[neverdem]

Four out of five aint bad. "A calorie is a calorie." I used to think that too. I hate to be the skunk at the garden party, but that's not so. Biochemistry and physiology matter with fructose which increases the production of triglycerides.

Fructose facilitates the production of glycerol. One glycerol molecule and three fatty acid molecules will make one triglyceride molecule. It's spelled out nicely in this article:

Fructose, insulin resistance, and metabolic dyslipidemia

Figure 2
Hepatic fructose metabolism: A highly lipogenic pathway. Fructose is readily absorbed from the diet and rapidly metabolized principally in the liver. Fructose can provide carbon atoms for both the glycerol and the acyl portions of triglyceride. Fructose is thus a highly efficient inducer of de novo lipogenesis. High concentrations of fructose can serve as a relatively unregulated source of acetyl CoA. In contrast to glucose, dietary fructose does NOT stimulate insulin or leptin (which are both important regulators of energy intake and body adiposity). Stimulated triglyceride synthesis is likely to lead to hepatic accumulation of triglyceride, which has been shown to reduce hepatic insulin sensitivity, as well as increased formation of VLDL particles due to higher substrate availability, increased apoB stability, and higher MTP, the critical factor in VLDL assembly.

The high fructose corn syrup, HFCS, used in soft drinks is fifty five percent fructose and forty two percent glucose, so the liver is getting almost four parts fructose for ever three parts glucose. Besides the increasing prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes, there's a relatively new diagnosis called non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that's been associated with the introduction of HFCS in the diet. PubMed will give you 555 citations when you enter fructose and fatty liver in its query box, IIRC. When you limit to human studies, you get 128 citations including 23 free, full access articles and 32 citations of review articles.

HFCS is not limited to soft drinks. Read the labels. It's in all three salad dressings that I just checked and catsup/ketchup. Surprisingly, Hellmann's mayonaise used sugar.

There's another HFCS used in food products, HFCS-44, meaning forty four percent fructose. It's used mainly in baked/cooked/processed solid foods.

Don't tax table sugar, aka sucrose, which is made of equal parts glucose and fructose. I'm OK with taxing the HFCS-55 to fund definitive studies on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as well as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Otherwise, just get fructose as it comes from nature, mostly fruit.

[hecht]

does Diet Coke get taxed?

[Huntress]

Two words: money grab.

[LearsFool]

Let ‘em!

Let ‘em tax the carbonation outta the stuff! Then all of America will see what life under a tyrant is like.

It took tax after oppressive tax to rile the colonists up enough to fight for freedom. Looks to me like it’ll take the same today. And the more widespread the tax, the quicker the resistance movement will reach critical mass.

The tyrants are making a colossal blunder by straying from their usual class-warfare divide-and-conquer strategy. But far be it from me to interrupt my enemy when he’s making a mistake.

[rigelkentaurus]

You know, it’s nobody’s business what I choose to eat and drink. Stay out of my life. If you want to avoid certain foods, that’s your business. If there are foods that I avoid, that’s my business. There is no role for a busy-body government or anyone else.

[Paradox]

Sillyness. HFCS is not much more F than table sugar, that is simply a fact. Its just another bogey man that (mostly lefties) latch on to, instead of blaming PEOPLE.

And yes, when it comes to getting fat, a calorie IS just a calorie. I know how Fructose works, and I've avoided it for 20 years now, since I read articles by Dan Duchaine about it. But HFCS is not THAT much worse than sucrose. Fact is, we should consume alot less of BOTH substances.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Today’s morality cops are less interested in your bedroom than your refrigerator.

[1010RD]

Why would a free people ever want politicians, virtual strangers, to manage their lives?

Let me decide for myself and my family.

[OpeEdMunkey]

Makes me wish I could deep-fry Coke in trans-fats.

Why doesn't O start with eliminating the ability of food stamps to pay for all of these bad foods.

[CriticalJ]

“Why do politicians keep trying to tax your Coke?”

More money to spend on entitlements?

[Tublecane]

Ah, so Science declares we should tax certain varieties of sweetener. And why stop there? Why not have federally-mandated meal plans, and just as a sop to pesky individualists, give people three options to choose from for each course. At least let’s not allow parents to dictate what their kids eat, thereby carrying bad habits into future generations. It’s For the Children!(/s)

[exDemMom]

In that single metabolic pathway you show, I see absolutely no difference between those metabolites of fructose and the metabolites of many other pathways where the start point is not fructose. In fact, many if not most of those molecules are found in glycolysis and the citric acid cycle.

Fructose is the sweetener in fruit. It’s also found in other sweet natural products (like honey).

Triglyceride (i.e. fat) production occurs because of excess caloric intake. It is not unique to fructose consumption.

There’s no reason to think that fructose is any better or worse for you than any other digestible sugar.

[momincombatboots]

Sugary culprit? How bout we have some scientific talk about sugar? Starches and fats are long chains of sugars. Many more sugar molecules in two slices of bread than a coke! O wait, can’t tax carb loaded bread with the farm lobby (notice I did not say farmers- huge diff).

[raybbr]

Thanks for this information. We are trying cut down as much as possible HFCS in our childrens' diets. It's not easy.

BTW, there are lot of people on FR who choose to remain self-destructive regardless of the science put before them. I applaud your efforts to educate.

[MaxMax]

Bring back the misery index and see how deep the RATs run for cover.

No wait, they don't give a damn. Nevermind.

[facedown]

Sucrose, commonly called table sugar, is a disaccharide of glucose and fructose with the molecular formula C12H22O11.

[SunkenCiv]

Depending of course on which politician, probably heard "coke" and thought it was about something else:

Governor Paterson proposes 'Obesity Tax,' a tax on non-diet sodas
by Glenn Blain and Kenneth Lovett
with Edgar Sandoval and Erica Pearson
Daily News Albany Bureau
Sunday, December 14th 2008

Gov. Paterson, as part of a $121 billion budget to be unveiled Tuesday, will propose an "obesity tax" of about 15% on nondiet drinks. This means a Diet Coke might sell for a $1 - even as the same size bottle of its calorie-rich alter ego would go for $1.15. Paterson's budget also calls for a 3% cut in education spending, a $620-a-year tuition hike at SUNY and a $600 increase at CUNY - and about $3.5 billion in health care cuts, a source said. The Democratic governor will not call for a broad-based income tax boost, but he will push to restore the sales tax on clothing and footwear... State employees again will be asked to forgo their 3% raises next year and defer five days' pay until they leave their jobs, the source said. In all, Paterson will propose about $9 billion in cuts, $4 billion in new taxes and fees, and $1.5 billion in nonrecurring revenue, a second source said. The so-called obesity tax would generate an estimated $404 million a year. Milk, juice, diet soda and bottled water would be exempt from the tax... Public health advocates welcomed news of the tax, saying it would help the fight against childhood obesity. "Raising the price of this liquid candy will put children and teens on a path to a healthier diet," said Elie Ward of the American Academy of Pediatrics of New York State.

[and now, the buried lead:] The Paterson administration also announced steps yesterday to expand the state's social services net, including a 30% increase in welfare payments over three years starting January 2010, increased money for food banks and expanded access to the state's Family Health Plus program. Paterson also hopes to make it easier for people to enroll in Medicaid by eliminating face-to-face interviews and fingerprinting requirements.Thanks neverdem.