bascule Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6954603.ece Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a strictly controlled diet, including high levels of fructose, produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems. People in both groups put on a similar amount of weight. However, researchers at the University of California who conducted the trial, said the levels of weight gain among the fructose consumers would be greater over the long term. Fructose bypasses the digestive process that breaks down other forms of sugar. It arrives intact in the liver where it causes a variety of abnormal reactions, including the disruption of mechanisms that instruct the body whether to burn or store fat. Perhaps it's time to re-examine the US's sugar tariffs, which lead to widespread use of high fructose corn syrup (which is in turn bolstered by corn subsidies). Though this may seem strange to the rest of the world, it's quite difficult to locate products in the US which are sweetened with sugar. HFCS is ubiquitous as a sweetener. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 I wonder how many people the corn industry and lobbyists kill each year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Isn't fructose the sugar you get in fruit? Does this mean that the '5 portions of fruit a day' advice we get is also wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john5746 Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 You get fiber and water with the small amount of fructose in fruit. It's like the difference in chewing coca leaves and snorting cocaine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphus Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 (edited) HFCS isn't pure fructose, either. It's generally either 55% or 42% fructose, the rest being glucose. What's the fructose/glucose ratio in, say, a banana? Merged post follows: Consecutive posts mergedYou get fiber and water with the small amount of fructose in fruit. It's like the difference in chewing coca leaves and snorting cocaine But people aren't drinking pure high fructose corn syrup, are they? It's a ubiquitous ingredient, but just an ingredient, just like it is in fruit. (Granted, a lot of processed stuff is much sweeter than anything natural.) And isn't fructose sweeter than glucose? So you'd need less of it for the same sweetening effect, right? Edited December 21, 2009 by Sisyphus Consecutive posts merged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Consumers need to demand better from the marketplace. It would only cost US$0.001 per can for Coca-Cola or Pepsi to switch to a healthier sweetener, which they would do in a heartbeat if we stopped buying their products in favor of something better for us. But they aren't going to volunteer to lose millions unless consumers force them to change. And I agree with bascule about re-examining the sugar tariffs. They've been in place since the early 1800s, longer than the subsidies for the oil and gas industry. The reasons for the subsidies have expired long ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Severian Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 You get fiber and water with the small amount of fructose in fruit. It's like the difference in chewing coca leaves and snorting cocaine I am not so sure about that. I just looked it up and apparently 80% of the sugar in pineapple is fructose. Looking at the relatively small bottle of (pure) pineapple juice sitting on my desk right now, it contains 25% of my daily recommended sugar intake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Come one, it is the same with everything else. The dosage is the important bit. It is a bit of a no-brainer that a high-fructose diet is not good for you. The problem is that high-fructose corn syrup (at least in the US) is an almost ubiquitous in rather high concentrations. The main issue is most likely sodas, sweets and possibly some of the ready-made food. Finally, fruit juice (depending on fruit and whether it is 100% pure) also contains more fructose per volume as the original fruit (obviously). Drinking too much juice (e.g. as sole source of liquid) is also considered somewhat unhealthy (though probably less so than with sodas). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Most Americans ignore the fact that dangerous things can be present in their food because the FDA has provided their recommendations for how much they can safely consume. It's not the FDA's fault that the majority exceed those limits on an almost daily basis. Of course, the FDA doesn't exactly run commercials during FOX News warning people not to drink more than one soda per day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Well, I'd like to see them try. I am almost sure that the companies will cry government interference and somehow shoot it down. At the same time they will start commercials with titles like: "Drink soda for freedom". 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Well, I'd like to see them try. I am almost sure that the companies will cry government interference and somehow shoot it down. At the same time they will start commercials with titles like: "Drink soda for freedom". OMG, that's funny. I can see Bill O'Reilly now, doing the interview with the FDA official. "So you think Americans should stop drinking so much soda. Why don't you support our troops in Afghanistan?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphus Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 The terrorists hate our fatness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phi for All Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 The terrorists hate our fatness.Probably takes more explosives to blow us up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Skeptic Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Most Americans ignore the fact that dangerous things can be present in their food because the FDA has provided their recommendations for how much they can safely consume. It's not the FDA's fault that the majority exceed those limits on an almost daily basis. Of course, the FDA doesn't exactly run commercials during FOX News warning people not to drink more than one soda per day. Interesting point. How about a "number of servings to exceed FDA safety limits" on every box? Most people should have no trouble with that one, I would think. At least if they bothered to check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bascule Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 HFCS isn't pure fructose, either. It's generally either 55% or 42% fructose, the rest being glucose. What's the fructose/glucose ratio in, say, a banana? A more relevant followup question given what you've stated about HFCS is: how much fructose is in cane sugar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharonY Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Cane sugar is not much better than high fructose corn syrup. It is essentially sucrose, a di-saccharid of glucose and fructose. The bioavailability of the fructose content may be slightly lower as it has to be cleaved and I am not sure how efficient it happens for a given intake. At least rat studies indicated that while sucrose had similar effects, a slightly higher concentration was needed (IIRC). Also the FDA does not give safety limits for normal nutrients (afaik) especially as it can easily be disputed where they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pangloss Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Sweet, now we have Freedom Cola to go with our Freedom Fries. Our plan for world domination is nearly complete! Average Chinese: 90 pounds x 1.2 billion = 108,000 million pounds American goal: 4x90=360 pounds x 350 million = 126,000 million pounds WE WIN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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