Posted on 07/19/2009 6:13:33 PM PDT by Coleus
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 the water. She then returned them to the pool two days later with no platform present to see if the rats could remember to swim to the platform's location. "What we discovered is that the fructose diet doesn't affect their ability to learn," Parent said. "But they can't seem to remember as well where the platform was when you take it away. They swam more randomly than rats fed a control diet."
Fructose, unlike another sugar, glucose, is processed almost solely by the liver, and produces an excessive amount of triglycerides — fat which get into the bloodstream. Triglycerides can interfere with insulin signaling in the brain, which plays a major role in brain cell survival and plasticity, or the ability for the brain to change based on new experiences.
Results were similar in adolescent rats, but it is unclear whether the effects of high fructose consumption are permanent, she said. Parent's lab works with Timothy Bartness, Regents' Professor of Biology, and John Mielke of the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada to examine how diet influences brain function.
Although humans do not eat fructose in levels as high as rats in the experiments, the consumption of foods sweetened with fructose — which includes both common table sugar, fruit juice concentrates, as well as the much-maligned high fructose corn syrup — has been increasing steadily. High intake of fructose is associated with numerous health problems, including insulin insensitivity, type II diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
"The bottom line is that we were meant to have an apple a day as our source of fructose," Parent said. "And now, we have fructose in almost everything." Moderation is key, as well as exercise, she said. Exercise is a next step in ongoing research, and Parent's team will investigate whether exercise might mitigate the memory effects of high fructose intake. Her lab is also researching whether the intake of fish oil can prevent the increase of triglycerides and memory deficits. Results from that research will be presented by her graduate student Emily Bruggeman at the 2009 Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago this fall.
There goes the gin and tonic.
People, get off the white breads, fried foods and sugars. It is killing you. Eat whole grains and real food.
Fructose is bad news. When I buy anything in a package with ingredients listed, if high-fructose corn syrup is on the list, I put it back on the shelf. The name brands have it more often than the store brands.
And this is how it works, from two con-man angles:
A politician or a trial lawyer discovers a cash-cow.
The politician or trial lawyer pays for some investigative research to begin, and instructs the people he's hired exactly what he wants to find.
The politician or trial lawyer uses a PR firm to start hitting the MSM to broadcast stories alleging what the research has been hired to find.
The scare-mill begins to churn out the stories.
The politician and trial lawyer begin to talk about the horror of what has been happening.
The politician implements a tax to steal some of the profits from the targeted industry.
The trial lawyer launches a class-action suit to steal some of the profits from the targeted industry.
By the time the legislation/trail begins, the majority of Americans have already heard (through the trusty authority of the MSM) that the targeted industry is guilty. Thus, the targeted industry has lost even before they step into the congressional/senatorial hearing or courtroom to defend themselves.
Sugar is the next target, folks.
Americans love sugar.
And the tyrant in a nanny's apron is coming after you and your wallet.
So many of these studies are on the margins. I mean, okay so you’ll lose 6 months off the end of your life— when I’m on my deathbed I’ll probably wish I had pigged out more.
It seems to me that if you eat pretty much whatever you want, in moderation, it should be ok.
Who eats 60% of their calories in fructose? Maybe fruitarians.
We bought a case of the Pepsi Throwback.......it’s made with real sugar. I have no memory of the taste from my childhood, but it does not give the instant sugar high of the regular sodas out there.
Congressional Rats most affected.
Little know fact. “High Fructose Corn Syrup” has as much fructose in it as ... regular sugar. So things that contain HFC are no worse for you than regular sugar. That said, we shouldn’t eat so much sugar in the first place...
Rats are a temperate zone animal. Humans, in contrast, are a tropical zone animal. No doubt temperate zone animals are not designed to handle vast quantities of fructose. At the same time tropical zone animals are so designed and can consume vast quantities of oranges, bananas, etc. easily.
You are right... it should be a personal choice... whether you want to be healthy and lean or sick and fat... (shrug)
I think you left out the fact that human bodies don’t tend to digest corn and corn related products well either...
It is worse because it is processed differently by the body. If you get a change, take a look at any group grade school photo from 40 years ago compared to today's kids. Obesity was rare. Chubby was occasional. The percentage of really fat kids and adults now is astonishing. The change that has occurred in the last 10-15 years is scary.
As a comparison, the last study I saw on human consumption of fructose said that the average American gets about 8% of his total daily calories from fructose. What a waste of time and money.
There’s no difference in the fructose and glucose found in HFCS and the fructose and glucose found in sucrose (sugar). Your body can’t differentiate the source nor does it care. Whether or not our bodies can digest corn or corn products well has no relevance here.
If you make your chicken wings by using whole wheat flour, will that make them ok?
No. HFCS and sugar (sucrose) are made up of the same two chemicals. Those two chemicals are metabolized no differently by your body even if they have two separate sources.
If you get a change, take a look at any group grade school photo from 40 years ago compared to today's kids. Obesity was rare. Chubby was occasional. The percentage of really fat kids and adults now is astonishing. The change that has occurred in the last 10-15 years is scary.
Overeating meets a sedentary lifestyle. If you eat more calories than you burn getting fat will be the result. That's the problem. No more, no less.
I love sugar, and I’m in excellent shape.
And yes, it is a personal choice and it’s none of the government’s business to be taxing it, as they’ve proposed.
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