Posted on 03/22/2010 1:19:34 PM PDT by dan1123
A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.
"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese -- every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."
A Princeton University research team, including (from left) undergraduate Elyse Powell, psychology professor Bart Hoebel, visiting research associate Nicole Avena and graduate student Miriam Bocarsly, has demonstrated that rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup -- a sweetener found in many popular sodas -- gain significantly more weight than those with access to water sweetened with table sugar, even when they consume the same number of calories. The work may have important implications for understanding obesity trends in the United States. (Photo: Denise Applewhite) Photos for news media In results published online March 18 by the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, the researchers from the Department of Psychology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute reported on two experiments investigating the link between the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup and obesity.
The first study showed that male rats given water sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup in addition to a standard diet of rat chow gained much more weight than male rats that received water sweetened with table sugar, or sucrose, in conjunction with the standard diet. The concentration of sugar in the sucrose solution was the same as is found in some commercial soft drinks, while the high-fructose corn syrup solution was half as concentrated as most sodas.
The second experiment -- the first long-term study of the effects of high-fructose corn syrup consumption on obesity in lab animals -- monitored weight gain, body fat and triglyceride levels in rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup over a period of six months. Compared to animals eating only rat chow, rats on a diet rich in high-fructose corn syrup showed characteristic signs of a dangerous condition known in humans as the metabolic syndrome, including abnormal weight gain, significant increases in circulating triglycerides and augmented fat deposition, especially visceral fat around the belly. Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet. In humans, this would be equivalent to a 200-pound man gaining 96 pounds.
"These rats aren't just getting fat; they're demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides," said Princeton graduate student Miriam Bocarsly. "In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer and diabetes." In addition to Hoebel and Bocarsly, the research team included Princeton undergraduate Elyse Powell and visiting research associate Nicole Avena, who was affiliated with Rockefeller University during the study and is now on the faculty at the University of Florida. The Princeton researchers note that they do not know yet why high-fructose corn syrup fed to rats in their study generated more triglycerides, and more body fat that resulted in obesity.
High-fructose corn syrup and sucrose are both compounds that contain the simple sugars fructose and glucose, but there at least two clear differences between them. First, sucrose is composed of equal amounts of the two simple sugars -- it is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose -- but the typical high-fructose corn syrup used in this study features a slightly imbalanced ratio, containing 55 percent fructose and 42 percent glucose. Larger sugar molecules called higher saccharides make up the remaining 3 percent of the sweetener. Second, as a result of the manufacturing process for high-fructose corn syrup, the fructose molecules in the sweetener are free and unbound, ready for absorption and utilization. In contrast, every fructose molecule in sucrose that comes from cane sugar or beet sugar is bound to a corresponding glucose molecule and must go through an extra metabolic step before it can be utilized.
This creates a fascinating puzzle. The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered, but may relate to the fact that excess fructose is being metabolized to produce fat, while glucose is largely being processed for energy or stored as a carbohydrate, called glycogen, in the liver and muscles.
In the 40 years since the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup as a cost-effective sweetener in the American diet, rates of obesity in the U.S. have skyrocketed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1970, around 15 percent of the U.S. population met the definition for obesity; today, roughly one-third of the American adults are considered obese, the CDC reported. High-fructose corn syrup is found in a wide range of foods and beverages, including fruit juice, soda, cereal, bread, yogurt, ketchup and mayonnaise. On average, Americans consume 60 pounds of the sweetener per person every year.
"Our findings lend support to the theory that the excessive consumption of high-fructose corn syrup found in many beverages may be an important factor in the obesity epidemic," Avena said.
The new research complements previous work led by Hoebel and Avena demonstrating that sucrose can be addictive, having effects on the brain similar to some drugs of abuse.
In the future, the team intends to explore how the animals respond to the consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in conjunction with a high-fat diet -- the equivalent of a typical fast-food meal containing a hamburger, fries and soda -- and whether excessive high-fructose corn syrup consumption contributes to the diseases associated with obesity. Another step will be to study how fructose affects brain function in the control of appetite.
The research was supported by the U.S. Public Health Service.
So, yeah, probably why it works better.
No, for the punchline ~ did you know that over half the faculty at Princeton have an excuse for why they think Communism actually works!
Thanks for the post.
I have also read that ingestion of high-fructose corn syrup does not shut of the brain’s hunger stimulus system. In other words, when you think you are hungry and go eat something with the HFCS, you may have consumed enough calories that would normally satisfy the craving, but the receptors don’t pick up the HFCS, so you want to keep eating.
I guess when I want a non-diet soda I’ll drink Mexican coca cola. It’s sweetened with cane sugar.
bookmark
Down on the farm we use corn to fatten up hogs and cattle I could have saved those brainiacs at Princeton a bundle figuring out the correlation ...
Actually fructose comes naturally in fruit. Fruits that have fructose also have lots of fiber to slow processing of it. There’s nothing natural about HFCS because it’s all fructose, no fiber.
HFCS is definitely different, and anyone trying to claim that it’s the same as dissolved cane sugar, I’ll just ask them this: Can you make crystalline sugar (sucrose) starting with HFCS as the primary ingredient? If no, then it’s not the same.
Additionally, the industrial processes involved in making HFCS cause the production of agents which produce carcinogens. I don’t recall now, but I believe carbolic acid to be one of them.
Well, this is obvious. High fructose corn syrup is actually unhealthy.
Pepsi is currently marketing the version of Pepsi that is made with actual sugar and not syrup. Try one with sugar. Then try one with syrup. Then try to come back and tell me that HFC is still healthy to eat.
Not that I don’t believe food producers shouldn’t have the right to use it but I do believe it should have the same kind of warning label as products that contain olestra have.
The body processes fructose in a manner similar to how it processes alcohol—in the liver. Most of it ends up being stored as fat. Glucose, otoh, is processed by the pancreas and then used immediately by the body.
High f corn s bump
Whenever there is an obesity post on FR, we get responses saying a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.
This study seems to contradict that.
I really have no idea. If I did I suppose I’d be nice and slender.
That's the most interesting thing about this study. The HFCS-fed rats gained more fat around the belly even though they ate the same number of calories.
So, instead of allowing manufacturers to phase out HFCS because of the consumers inevitable cry to not eat HFCS - there will be a panel - an edict - a fine and a tax to rid HFCS from all corners of the earth. Just like Trans Fats.
Let the market sway with these studies
There’s a new one every week.....
Fickle Scientific Studies SideNote:
Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s there were studies after studies on the wonders of Bran - manufacturers jumped at the news and shifted their ingredients and marketing to tout Bran in just about every item they could adjust to add the magical Bran. Then the studies came out that it wasn’t so important and they moved onto another study. You can’t find Bran items anymore, except for ‘AllBran’
AFAIK, US big sugar (sucrose) is a protected industry. The commodity costs nearly double the world price. In comparison, here in Canada, sugar is priced at world market prices.
If the above is true, it’s no wonder that large U.S. food processors have substituted HFCS for sucrose, wherever they could.
I wonder why these studies weren’t run *before* HFCS was added to almost every processed food.
For me, this is “enlightening”. I’ve always said I can use as much sugar as I want - and gain no weight. Yet, other “things” instantly put on the pounds....I need to pay attention to the HFCS content and see what happens.....
Fortunately passover is soon so the Kosher for Passover coke/pepsi doesn’t have HFCS. (corn isn’t acceptable for passover for many Jews)
Do I need to point out that sugar tariffs are why sugar costs so much in this country? Pretty much every other country uses sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup.
Your government at work. They just want to protect you. And when that fails, they’ll pass another law to protect you from the adverse effects of the last law (which happen to be more severe than the adverse effects from which you were being “protected”).
And on and on and on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.