Fwd: Princeton Study: Want to be fat? High Fructose Corn Syrup Is the Answer!

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Princeton Study: Want to be fat? High

Fructose Corn Syrup Is the Answer!

 

 

 

HEALTH & HEALING

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Usda Veterinarian Testimony: Meat Production

Barbaric, Inhumane

EXAMINER.COM | Jean-Pierre Ruiz | 03/13/10

 

 

In testimony before the US House Oversight and

Government Reform Committee, Dr. Dean Wyatt testified as to how the

agency supports unhealthy practices at the national slaughterhouses and

endangers the nation's meat food supply.

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corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain

Posted

March 22, 2010; 10:00 a.m.

by

Hilary Parker

 

 

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.

 

"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.