For several decades there has been an ongoing discussion among nutrition scientists about the role that sugar, fructose and high fructose corn syrup plays in the obesity epidemic. The science behind the discussion got a boost this month with the publication of a review article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition examining the "Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease."
The research is becoming quite clear that high intakes of fructose induces these health problems in both rodents and humans. The question has been, do humans eat enough in their diets to really induce these problems? Sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) are made up of about half glucose and half fructose. HFCS is slightly higher in fructose, at about 55%. While HFCS doesn't contain much more fructose than table sugar (or sucrose), in fact it contributes considerably higher total amounts of fructose to the American diet. Because HFCS is remarkably less expensive than sucrose, it has become ubiquitous in our food supply. Since the inclusion of HFCS as an ingredient in processed foods, total sugar, and total fructose consumption has increased by 25%. Our bodies were just not made to handle this much fructose.
To read what a truly distinguished scientist has to say about all this, click through to the editorial in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition by Dr. George Bray, "How bad is fructose?"
Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner