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High Fructose Corn Syrup No Worse Than Sugar You may have heard that the obesity epidemic in America is caused by high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in most sugared drinks and many types of foods. However, the evidence now blames any sugar in drinks and not the high fructose corn syrup in particular. Researchers in the Netherlands showed that beverages sweetened by HFCS do not affect energy levels, appetite-related hormone levels or obesity any more than drinks sweetened with sucrose (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2007). People did not eat more food after drinking HFCS beverages than they did after drinking milk or non-HFCS sodas. They also showed that the obesity hormones (insulin, ghrelin, glucose and glucagon-like peptide 1 or GLP-1) remained the same after all types of sweetened drinks. A sucrose-sweetened beverage contains 64 per cent glucose and 36 per cent fructose, while the HFCS is 41 per cent glucose and 59 per cent fructose, a not very significant difference. The researchers concluded that "energy balance consequences of HFCS-sweetened soft drinks are not different from those of other iso-energetic drinks: a sucrose soft drink or milk." Currently, many scientists believe that any sugar in drinks promotes obesity because sugar in liquid form does not fill you up to make you eat less in the same way that sugar in solid food does. If you want to lose weight, I recommend that you exercise more and eat less, and avoid sugar in liquid form. Dr. Cinque's comments: This was taken from Dr. Gabe Mirkin's health newsletter. I agree with him that worrying about the difference between high-fructose corn syrup and regular sugar is a waste of time. Sugar is sugar. And if fructose, in particular, were so terribly bad, then fresh fruits would have to be bad, and we know that is not true. Fructose is the predominant sugar in virtually all fruits. In fact, fructose literally means "fruit sugar." The issue of what they put in soft drinks does not apply to me since I don't drink them, and neither should you. But if what Dr. Mirkin says about sugar in liquid form being bad is true, then does it also apply to fruit juices? Perhaps it does. There is really no valid nutritional reason to drink fruit juice. In no way is it better than just eating the fruit. I rarely drink fruit juices myself. Here's an exception: if I windup with some fruit that just isn't very sweet, perhaps a sour pineapple or some tart grapes, I will juice them because it's a way of concentrating the sugar. I wouldn't dare juice a fruit that I knew was sweet because that would be like drinking syrup. But if I start with a fruit that is less sweet than it should be, then juicing it usually delivers a perfectly refreshing result. E-mail to a friend Previous Article Next Article |
