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Scientists at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have discovered that a diet with high levels of fructose – levels equivalent to that in high fructose corn syrup – and of trans fats not only increases obesity, but also leads to significant fatty liver disease with scar tissue. Moreover, the researchers conducted the study in a new mouse model of obesity and liver disease that so closely models human disease they will now be able to test therapies to determine their effectiveness, according to Rohit Kohli, M.D., a gastroenterologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the study's main author. "Fructose...

* A diet high in fructose can increase uric acid levels, but allopurinol may help lower the resulting high blood pressure, researchers say. Men who took the drug to mitigate the effects of a high-fructose diet did not experience the increase in blood pressure observed among men on the same diet who did not take the drug, Richard Johnson, MD, of the University of Colorado, and colleagues said at the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Research Conference in Chicago. "These results support the idea that fructose, such as present in table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, could have a...

Eat less saturated fat: that has been the take-home message from the U.S. government for the past 30 years. But while Americans have dutifully reduced the percentage of daily calories from saturated fat since 1970, the obesity rate during that time has more than doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country’s biggest killer. Now a spate of new research, including a meta-analysis of nearly two dozen studies, suggests a reason why: investigators may have picked the wrong culprit. Processed carbohydrates, which many Americans eat today in place of fat, may increase the risk of obesity, diabetes...

High fructose corn syrup, which is linked to obesity, may also be harmful to the liver, according to Duke University Medical Center research. “We found that increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup was associated with scarring in the liver, or fibrosis, among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD),” said Manal Abdelmalek, MD, MPH, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology/Hepatology at Duke University Medical Center. Her team of researchers at Duke, one of eight clinical centers in the Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis Clinical Research Network, looked at 427 adults enrolled in the network. They analyzed dietary questionnaires collected...

Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, explores the damage caused by sugary foods. He argues that fructose (too much) and fiber (not enough) appear to be cornerstones of the obesity epidemic through their effects on insulin. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public [7/2009] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 16717]

Elevated dietary fructose linked to high blood pressure A diet high in fructose increases the risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension), according to a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, California. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may help prevent hypertension. Over the last 200 years, the rate of fructose intake has directly paralleled the increasing rate of obesity, which has increased sharply in the last 20 years since the introduction of HFCS. Today, Americans...

Among women enrolled in the Michigan Bone Health and Metabolism Study high blood pressure developed at 3 times the rate in women who were vitamin D deficient before menopause. Do not wait until you get older before starting to take nutrition seriously. If you wait the damage will already be done before you act. <snip> CHICAGO, Sept. 23, 2009 — A high-fructose diet raises blood pressure in men, while a drug used to treat gout seems to protect against the blood pressure increase, according to research reported at the American Heart Association’s 63rd High Blood Pressure Research Conference.

Two cans of fizzy drink a day could cause long term liver damage, resulting in the need for a transplant, according to new research. Researchers are now urging parents to cut back on their children’s consumption of fizzy drinks as well as reducing fresh fruit juices substituting them for water. Liver damage is normally associated with alcohol abuse but the new study has found that non-alcoholic drinks with a high sugar content can cause a condition called fatty liver disease. Related Articles Artificial sweeteners 'do nothing to help weight loss' Scientists from Israel found that people who drank a litre...

Researchers at Georgia State University have found that diets high in fructose — a type of sugar found in most processed foods and beverages — impaired the spatial memory of adult rats. Amy Ross, a graduate student in the lab of Marise Parent, associate professor at Georgia State's Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, fed a group of Sprague-Dawley rats a diet where fructose represented 60 percent of calories ingested during the day. She placed the rats in a pool of water to test their ability to learn to find a submerged platform, which allowed them to get out of...

Sugar, the nutritional pariah that dentists and dietitians have long reviled, is enjoying a second act, dressed up as a natural, healthful ingredient. From the tomato sauce on a Pizza Hut pie called “The Natural,” to the just-released soda Pepsi Natural, some of the biggest players in the American food business have started, in the last few months, replacing high-fructose corn syrup with old-fashioned sugar. ConAgra uses only sugar or honey in its new Healthy Choice All Natural frozen entrees. Kraft Foods recently removed the corn sweetener from its salad dressings, and is working on its Lunchables line of portable...

Sweet reversal: Harmful effects of fructose traced to one protein in a study of mice Knocking out a liver protein in mice can reverse the damaging effects of a super-sweet diet. Diets loaded with high-fructose corn syrup wreak havoc on metabolic processes, but how fructose does its damage has been a mystery. The new study, appearing in the March 4 Cell Metabolism, identifies a possible culprit, a protein in the liver called PGC-1 beta. The new research is “putting together things that we know and making a link,” comments Carlos Hernandez of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The...

ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2008) — Eating too much fructose can induce leptin resistance, a condition that can easily lead to becoming overweight when combined with a high-fat, high-calorie diet, according to a new study with rats. Although previous studies have shown that being leptin resistant can lead to rapid weight gain on a high-fat, high-calorie diet, this is the first study to show that leptin resistance can develop as a result of high fructose consumption. The study also showed for the first time that leptin resistance can develop silently, that is, with little indication that it is happening. The study...

Dr. John White is the founder & president of White Technical Research, a consulting firm serving the food and beverage industry for nearly 15 years. He has worked with high fructose corn syrup for more than 25 years, and his expertise has been quoted by numerous news outlets. Organizations such as the American Council on Science and Health in Washington, D.C., the Institute of Food Technologists in Atlanta, and most recently the Corn Refiners Association have turned to him and his expertise on the sweetener for answers. Now, QSR talks with him to set the record straight about the similarities...

Today Bill OReilly blamed "Sugar" for our obseity. HE, like most Americans, has confused High Fruitose Corn Syrup with Sugar. In the Days when Soft Drinks and Fast Food actually used Sugar, 12 ounces was a BIG Pepsi. When Donut Batter included real Sugar, a box of a Dozen was expected to sevre 6 or more. We got Full, not FAT. Then Cuba fell to Castro. Industry discovered "Corn sweeteners". Today, Government and the Media call "High Fruitose Corn Syrup" SUGAR. Then they blame "SUGAR" for our Obeisity.

A Boston Legal episode had a case against a snack food manufacturer using high fructose corn syrup, claiming it caused obesity and diabetes in a client. OK, it's entertainment. But with a significant seed of truth in it. Corn seed. Corn products now saturate the American diet: as a dinner vegetable; as the primary ingredient in breakfast cereals and many snack foods; as the primary sweetener in beverages, candies, snacks and processed foods; as the bulk whitener/sugar/starch in coffee creamers and powdered infant formulas; as the oil in many foods and the oil many foods are cooked in; as a...

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar BY JUSTINA WANG A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed. The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends. The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar....

A sweetener commonly used in soft drinks and other foods may lead to more body fat than drinks sweetened with plain sugar. A new study suggests that fructose may alter the body's metabolism in a way that prompts it to store body fat. Researchers say the findings may help explain the recently established link between rising soft drink popularity and obesity rates in the U.S. and other parts of the world. "Our study shows how fat mass increases as a direct consequence of soft drink consumption," says researcher Matthias Tschöp, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati,...

<p>Move over greasy cheeseburgers and fries. Researchers now say the widespread use of the liquid corn sweetener, fructose, in soft drinks, baked goods and juice drinks might be a big factor in the swift rise in obesity in the United States.</p>

RALEIGH, N.C. - Researchers say they've found more evidence of a link between a rapid rise in obesity and a corn product used to sweeten soft drinks and food since the 1970s. The researchers examined consumption records from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 1967-2000 and combined it with previous research and their own analyses. The data showed an increase in the use of high-fructose corn sweeteners in the late 1970s and 1980s "coincidental with the epidemic of obesity," said one of the researchers, Dr. George A. Bray, a longtime obesity scientist with Louisiana State University System's Pennington Biomedical Research...