Yesterday I briefly mentioned
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in a discussion of soda (
see post here ). Today we will delve a little deeper on what the correlation may be between weight gain and HFCS.
Soda isn't the only food product with HFCS on the label. It's actually hard to find a processed food item that doesn't include HFCS. It's in virtually all fast foods, salad dressings, barbecue sauce, brownies, cookies, basically anything that needs to be sweetened. HFCS is cheaper for food manufacturers, and it is sweeter than sucrose so less needs to be added.
A recent study performed by UT Southwestern Medical Center found that
limiting those foods that include HFCS can have a significant effect on weight loss. The researcher infers that the weight loss people may see with low carbohydrate diets may have more to do with the reduction of fructose in the diet than the carbohydrates themselves. This is extremely important because this statement further asserts the importance of choosing a healthy balance of complex carbs, not just cutting all carbohydrates completely out of the diet. Our need for carbohydrates is a completely different topic, but the sooner we realize that carbohydrates aren't they enemy, the healthier we will be.
As I also discussed in the above mentioned post about soda, the point in which fructose enters the body's metabolic cycle is at a later point than other monosaccharides. While all three monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, and galactose) can be synthesized into fat by the body, according to this study fructose does so at a much quicker, less regulated pace than the others.
In this particular study the researcher gave the participants fruit drinks as their first meal, each consisting of different amounts of glucose, and increasing amounts of fructose. Those who ingested the greatest amount of fructose had a
measured increase in fat synthesis. In addition according to the researcher, "Fructose given at breakfast also changed the way the body handled the food eaten at lunch. After fructose consumption, the liver increased the storage of lunch fats that might have been used for other purposes."
You can read the
full article here. It is important to note that this particular study only consisted of six participants, not exactly a huge population study. Any time you read a study you should
ask who is funding it, and what the details of the study are. I still think this study is worth paying attention to because this researcher is not the first to find this correlation. She also makes an important note that we can't blame all of the obesity epidemic on HFCS, we are simply eating too much of everything.
As I've said many times:
read your labels. It's your choice whether or not you decide to avoid HFCS, but be educated when you make that choice, and understand the potential consequences.
Yesterday I briefly mentioned High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in a discussion of soda ( see post here ). Today we will delve a little deeper on what the correlation may be between weight gain and HFCS.
Soda isn't the only food product with HFCS on the label. It's actually hard to find a processed food item that doesn't include HFCS. It's in virtually all fast foods, salad dressings, barbecue sauce, brownies, cookies, basically anything that needs to be sweetened. HFCS is cheaper for food manufacturers, and it is sweeter than sucrose so less needs to be added.
A recent study performed by UT Southwestern Medical Center found that limiting those foods that include HFCS can have a significant effect on weight loss. The researcher infers that the weight loss people may see with low carbohydrate diets may have more to do with the reduction of fructose in the diet than the carbohydrates themselves. This is extremely important because this statement further asserts the importance of choosing a healthy balance of complex carbs, not just cutting all carbohydrates completely out of the diet. Our need for carbohydrates is a completely different topic, but the sooner we realize that carbohydrates aren't they enemy, the healthier we will be.
As I also discussed in the above mentioned post about soda, the point in which fructose enters the body's metabolic cycle is at a later point than other monosaccharides. While all three monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, and galactose) can be synthesized into fat by the body, according to this study fructose does so at a much quicker, less regulated pace than the others.
In this particular study the researcher gave the participants fruit drinks as their first meal, each consisting of different amounts of glucose, and increasing amounts of fructose. Those who ingested the greatest amount of fructose had a measured increase in fat synthesis. In addition according to the researcher, "Fructose given at breakfast also changed the way the body handled the food eaten at lunch. After fructose consumption, the liver increased the storage of lunch fats that might have been used for other purposes."
You can read the full article here. It is important to note that this particular study only consisted of six participants, not exactly a huge population study. Any time you read a study you should ask who is funding it, and what the details of the study are. I still think this study is worth paying attention to because this researcher is not the first to find this correlation. She also makes an important note that we can't blame all of the obesity epidemic on HFCS, we are simply eating too much of everything.
As I've said many times: read your labels. It's your choice whether or not you decide to avoid HFCS, but be educated when you make that choice, and understand the potential consequences.