Carb intake vs. Obesity - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Chart of increasing prevalence of obesity in the United States between 1960 and 1997 with increasing carbohydrate intake.



http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/5/774/F5

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP AND OBESITY

Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Several recent studies have shown that fructose is processed differently in the body than the far more common sugar, glucose (3,4). Glucose causes the pancreas to release insulin which drives sugar from the bloodstream into cells. Glucose causes fat cells to release leptin that makes you feel full so you eat less. Glucose prevents the stomach from releasing ghrelin that makes you hungry. On the other hand, fructose does not cause fat cells to release leptin and does not suppress ghrelin. This means that fructose increases hunger to make you eat more. Furthermore, the liver converts fructose far more readily to a body fat called triglyceride, than it does with glucose. High triglyceride levels raise blood levels of the bad LDL cholesterol and lower blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol, which increases heart attack risk.

http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/3021.html

Hidden Health Risks of Hydrogenated oils and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

Hidden Health Risks of Hydrogenated oils and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

Dietary experts and scientists warn that high fructose corn syrup is contributing to obesity and diabetes. The ubiquitous sweetener substance is derived from wet milling of domestically produced corn starch. Corn refiners produce high fructose corn syrup by converting corn starch into a syrup that is nearly all dextrose. Enzymes isomerize the dextrose to produce a 42% fructose syrup. Then it’s passed through an ion-exchange column that retains fructose & then draw-off 90% HFCS and blends it with 42% HFCS, hence a higher fructose content. Studies suggest that fructose is digested differently. Sugar is broken down in the digestive tract and processed in cells. HFCS goes directly to the liver. Research has shown that the liver releases enzymes that instruct the body to store fat, leading to increase LDL and triglycerides.

http://www-group.slac.stanford.edu/esh/
medical/now/news/med2004may.pdf

Fructose and Obesity

Main Category: Nutrition/Agriculture News
Article Date: 08 Dec 2005 - 14:00pm (PDT)

University of Florida researchers have identified one possible reason for rising obesity rates, and it all starts with fructose, found in fruit, honey, table sugar and other sweeteners, and in many processed foods.

Fructose may trick you into thinking you are hungrier than you should be, say the scientists, whose studies in animals have revealed its role in a biochemical chain reaction that triggers weight gain and other features of metabolic syndrome - the main precursor to type 2 diabetes. In related research, they also prevented rats from packing on the pounds by interrupting the way their bodies processed this simple sugar, even when the animals continued to consume it.

"There may be more than just the common concept that the reason a person gets fat is because they eat too many calories and they don't do enough exercise," said Richard J. Johnson, M.D., the J. Robert Cade professor of nephrology and chief of nephrology, hypertension and transplantation at UF's College of Medicine. "And although genetic predispositions are obviously important, there's some major environmental force driving this process. Our data suggest certain foods and, in particular, fructose, may actually speed the process for a person to become obese."

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=34669

Mice consuming fructose get fat

One laboratory study found that mice drinking fructose consumed fewer calories from solid food, yet gained weight and had 27 percent more body fat than other mice.

Detailed experiment information here:
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-
879X2000001200004&script=sci_arttext

Fruit Sugars Might Speed Obesity

They may interfere with insulin to increase weight gain, experts say

THURSDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Fructose, the sugar found in fruit, honey and the corn-syrup sweeteners used in many processed foods, may trick the body into thinking it's hungrier than it really is, researchers report.

The findings could explain why sweet foods help boost obesity rates in the United States and elsewhere.

http://www.healthfinder.gov/news/newsstory.asp?docID=529546

High-Fructose Corn Syrup May Act More Like Fat Than Sugar in the Body

High-Fructose Corn Syrup May Act More Like Fat Than Sugar in the Body
Washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, March 11, 2003; Page HE01

...Fructose is a different story. It "appears to behave more like fat with respect to the hormones involved in body weight regulation," explains Peter Havel, associate professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis. "Fructose doesn't stimulate insulin secretion. It doesn't increase leptin production or suppress production of ghrelin. That suggests that consuming a lot of fructose, like consuming too much fat, could contribute to weight gain." Whether it actually does do this is not known "because the studies have not been conducted," said Havel.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/

A8003-2003Mar10?language=printer

Chart of Obesity Rates vs. Consumption of HFCS

This Chart shows the sharp spike in Obesity rates which coincides with the spike in consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537/F1

The Devil's Candy - From Men's Health

The Devil's Candy
Food companies are adding an evil ingredient to their products that may turn your body into a fat-storing machine

By: Susan Kleiner
Reviewed on 04/12/2005

Article in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity

George A Bray, Samara Joy Nielsen and Barry M Popkin

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537

Overconsumption of sweetened beverages
One model for producing obesity in rodents is to provide sweetened (sucrose, maltose, etc) beverages for them to drink (28). In this setting, the desire for the calorically sweetened solution reduces the intake of solid food, but not by enough to prevent a positive caloric balance and the slow development of obesity. Adding the same amount of sucrose or maltose as of a solid in the diet does not produce the same response. Thus, in experimental animals, sweetened beverages appear to enhance caloric consumption.