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Posted on 10/25/2011 8:59:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.
"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese -- every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."
In results published online Feb. 26 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.
The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.
The second experiment -- the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals -- monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet.
"These rats aren't just getting fat; they're demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides," said Princeton graduate student Miriam Bocarsly. "In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer and diabetes." In addition to Hoebel and Bocarsly, the research team included Princeton undergraduate Elyse Powell and visiting research associate Nicole Avena, who was affiliated with Rockefeller University during the study and is now on the faculty at the University of Florida. The Princeton researchers note that they do not know yet why high-fructose corn syrup fed to rats in their study generated more triglycerides, and more body fat that resulted in obesity.
High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars -- it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose -- but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.
This creates a fascinating puzzle. The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered, but may relate to the fact that excess fructose is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.
In the 40 years since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup as a cost-effective sweetener in the American diet, rates of obesity in the U.S. have skyrocketed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1970, around 15 percent of the U.S. population met the definition for obesity; today, roughly one-third of the American adults are considered obese, the CDC reported. High-fructose corn syrup is found in a wide range of foods and beverages, including fruit juice, soda, cereal, bread, yogurt, ketchup and mayonnaise. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of the sweetener per person every year.
"Our findings lend support to the theory that the excessive consumption of high-fructose corn syrup found in many beverages may be an important factor in the obesity epidemic," Avena said.
The new research complements previous work led by Hoebel and Avena demonstrating that sucrose can be addictive, having effects on the brain similar to some drugs of abuse.
In the future, the team intends to explore how the animals respond to the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in conjunction with a high-fat diet -- the equivalent of a typical fast-food meal containing a hamburger, fries and soda -- and whether excessive high-fructose corn syrup consumption contributes to the diseases associated with obesity. Another step will be to study how fructose affects brain function in the control of appetite.
The research was supported by the U.S. Public Health Service.
That is a riot! Sometimes, it will freeze early here when there are still berries on the pyracantha, barberry and other bushes. A few days later, cedar waxwings, titmice and other birds can be seen in the bushes, eating the fermenting berries, screeching and flying erratically for hours.
You speak the truth :).
More corn going to more ethanol production would help eliminate this massive problem.
Added sugar in any form is bad. Dad told us in the 60s don’t eat anything white—sugar, white flour, and salt.
It’s poison. So is sugar. Treat it as such and you’ll see the fat melt off your body in a few months.””
Good ideas. Reducing grain consumption will also help eliminate the epidemic levels of obesity. How do we fatten livestock? What do we feed them?
The HFC drinks are icky tasting-even the canned lemonade and such. I don’t drink sodas or other canned or bottled drinks, but I will buy the cane sugar ones for my bro’s kids if they are visiting-Family Dollar out here has the ones from Mexico at a really decent price.
You can also buy cans or bottles of Dublin Dr Pepper (cane sugar sweetened) from Beverages Direct. Good stuff!
Sugar is metabolized immediately as an energy booster. High fructose corn syrup is stored in the body as fat.
Let's follow your logic:
Sugar = sucrose. Sucrose = glucose and fructose.
High fructose corn syrup = glucose and fructose.
This being a fact, how can sucrose be metabolized immediately as a source of energy while hfcs is converted to fat? Afrer all, they're comprised of the same two chemicals in almost identical proportions.
Why wouldn't they both be utilized for immediate energy if the body required it? Why wouldn't they both be stored as glycogen if the body didn't have an immediate need for energy? Why wouldn't they both be stored as fat if the body's glycogen reserves were full?
I suspect that this study is the reason for all the commercials touting ‘corn sweetener’ as being no different than sugar, from the CORN LOBBY of course.
Can you explain how glucose and fructose from hydrolyzed sucrose is chemically different than glucose and fructose from HFCS?
Why would you need to see any studies on citric acid? Citric acid is commonly found in many fruits and vegetables. It serves as a natural flavor enhancer, preservative and acidifier. Why the concern, unless you think lemons, limes and oranges are dangerous?
Agreed. I cannot stomach hfc drinks and avoid like the plague. I make cherry or tropical fruit Kool-Aid with white sugar and drink that if I get a craving for a sweet drink.
Poison? Good grief. Eating fresh fruit is poisonous? Where do people come up with such nonsense? There's an old adage that's as true today as it was was in the 16th century: Poison is in everything, and no thing is without poison. The dosage makes it either a poison or a remedy.
In your world, water is poisonous. Silly but true.
So does it it take less HFCS to give food the same level of sweetness or does it take the same amount or more?
Because citric acid is added to almost everything. I’m just curious if it has anything to do with the widespread acid reflux problems. It’s added to so many products.
I suspect that there is an evolutionary factor that is involved. Raw sugar is rare in nature, mostly in honey and few other places. Fructose, fruit sugar, is more common. I think that when a person or animal consumes fruit, and therefore fructose, the body senses the difference between that and pure sugar.
The season that fruit is in abundance, summer, is when animals have to store up fat for the long winter months in order to survive.
When we eat fructose enhanced foods, the body says, “Hey! FRUCTOSE! It must be Summer! I must store this away for later!”
But, when we consume sugar, it says, “Hey! SUGAR! I’ll use this for energy immediately! I’ll store some leftovers for later!”
As for metabolization, The process is essentially the same. They may be similar molecules, but the body knows the difference........
high-fructose corn syrup>>>>>>>
Yeah this stuff is no darn good better they make ethanol out of that corn. Don’t consume that crap find an alternative.
Even so, the amount used in food and pharmaceuticals is so small that I can't imagine it would have much impact on acid reflux.
Just google “citric acid GERD” and you’ll find that citric acid triggers acid reflux. This includes the many products that contain it as an additive.
There are all sorts of sugars. I don't know what you mean by "raw" sugar. The chemical composition of honey is almost identical to that of HFCS. Anyone who fears HFCS should also be fearful of honey. Doesn't make much sense now, does it?
I think that when a person or animal consumes fruit, and therefore fructose, the body senses the difference between that and pure sugar.
Again, what do you mean by "pure" sugar. Fructose is a sugar (monosaccharide) just like galactose and glucose. Fructose may be metabolized through a different pathway in the body, but that's no reason to fear it.
When we eat fructose enhanced foods, the body says, “Hey! FRUCTOSE! It must be Summer! I must store this away for later!”
No, your body doesn't metabolize sugars based on a particular season. Your body absorbs sugar independent of the dietary source. It is regulated by active transport on the surface of the small intestines. Your body doesn't know the source of the fructose or glucose, nor does it care.
Hydrolyzed sucrose (regular old table sugar) and HFCS are metabolized in the same manner. There is no difference between them when it comes to how they are absorbed by the body. Fructose is fructose and glucose is glucose. All this fear is based on a misunderstanding of basic nutrition.
OLTG's Rules of Life #1: "Basically every problem in life can be traced back to some action of government."
In this case, high import tariffs on sugar and subsidies for corn.
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