ANOTHER MEDICAL MYTH BITES THE DUST

[bobkrech]

For the last several years many "Health Gurus" have argued that high fructose consumption was the reason why the incidence of Type 2 diabetes has increased in the general population. As a chemist I often chuckle at these pseudo-medical reports that have no basis in fact or documented research to back them up. This recently published study debunks the myth and reports that a clinical study found no correlation with the type of sugar consumed in equal amounts and the onset of Type 2 diabetes. The author says he believes that overconsumption, rather than a type of sugar, is one of the leading causes of obesity. "Overall, it's not about swapping fructose with glucose. Overeating, portion size and calories are what we should be refocusing on – they're our biggest problems."

So don't be concerned about eating fruit and foodstuff with high fructose corn syrup. It won't hurt you. Just don't overeat and watch your calories, and you can use all that extra fructose for rocket fuel. :wink:

Bob

 

[Maxx Mayhem]

The corn abuse industry has spent a fortune trying to state the same thing thru a disinformation campaign which has contributed to the fact I no longer subscribe to cable. And methinks they doth protest too much.

 

[cwbullet]

I have argues this for years. There is no scientific basis behind the lobby against HFCS. Although I will argue against the corn industry, it is not for this. I just can't see support the industry with government subsidies.

 

[mpitfield]

Being a type 1 diabetic, which is a very different disease than type 2, I have often been asked "did you eat a lot of sugar as a child", this has also made me chuckle. However this is public perception/ignorance, which likely stems from these pseudo-medical reports.

Most people don't realize that glucose does not create diabetes, rather not watching your caloric intake, having little to no regime in your routine and not exercising allows the disease to present itself, at least in the majority of type 2 cases.

The only caution I would argue with fructose is that it converts to glucose rapidly (high on the Glycaemic Index or GI) compared to other foods. In the majority of cases of type 2 diabetes the body still produces insulin however they have an impaired glucose tolerance, or insulin resistance and cannot produce insulin fast enough to match the release of high GI foods. This of course varies from person to person.

So keep them to a minimum and try to consume them only before a more vigorous activity and not sitting around after dinner.

 

[stealth6]

The problem with HFCS (and it is a huge problem) is that it is insidious. It's in EVERYTHING - at least as far as processed foods go. The big industries slip this stuff into whatever they can, cause it's cheap and enormously profitable for them to do so. For so many people (most?) that eat "normal" food, this makes watching their overall intake extremely difficult. And this means that they eat WAY too much of it, which causes the health problems that it does.

If you are the type that really watches what you eat, that eats mostly fresh unprocessed foods, that cooks for yourself (and family), that reads food labels, and that gets plenty of good exercise, well then yeah, a bit of HFCS isn't going to do any significant harm. I imagine this is what that study actually says. However, the vast majority of Americans do not fall into that category. And whether they know it or not, they are ingesting massive quantities of the stuff, and it IS doing them harm. You can bet the big corps that use it in their "ingredients" knows it though.

Study or not, count me in the group that still avoids this stuff whenever I can. And also count me in the group that thinks that HFCS - in the way that it's used in our current food industry today - is a bad thing.

Now excuse me, I have to go prepare dinner - all fresh whole foods and cooked from scratch at that.

s6

 

[jsargevt]

I think that the bigger issue isn't where HFCS is replacing sugar, it is that HCFS finds its way into many, many things which you wouldn't ordinarily find sugar. I agree that portion size and overeating are the true causes of obesity but if you consider that if you eat +100 calories per day for a year that is a 10lb addition to your body weight. In general it seems that many of our foods are overly sweet (and salty and fatty for that matter) - a nice way to see the amount of sugar in food is on the page sugarstacks.com - it is an eye opener, especially for those of you who consume soda.

I do what I can to avoid HFCS - if I see it on a label it is an indication that the food I'm looking at is likely overprocessed and I seek out a healthier alternative. Don't get me wrong - 100 calories of HCFS is no different than 100 calories of white sugar but to me when I find HCFS in my bread, it is a strong indication that the bread I'm eating is probably pretty low on actual nutrients that my body deserves. So for a lot of people it isn't necessarily the HCFS that causes concern, it is the fact that it is in the food in the first place that sets off alarms.

Anyhow - in general moderation is really the best way to handle most everything food-related. HCFS, Sugar, ice cream, french fries, none of that will kill you on its own, but if you only consume unhealthy food it shouldn't be a surprise when you yourself end up unhealthy. There are no bad choices, only better ones.

 

[stealth6]

I do what I can to avoid HFCS - if I see it on a label it is an indication that the food I'm looking at is likely overprocessed and I seek out a healthier alternative. Don't get me wrong - 100 calories of HCFS is no different than 100 calories of white sugar but to me when I find HCFS in my bread, it is a strong indication that the bread I'm eating is probably pretty low on actual nutrients that my body deserves. So for a lot of people it isn't necessarily the HCFS that causes concern, it is the fact that it is in the food in the first place that sets off alarms.

Ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner folks.

Master of (what should be) the obvious, indeed.

s6

 

[thobin]

While I love it when the talking heads and know it all's are wrong and have to eat their words. That said HFCS is bad for you it may not be the culprit for type 2 but is the culprit for my wife's allergies, it gets misdiagnosed for Celiac disease in a lot of people and they are just beginning to understand it may be HFCS. Years of suffering till we found a doctor who would listen. Now while all processed sugar has the some effect on her, any amount of HFCS is an instant and severe. I hate all processed food, but once again its moderation in all things, 64oz of coke a day what the heck do you think is going to happen?

Any way give it a week and it will be the cause of hair loss. I cant count how many times the egg has changed sides from good to evil.


TA

 

[cwbullet]

While I love it when the talking heads and know it all's are wrong and have to eat their words. That said HFCS is bad for you it may not be the culprit for type 2 but is the culprit for my wife's allergies, it gets misdiagnosed for Celiac disease in a lot of people and they are just beginning to understand it may be HFCS. Years of suffering till we found a doctor who would listen. Now while all processed sugar has the some effect on her, any amount of HFCS is an instant and severe. I hate all processed food, but once again its moderation in all things, 64oz of coke a day what the heck do you think is going to happen?

Any way give it a week and it will be the cause of hair loss. I cant count how many times the egg has changed side from good to evil.

TA

Unless you go pick it yourself and grind into a meal, it is all processed. HFCS? I don't know any diseases it is documented to cause, but it possible you wife has a deficiency of the brush border enzymes in her small intestine. This will cause severe Gi symptoms.

 

[CarVac]

I have noticed that even bottled Gatorade has been switching over to sucrose or even all dextrose. In the past, only the powdered Gatorade didn't have corn syrup.

While it is less sweet, I actually like the taste of the all-dextrose Gatorade; it tastes 'cleaner' and, well, less syrupy.

 

[majordude]

Well, whether or not HFCS, Mexican Coke tastes better than American Coke. So that proves HFCS is evil.

 

[accpool]

Everything is going to kill you. Live each day as a gift and you will always be healthy. Just putting some levity on this. Unfortunately it would be very tough to grow it and pick it and cook it. Across the board our food supply seems tainted. Drive by a junior high or high school and look at the kids, the "boys" are all 6'7", the "girls" look like women.
I have a customer that grows oranges completely certified organic, she takes pride in growing a great product that is good for us. Then the neighboring grove has a helicopter fly over and spray fertilizer and pesticide on their trees. What do you think happens?

 

[luke strawwalker]

The problem with HFCS (and it is a huge problem) is that it is insidious. It's in EVERYTHING - at least as far as processed foods go. The big industries slip this stuff into whatever they can, cause it's cheap and enormously profitable for them to do so. For so many people (most?) that eat "normal" food, this makes watching their overall intake extremely difficult. And this means that they eat WAY too much of it, which causes the health problems that it does.

If you are the type that really watches what you eat, that eats mostly fresh unprocessed foods, that cooks for yourself (and family), that reads food labels, and that gets plenty of good exercise, well then yeah, a bit of HFCS isn't going to do any significant harm. I imagine this is what that study actually says. However, the vast majority of Americans do not fall into that category. And whether they know it or not, they are ingesting massive quantities of the stuff, and it IS doing them harm. You can bet the big corps that use it in their "ingredients" knows it though.

Study or not, count me in the group that still avoids this stuff whenever I can. And also count me in the group that thinks that HFCS - in the way that it's used in our current food industry today - is a bad thing.

Now excuse me, I have to go prepare dinner - all fresh whole foods and cooked from scratch at that.

s6

+1... I hate the stuff myself...

IF I drink a soda, I usually buy one imported from Mexico so I can get real cane sugar... yeah, they DO taste MUCH better than the HFCS garbage...

The big corn corporate thugs in the US have been trying to drag Mexico's soft drink industry down by attempting to FORCE them to use US-produced HFCS in their soft drinks instead of Mexico or Central/South American grown SUGAR... They claim they're violating NAFTA or GATT or some crap like that just because they don't want gringo GARBAGE in their sodas...

Spot on post above... that garbage is in just about EVERYTHING they can possibly stick it into nowdays...
I don't like it and avoid it whenever I possibly can...

Later! OL JR

 

[Sully]

Well, whether or not HFCS, Mexican Coke tastes better than American Coke. So that proves HFCS is evil.

Also, Kosher Coke tastes better and has smoother foam. It's available around Passover, and every year I buy a bunch of 2-liter bottles. It has sucrose instead of HFCS. I don't think it's healthier, but it tastes better to me.

 

[o1d_dude]

Life is a terminal experience. No one gets out alive. About 20,000 sunsets is all we get on the average.

Live life to the fullest, be happy even when it's difficult, eat good food, drink good beer or whisky, and launch rockets whenever you can.

 

[terryg]

Pepsi Throwback is my launch day favorite.

 

[WoShuGui]

+1 on the mis-information campaign by corn industry. Their attempted sucrose = fructose advertising blitz a year or so back prompted me to file a false advertising complaint with the FCC.

HFCS advocates use the weakness of the non-equivalence data as evidence of equivalence. This is a tough argument to swallow, so to speak, given the synthetic nature of HFCS.

Fructose itself is a natural result of carbohydrate metabolism. The problem is that direct consumption bypasses the natural signaling mechanisms needed for proper homeostasis.

Below is still my take on it summarized in a review article Am J Clin Nutr November 2002 vol. 76 no. 5 911-922. I agree the evidence for obesity etc. from HFCS is weak and probably manageable with moderate intake, however, the HFCS producers are likely not interested in moderate intake as our fast food industry has demonstrated.

"Because fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion from pancreatic β cells, the consumption of foods and beverages containing fructose produces smaller postprandial insulin excursions than does consumption of glucose-containing carbohydrate. Because leptin production is regulated by insulin responses to meals, fructose consumption also reduces circulating leptin concentrations. The combined effects of lowered circulating leptin and insulin in individuals who consume diets that are high in dietary fructose could therefore increase the likelihood of weight gain and its associated metabolic sequelae. In addition, fructose, compared with glucose, is preferentially metabolized to lipid in the liver. Fructose consumption induces insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriacylglycerolemia, and hypertension in animal models. The data in humans are less clear. Although there are existing data on the metabolic and endocrine effects of dietary fructose that suggest that increased consumption of fructose may be detrimental in terms of body weight and adiposity and the metabolic indexes associated with the insulin resistance syndrome, much more research is needed to fully understand the metabolic effect of dietary fructose in humans."

 

[Hardline]

Life is a terminal experience. No one gets out alive. About 20,000 sunsets is all we get on the average.

Live life to the fullest, be happy even when it's difficult, eat good food, drink good beer or whisky, and launch rockets whenever you can.

Whereas I totally agree with this statement I personally believe that the living life to the fullest is only achieved with balance and moderation in all things (including moderation of moderation at times!)

Wayne and I made the decision over 20 years ago to try and cut out as much HFCS and GMO foods in our everyday diet as possible, knowing that we can only minimize our exposure. If you eat out at all you are exposed, regardless if it is a restaurant or a friends house. We try and eat as minimally processed foods as possible for many reasons, one of which is I have some food allergies which require me to carry an EpiPen (tree nuts). We get our lamb/beef/pork from a local family who runs their herds out in the desert and don't use hormones or antibiotics. We get our veggies and eggs in season from a local farmer that only sells what he grows and uses heirloom seeds and no herbicides/fungicides/pesticides, etc. We primarily drink water, although Wayne likes to sample various craft brewed root beers as long as they use sugar and I like wine. We are not perfect about it of course, but we think that some attempt at a healthy diet is better than NO attempt. But it takes time, alot of time, to make fresh homemade meals and I run a business so meal planning is critical. To me food is something I can pronounce.....

We live in an adult community and I am truly amazed at the people our age living around us who have a multitude of health issues: diabetes/obesity/hyper-this and that/cardiovascular issues/neurological issues, etc. etc. and popping a gazillon pills a day to treat this or that. We run/bike by or wave as we are heading off to ballroom dance or on a camping trip or to launch rockets and they are struggling just to get out of their chair. I look at their lifestyle and diet and compare it to what we've been doing all these years and can't help but think that our deliberate diet/exercise lifestyle choices all along are helping us live life to the fullest. However in our neighborhood we are considered the weird ones.

Whether or not HFCS is ultimately determined to be food or poison or something in-between, I don't think I've harmed our health by excluding it from our standard diet. But I do want the choice of knowing what it is in so I can avoid it. :2:

 

[grouch]

While I am not even remotely medically educated I do have a hunch on a few things. My diet has not changed appreciably in the last 20+ years apart from the fact that I tend to eat less than I did before. Neither has my activity level which admittedly is lower than it should be. What has changed is my waistline and overall weight. I am simply getting fatter each year than the previous. I can contribute this to age catching up to me or the fact that my foods are slowly changing without me being aware of it or most likely both in equal amounts. My overall health is not what it was as recent as 5 years ago, my skin is not in the condition it was, my allergies can be added to that list as well. I wonder how much of it is HFCS and GMO's and how much of it is being 40? Serious question, I simply do not know and don't know where to look or start.

 

[StefanJ]

I really despise the whole added sugar and added salt deal with processed foods. They are substituting cheap tongue-kicks for actual flavors.

I was recently advised to cut back on salt. Not for high blood pressure, interestingly, but an inner ear condition. So, I cut out a lot of canned foods. Soup and chili and so on. There are a lot of sauces and spices you can use instead of salt.

So, a week or so ago I was making guacamole, and stirred in a packet of prepared guac spices which I'd used in the past.

Cripes.

It was like I'd walked into a barnyard and dragged my tongue on a cow's salt block. I could hardly taste the avacadoes.

You eat crap processed food, and you get used to the levels of salt and sugar they put in there for tongue-kicks. Go back there after a while, and the stuff tastes terrible.

With slow cookers and such there's little excuse not to make your own easily prepared stew and soup and such.

 

[TheSamurai]

You mean people lied to further an agenda? Hopefully the politicians dont figure out how to do that.

Sent from my SPH-M830 using Rocketry Forum mobile app

 

[cerving]

+1. One of the nice things about living in SoCal is that there are tons of little Mexican markets around here that sell it.

Well, whether or not HFCS, Mexican Coke tastes better than American Coke. So that proves HFCS is evil.

 

[matthewdlaudato]

"The dose makes the poison" - Paracelcus

I don't actively avoid nor seek out HFCS, but none of the studies quoted here make me believe it is poison or causes any specific disease when consumed in small amounts.

 

[bobkrech]

Fructose is found in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries, and most root vegetables.

Don't want to eat those poisons? Be a carnivore and eat a good steak.......:wink:

Bob

 

[luke strawwalker]

Fructose is found in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries, and most root vegetables.

Don't want to eat those poisons? Be a carnivore and eat a good steak.......:wink:

Bob

Yeah, but the difference for many folks is, those are NATURALLY PRODUCED, not produced via chemical processes in an industrial plant like HFCS is...

Personally I agree with that sentiment, but of course folks can make up their own minds...

Later! OL JR

 

[shrox]

I drink iced tea with sugar and honey.

 

[RocketGeekInFL]

Look at obesity rates around the world. The US is the most obese country on the planet. Now look at all the countries that put corn syrup in their soda and other sweetened drinks. Guess what the US is the only country that uses corn syrup predominately. Everyone else is using cane sugar or beet sugar. Coincidence? Look at when obesity rates started to skyrocket in the US, right after the introduction of New Coke (aka coke sweetened with HFCS). Coincidence? The problem with scientific studies is who funds them. You can find 100 studies that say HFCS is ok. Trace who funded the study and it leads back to someone who profits from the sale of HFCS (corn). That would be the same people that lobbied the USDA to rebrand HFCS as Corn Sugar and lost. You can also find 100 studies that show HFCS is bad and chances are those studies are funded by someone who profits off of sugar. Truth is be smart don't eat so many processes foods.



Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

The problem of the increase in Type 2 diabetes is multi-faceted with no one single cause, but I would say that HFCS does have a role in it.

Currently the link in the OP's post does not work (site under maintenance), so I can't read it, but the OP says it "debunks the myth and reports that a clinical study found no correlation with the type of sugar consumed in equal amounts and the onset of Type 2 diabetes." That may very well be true. But the problem with HFCS is not really that it is any more harmful than an equal amount of other sugar. The real problem is the amount of ANY extra sugar that is added to our diet, HFCS or otherwise, and HFCS is so cheap that it is added to all kinds of things that you would not expect, sneaking extra sugar into our diets when we don't even realize it.

Extra sugar is definitely bad for you. I'm not talking about the little amounts in fruit of other natural foods, but the extra sugar added to our food all the time. And it goes well beyond the idea of "empty calories." When you start adding a couple hundred extra calories of sugar to your diet, you are not just adding extra "empty" calories, but you are messing with your hormonal regulators (insulin and others), causing your systems to go haywire. The sugar calories are not just "empty" but they can actually cause you to feel hungry and have cravings that lead to just that much more consumption. So adding 100 extra calories of sugar to your diet may actually lead to MORE than 100 extra calories being consumed. Adding extra sugar to your diet is a surefire path to obesity and other health problems like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There is no doubt about that at all.

So while I may not quibble with the idea in the OP's post that HFCS is no more harmful than an equal amount of other kinds of sugar in your diet, the real problem is not HFCS replacing an equal amount of sugar. The real problem is the amount of sugar in general being added to our food in sneaky ways that we don't realize, and HFCS is a big part of that problem.

Seems like the article is "debunking" the wrong problem.

 

[shrox]

A few examples of packaged foods with added sugar.

Flavored booze.
Specialty beers.
Baked beans.
Ketchup.
Cream substitutes.
BBQ sauce.
"Reduced" salad dressings.
Flavored popcorn.
Granola bars.
Peanut butter.
Mashed potatoes.

And many, many more!

 

[10fttall]

My only thoughts are to make sure you know what you're talking about. Lingo warriors really bug me. Big bad GMO- yeah, it's a plant. Yeah it grows in the ground and is digested by humans. Yeah, everything we have is ALREADY GMO, albeit slowly from years of selective hordiculture. From the way the zealots talk, you'd think it was plastic and metal.

These stupid documentaries you see on Pink Slime? They must think we're all too stupid to know that tiny bits of raw meat will look like...duh...evil pink slime!