Posted on 11/28/2012 12:58:27 PM PST by neverdem
Countries using high-fructose corn syrup have diabetes rates 20 percent higher than countries that do not, a new international analysis finds.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in national food supplies around the world might help explain the rising rates of type 2 diabetes around the world, researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford report in the journal Global Public Health.
After studying 42 countries, researchers found that those that use HFCS in their food supply had a 20 percent higher prevalence of diabetes than those that did not use HFCS, suggesting an association with diabetes independent of total sugar intake and obesity levels.
"HFCS appears to pose a serious public health problem on a global scale," said principal study author Michael I. Goran, MD, professor of preventive medicine , director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center, and co-director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute at the Keck School of Medicine at USC in a release. "The study adds to a growing body of scientific literature that indicates HFCS consumption may result in negative health consequences distinct from and more deleterious than natural sugar."
Not surprisingly, the United States topped the list with the most per-capita consumption of HFCS - 55 pounds per person, per year. The second highest was Hungary, with an annual rate of 46 pounds per person per year. Canada, Slovakia Bulgaria, Belgium, Argentina, Korea, Japan, and Mexico also had high rates while Germany, Poland, Greece, Portugal, Egypt, Finland, and Serbia were found to be among the lowest HFCS consumers.
Countries on the high end of the HFCS scale had an average type 2 diabetes rate of 8 percent, compared to 6.7 percent in countries not using HFCS. Researchers believe this link is driven by higher amounts of fructose in foods made with HFCS than in foods made with regular table sugar or glucose. Some evidence suggests that the body metabolizes fructose differently from glucose , researchers say in the article, though this runs contrary to the positions of the American Medical Association and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, among other groups. The AMA says HFCS is no worse for the body than glucose-containing table sugar - a claim that's hard for some consumers to believe, as HFCS has been vilified for decades because of its suspected role in weight gain and metabolic syndrome .
Regardless, the take-home message is that consumers need to reduce the amount of all forms of sugar and sweeteners in their diets, says Joan Salge Blake, MS, RD, LDN, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. "Honey, high-fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sucrose, molasses - these are all sources of added sugars that we need to reduce in our diet," she says. "Sixty-five percent of Americans are overweight, and getting rid of foods like these that are just empty calories can potentially help manage weight."
See what the Cato Institute has to say about U.S. sugar policy.
http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbp/tbp-013.pdf
Are these the Cokes that come from Mexico?
I’m not certain where they come from. I don’t have a bottle here to check either.
I can say that these old style bottled cokes are sold in a different location of the grocery than the other standard 1-2 liter bottles of soda and such.
What causes belly fat? Wheat?
Oh God, If I only knew the answer to that, I would be so much better off.
If I had to guess I’d say this; Italian bread, butter, pasta and Breyer’s ice cream.
Not that I have an personal knowledge of such, those are just wild guess in outer space :D
>Oh God, If I only knew the answer to that, I would be so much better off.<
Two books you folks may find of interest:
Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD
And, “Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It” by Gary Taubes:
DING! WINNER!!!
Do yourself a favor: Stop drinking ANYTHING with HFCS or Aspartame, Sweet 'n Low, EQUAL, etc.. in it. The Artificial sweetners are WORSE than sugar itself.
I stopped drinking Coke Zero back in April after a near heart-attack landed me in the hospital. I drink NOTHING with HFCS or artificial sweeteners in it now. Water, Coffee w/1 Sugar and NATURAL juice only.
That ONE change netted over 35 pounds of weight loss as of my last weigh in, last week.
Do yourself a favor: quit Coke Zero NOW. You'll lose weight, get your insulin and type-2 diabetes under control faster than you know it. Trust me on this, I know.
Well, I do not drink coke zero, only diet coke sometimes when I cannot get my tea, which is a problem because it is diet peach snapple which is sweetened with aspartame.
The only packaged sweetner I use is stevia in my coffee.
I know what I should do is make my own tea and sweeten it with stevia.
I think that is what I am going to do, but the good news is I do have my type 2 on maximum security lock down. I think quitting diet snapple will assist that even further.
Taubes on Why We Get Fat
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/07/taubes_on_why_w.html
Taubes on Fat, Sugar and Scientific Discovery
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/11/taubes_on_fat_s.html
Both great discussions are worth a listen. It’s an hour long program and you can download it. It makes the commute bearable.
Thanks for the links.
Look up Dreamfields pasta, made for those avoiding carbs.
Cooks like, tastes like regular pasta. Does not metabolize like it. Retain only 5 vice 40+ grams carbs per serving. No GI issues either, if that’s where your mind went next. LOL
I sometimes cook a mix of cheap & Dreamfields together, just to stretch it out. Eat a plate of the stuff, who needs garlic bread or other sides?
Cato can say what they want. I worked in the industry for over 16 years. Part of the price paid by the US for foreign sugar is back door foreign aide....remember Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines? There is no check made of imported sugar to insure that it complies with the same laws, regulations, etc. as imposed on US companies. Cost of unit production in the US is far better than any foreign nation. I could go on but it would take too long. We - the American consumer - are being fed a bunch of garbage government and the ignorant media.
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