I use this in my coffee
Posted on 05/30/2019 11:03:27 AM PDT by Red Badger
Many of us believe some kinds of sugar are somehow healthier.
High-fructose corn syrup has been a scapegoat for American obesity for the past decade and a half, so you might be surprised to learn that sugar and honey both have more fructose than high-fructose corn syrup.
Let’s break down the numbers here. Despite its misleading name, the most commonly used form of HFCS only has 42 percent fructose in comparison to table sugar’s 50 percent. Honey, the beloved natural sweetener, has 49 percent. Standard corn syrup doesn’t have any fructose because it’s 100 percent glucose, which explains how HFCS got its name: it was a kind of corn syrup with more fructose than normal.
This is true for every form of natural sugar you see advertised on organic food because sucrose, the molecule you know as sugar, is made up of one fructose molecule and one glucose molecule. Honey is a bit different, as its fructose and glucose molecules aren’t bound together, but instead are free-floating—much more like HFCS.
“People say you should use honey, but what’s interesting about honey is that because the sucrose is split apart [into glucose and fructose], you can fit a lot more of those molecules into a tablespoon,” says Andrea Giancoli, a registered dietician and consulting expert on dietary policy. “A tablespoon of honey has more calories than a tablespoon of table sugar.”
Now, it is true that your body metabolizes fructose differently from glucose, and products made with only fructose can cause metabolic issues as well as digestive problems. Pure fructose more directly impacts blood sugar, and eventually can lead to decreased insulin sensitivity and high triglycerides. But as a 2008 review of HFCS notes, those differences are irrelevant when talking about the health impacts of any of these commonly used sugars: “Sucrose, HFCS, invert sugar, honey, and many fruits and juices deliver the same sugars in the same ratios to the same tissues within the same time frame to the same metabolic pathways.”
Maybe the most confusing thing about the whole HFCS controversy is that there isn’t actually much scientific debate. Though there are still some questions as to how the body might process different types of sugar in distinct ways, the research thus far shows that the metabolic effects are exactly the same.
The confusion stems from a 2004 study that correlated HFCS consumption with obesity rates in the U.S., which at the time were fairly closely aligned. More and more food companies were using table sugar’s syrupy cousin because it has properties that make it ideal for making processed foods like soda and candy. Around the same time, Americans were growing fatter. The researchers were careful to note that, as always, correlation doesn’t imply causation. Perhaps the rise of HFCS coincided with an increase in processed food consumption or simply in total calories consumed, and the shift in sugar use had nothing to do with it.
But that didn’t stop other people, both scientists and journalists, from drawing much broader conclusions. Many parties took the paper to mean that there was something unique about HFCS that contributed to obesity. But the study never claimed to prove that, and subsequent research has shown exactly the opposite. As a 2014 review in the journal Diabetes Care put it: "the belief that sucrose is metabolized differently than HFCS is a myth. No study has shown any difference between the two when each is given [in the same caloric values], nor is there any difference in sweetness or caloric value."
In the time since that study, sugar consumption overall (including that of HFCS) has declined, even as obesity rates have continued to climb.
Of course, this is not to say that you should feel fine eating food with HFCS in it. Just remember that it’s the nature of those products—the fact that they’re often sugary drinks and processed foods—that make them bad for you. An equivalent product made with real cane sugar is just as bad. In fact, one review paper points out that soda’s acidity actually causes sucrose to split apart into its constituent molecules, meaning the can starts out containing common sugar but looks quite different, at the molecular level, by the time you drink it. The authors note, “It is a sweet irony that purists who must have their sucrose-sweetened sodas end up drinking a sweetener composition more similar to HFCS and have been doing so since the first cola was formulated in the 1880s.”
The message here is that you should absolutely avoid HFCS. But you should also be avoiding all forms of sugar equally. You should really only be getting six to nine teaspoons a day at a maximum, according to federal guidelines, but Americans consume close to 20 on average. If we all focused on sugar as one lump category rather than “natural” versus “unnatural,” we’d be better at making healthy choices. Even the sugar found in fruits is unhealthy if you eat too much of it. Go ahead and drizzle some honey on your toast because you like the taste—but don’t fool yourself into thinking the natural sources of sugar don't count as sweet treats.
Tags:
sugar high fructose corn syrup food Diet Health
You had me believing there was no difference in sweeteners with your OP. Now you post a rebuttal to that and it is also persuasive!
I think it tastes better.
By the way, the line...
“The researchers were careful to note that, as always, correlation doesn’t imply causation.”
...is false. Correlation does imply causation. It does not prove causation. You cannot deduce causation from correlation. But it is evidence that something may exists. Correlation requires more study. Girl getting belly fat implies pregnant. But pregnancy is not the only reason to get belly fat.
Then I noticed that I was starting to eat less. Where I used to have a couple of PB&J's for lunch, one was fine. And so on. The only change was no HFCS.
Then I started to pay attention when *I* needed to do the grocery shopping. HFCS is in everything!! Soda? Of course, no surprise there. Peanut Butter and Jelly? Sure, makes sense. But bread? Ketchup? Pickles and Relish? I started wondering if there's something to all this.
There are other HFCS-free choices, but you need to look.
Meanwhile, I've lost a bunch of weight and I feel better in general. More energy. Was it because of a general change of habits for the better? Or cutting out HFCS? Probably both, but cutting out the HFCS sure makes sense to me.
I think yeast needs sugar to ferment otherwise you'd get matza pizza.
I noticed that whenever a pizza is super fantastically tasty, there is sugar in the sauce. There is also one brand of spaghetti sauce which uses a lot of sugar.
In moderation, sugar isn’t a problem. Coke was sold in 5 oz bottles in the 1950s. A McDonald’s hamburger was originally 1.6 ounces BEFORE COOKING. I’m losing weight on my current diet, but also still putting a level teaspoon of sugar in my 12 oz mugs of coffee. 4 grams of sugar.
An 8 oz glass of milk has 11 grams of sugar. Big whoop! It has a lot of other good things, too!
Packaged food tends to have a ton of sugar added. Avoid those like the plague! Eat foods you cook. Eat in moderation. Feel free to be hungry sometimes. If you can recognize it as one-step food: milk, corn, etc - don’t sweat it. Humans have been eating it for as long as there have been humans. Without getting fat.
“Dr. Jason Fung - ‘Therapeutic Fasting - Solving the Two-Compartment Problem’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuj-oMN-Fk
I'd imagine that the chains add quite a bit more than that. Sugar, salt, fat all taste good.
I make rum syrup and soak my pound cake. Life is good!!
WHY ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER IS WORSE FOR YOU THAN SUGAR
https://www.wellandgood.com/good-advice/dr-frank-lipman-splenda-bad-for-you-sugar/
I don’t believe that is actually so. Unlike regular sucrose or fructose, HFCS IIRC is broken down in the liver, and once the liver is at capacity for that it gets directly converted to fat.
I don’t necessarily agree with it.
But, unlike ABCNNBCBSNYTWAPO, I will post both sides of a story not just ‘MY’ side.............
We use local raw honey. Even though it’s “all natutal” our Drs warned us to use it IN MODERATION because sugar is sugar.
Don’t give any to a toddler, possible allergens, until 4 or 5 years old..............
Yes, I used to love getting served a 4-ounce juice glass of full-sugar soda by little old ladies up through the ‘80s. I think that generation and their 4-oz juice glasses pretty much died out after that.
Yes, if you eat whole foods rather than processed, pretty soon most commercial and processed foods start to taste awfully sweet and salty!
side bar for you sugared drink fans. In many places in San Diego County you can get pepsi and coke bottled in mexico with sugar and no corn syrup.
because corn is so heavily subsidized, the farming industry needs to dump it into as any products as possible.....
Yes, here in Florida, Big Lots Stores sells Mexican Sodas.............
*** Yes, absolutely it is worse than sugar, which is bad enough itself.
If you occasionally want a Coke, get un Coca-Cola real, hecho en Mejico com sugar real. Available at El Mercado or the dollar store. ***
I only drink sodas made with pure cane sugar. When I used to drink the ones with HFCS, my legs would hurt.
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