One protein mediates damage from high-fructose diet

Sscience News ^ | March 3rd, 2009 | Laura Sanders

[neverdem]

Sweet reversal: Harmful effects of fructose traced to one protein in a study of mice

Knocking out a liver protein in mice can reverse the damaging effects of a super-sweet diet. Diets loaded with high-fructose corn syrup wreak havoc on metabolic processes, but how fructose does its damage has been a mystery. The new study, appearing in the March 4 Cell Metabolism, identifies a possible culprit, a protein in the liver called PGC-1 beta.

The new research is “putting together things that we know and making a link,” comments Carlos Hernandez of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The paper highlights the importance of PGC-1 beta in the whole process, says Hernandez, who wrote a commentary in the same issue of Cell Metabolism on the new research.

Over the past decade, high-fructose corn syrup has made its way into Western diets through soda and processed foods in ever-increasing amounts. Diets high in fructose are linked to a slew of metabolic disorders, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, high blood levels of triglycerides, and insulin resistance, which is tied to type 2 diabetes, says study coauthor Yoshio Nagai, a physiologist at Yale University School of Medicine. “Many people think fat is the enemy, but they don’t care about sweeteners.”

Just like humans, mice fed a high-fructose diet develop insulin resistance and fatty liver disease. But when Nagai and his colleagues reduced the levels of the PGC-1 beta protein specifically in mice’s livers and fat tissue, these mice no longer showed signs of either disease. The mice ate a very high-fructose diet and remained unscathed, the team reports.

“PCG-1 beta knockdown can reverse the effects of a high-fructose diet in the development of insulin resistance, which is, in my opinion, a very novel, important finding,” Hernandez says...

[neverdem]

The Role of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor Coactivator-1 in the Pathogenesis of Fructose-Induced Insulin Resistance

[neverdem]

FReepmail me if you want on or off the diabetes ping list. Another nail in fructose, who'da thunk it?

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

I try to lay off HFCS, but it’s hard to do!

Thanks for posting, this will help sway me.

[WildcatClan]

The HF corn syrup is not as good anyway. If you want it sweet just use cane sugar. I had a Mexican Coke once and it was so much better.

[nitzy]

Let me get this straight. They are recommending a possible treatment that will enable us to CONTINUE consuming High Fructose Corn syrup without ill effects? I wonder if they will have another treatment for the ill effects resulting from the lack of PCG-1 protein.

I have a real novel approach to solving this problem.

How about you don't eat HFCS in the first place?

[Jack Hammer]

As time goes by, I become more and more convinced that HFCS is poison, pure and simple.

[csmusaret]

Does this mean they can develop a pill that will let me start drinking whiskey again? Will I get it at the pharmacy or the liquor store?

[MetaThought]

Or sugar for that matter. Sugar is half fructose, you know.

[Popman]

bump

[mountainbunny]

The HF corn syrup is not as good anyway. If you want it sweet just use cane sugar. I had a Mexican Coke once and it was so much better.

If you like Mexican Coca-Cola, start looking for soda made for Jewish Passover.

Jewish people can't consume anything with HFCS during Passover, so soda companies do a run of sugar-based drinks around this time of year, every year. The bonus is that it costs the same as "regular" Coke; Mexican soda is oftentimes a lot more.

You may have bought it before without noticing, since in some places, it seems to just replace the regular sweetened stuff for a week or two.

Here is an article about what to look for. We don't generally drink sugared sodas, but have noticed this in the regular grocery store while shopping.

Kosher-for-Passover Coke and Pepsi Are Back!(^) from Serious Eats. If interested, pay attention to to subtle changes in packaging listed inthe article.

[Yaelle]

There are many sodas made with regular sugar now. Check out all health food stores or even BevMo and read the ingredients. “Cane Syrup” is sugar. Rarely I let my kids buy a soda or two as a treat. I far prefer them eating sugar to the hideous and dangerous corn syrup.

The latest news is that HFCS “might” contain mercury. Google it - it was in the WaPo.

[mountainbunny]

There are many sodas made with regular sugar now. Check out all health food stores or even BevMo and read the ingredients. “Cane Syrup” is sugar. Rarely I let my kids buy a soda or two as a treat. I far prefer them eating sugar to the hideous and dangerous corn syrup.

Us, too. I shop at Whole Foods a lot due to a serious food sensitivity, and occasionally pick up a soda there for the kiddos. Mostly, though, we just don't "do" soda. Like your kids, it's a rare treat.

The latest news is that HFCS “might” contain mercury. Google it - it was in the WaPo.

Thank you for mentioning the potential mercury issue; I'd seen it before but was surprised that it didn't get very much airplay. Too much ad revenue in soda sales, I guess. At any rate, it is not worth the risk to us, so we avoid HFCS like the plague.

Here is an article: Mercury contaminates high fructose corn syrup(^), Statesville Record & Landmark.

What if BevMo, btw?

Thanks!

[WildcatClan]

I didn’t know any of this, thanks. I will be on the lookout. I drink maybe a soda a month but when I want one, I want one. :)

[WildcatClan]

Thanks :)

[amchugh]

Awesome news, I’m betting on a drug coming out to lessen the risks of Type II diabetes and childhood obesity based on this.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the links.