Speaker: Robert Lustig, MD, MSL

Program Track: Clinical

Course Description: The Western Diet, consisting of ultraprocessed foods, has supplanted traditional diets globally, with an attendant global increase in obesity, diabetes, and most notably a new disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Ultraprocessed foods are extremely high in added sugar, which is converted by the liver via de novo lipogenesis into fat. Fatty liver occurs due to the detrimental effects of fructose on mitochondrial function, resulting in hepatic steatosis, insulin resistance, and hypetriglyceridemia. Insulin and triglyceride inhibit leptin signaling in the brain, which would normally extinguish the dopamine signal in the brain’s reward center; fomenting the drive to excess consumption and further insulin resistance and liver fat. Thus, fatty liver disease is an intermediate in a vicious cycle connecting sugar in processed foods to addiction.

Learning Objectives:

• To discern the criteria for food addiction.
• To differentiate between different foodstuffs and their addictive potential.
• To expose the tricks that the food industry uses to push addictive products.

CE Credit Hours: 1.0

Original Date of Session: November 13, 2024

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The American Dental Hygienists’ Association is an approved provider of dental continuing education as recognized by the Dental Board of California, Provider #5238.