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."
I hear you...whole grain pasta just doesn't cut it. My boys and grandson absolutely love the pasta I make. My last batch was made with ground venison, and it tasted great. I couldn't believe how lean the meat was.
Maybe I'll just eat the sauce with perhaps a few pieces of pasta. I'm still learning about what I can eat, and what I can't. The pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving apparently wasn't bad, yet nuts made my reading spike about 5%.
The city of Irving has done a great job in building walking/bike trails. I walked the entire Campion Trail last Sunday...from the start to my house, it was a bit over 7 miles. It's a fun walk along the Trinity River, and there's a couple of places where wagon trains crossed the river in the mid-1800s.
My lawnmowers and chainsaws all got Type2 diabetes from HFC Corn Ethanol. Had to rebuild the carbs on all 4 of them. I hate that crap.
It’s getting to the point where if you didn’t grow it yourself; you probably shouldn’t eat it...most of the stuff at the grocery store really isn’t ‘food’...
More importantly they appeal to our victim mentality. It makes everything some faceless company’s fault, evil nasty corporations making products people enjoy making people fat is a much more appealing narrative than people failing to exercise self control.
’ I’m taking the old school meds metformin and glimepride, which do not seem to have these dire side effects like some of the more recently introduced diabetic medeicines.”
The first med my doc put me on really screwed with my very short term memory. I had water tests that required 5 drops of this, and 5 drops of that, put into a water sample. I would forget how many drops I’d put in, in the middle of putting them in! 5 seconds! Stopped that stuff!. Took metformin for a month. Don’t need it anymore. I’m just barely Type 2 now.
What pray tell is a cheerwine drinker?
the Agribusiness-Medical industrial complex...at your service....
My Doc recommended Dr Ron Rosedale MD
http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/health_articles/clinician-q-a-fighting-fatty-liver-disease
Cheerwine was my favorite soda until I cut it. I guess it is more likely to be found in the south
About 15 years ago I was addicted to Sun Drop.
If you've got the interest and time, this is a fascinating lecture about the hepatic chemistry of fructose:
I have my own ‘pet theory’ as to why HFCS does what it does to humans.
Many FReepers who grow corn will disagree, and say ‘sugar is sugar is sugar’, and they are correct, to a point.
Too much of anything is bad for you, whether it’s HFCS or regular raw table sugar.
But I think that the human body reacts differently to HFCS than it does to table sugar.
My thought is that the body sees a molecule of HFCS and stores it as fat for future use, but a molecule of sugar it tries to use immediately as energy, but stores it only if there is too much for current needs.
Bears binge in the late summer and fall months on fruits, berries and honey if it can find it. It’s system stores this FRUCTOSE for use during hibernation. I think the human body does the same thing........
Yeh, this study just has to be conclusive. They can get “suggestive” from most any study and for most any desired result. Although I avoid fructose as amuch as I can, these studies really irk me.
US Classic Coke has hfcs. Mexican Coke has sugar. You can get that at Big Lots. Sierra Mist is the only soft drink I know of that has sugar.
Beet sugar is GMO.
We are the government and we are here to help. One more glaring example of incompetence and the government.
Agreed. The credibility of researchers is damaged, and it will be a while before they gain respectibility back. That being said I despise the sugar inductry as they put that crap in EVERYTHING, well, maybe not salt, but dam near everything.
” avoid extra sugar, and to be careful about fructose, particularly in the form of high-fructose corn syrup,”
See this everywhere these days.
It can be obtained from a variety of sources and in today's vernacular is mucho bueno todo mexico.
Bump for later
"A Sweet Deal for Big Sugar's Daddies".
Not many lobbyists would get that kind of service.
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