Tuesday August 12, 2014 @10:36AM (#8167878)
Pellagra is a vitamin B deficiency. It has nothing to do with EFA. I repeat, there is no such thing as an EFA deficiency. Nobody has ever induced a disease by restricting EFA intake because it's impossible to fail to get enough.

A person eating nothing but fat and protein will have chronically elevated adrenalin and cortisol, will prematurely age, and be more prone to various degenerative diseases.

Re:Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit by Evgeny on Wednesday August 13, 2014 @12:43AM (#8171496)
Pellagra is a vitamin B deficiency. It has nothing to do with EFA.

You could at least look up the first line of a Wikipedia article? Tryptophan is an essential amino acid.

It can be caused by decreased intake of niacin or tryptophan,[1] and possibly by excessive intake of leucine.

Anyway, in the absence of any sources there's not much I can gain from this discussion, unfortunately.

Re:Sugar: the evolution of a forbidden fruit by a8da6b0c91d on Wednesday August 13, 2014 @11:31AM (#8173341)
You are confusing amino acid and fatty acid. Two totally different things. I realize now I made a typo reinforcing your misunderstanding higher up.