Fructose sweetener eyed as cause of US obesity epidemic: study

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Fructose sweetener eyed as cause of US obesity epidemic: study

Thu Mar 25, 2:48 PM ET

 

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A corn sweetener that has been used to sweeten food and soft

drinks since the 1970s may be partly to blame for the United States' galloping

obesity epidemic, US researchers said.

 

 

 

 

The researchers noted that the introduction of the high-fructose corn-based

sweetener dovetailed with the beginning of the sharp rise in obesity rates which

has set alarm bells ringing among public health officials.

 

" Body weights rose slowly for most of the 20th century until the late 1980s, "

said George Bray, a professor of at the Louisiana State University System's

Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

 

" At that time, many countries showed a sudden increase in the rate at which

obesity has been galloping forward. "

 

The conventional wisdom is that poor diet, over-sized portions, and a lack of

exercise are to blame for Americans' expanding waistlines, but Bray's study

suggests that empty calories in this food sweeteners may be more of a factor

than previously thought.

 

Bray's study noted that consumption of high-fructose corn sweeteners increased

more than 1,000 percent between 1970 and 1990, far exceeding changes in intake

of any other food or food group.

 

The analysis was based on US Department of Agriculture records of Americans'

consumption habits between 1967 and 2000.

 

The corn fructose additives account for 40 percent of all sweeteners added to

food and drink and are the only sweeteners used in the production of US soft

drinks, according to the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

(news - web sites).

 

The authors said they estimated that Americans aged two and over take in 132

calories a day from this source, rising to 316 calories a day among the 20

percent of Americans who consume the most beverages.

 

" We believe that an argument can now be made that the use of high fructose corn

sweeteners in beverages should be reduced and replaced with alternative

non-caloric sweeteners, " they wrote.

 

" If the intake of calorically sweetened beverages is contributing to the current

epidemic, reducing their availability by removing soda machines from schools

would be a strategy worth considering, as would reducing the portion sizes of

commercially available sodas. "

 

A spokesman for the National Soft Drink Association (NSDA) repudiated the study

by Bray and two colleagues from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

 

" Suggesting that people are somehow fatter today because soft drinks and food

and dairy products are sweetened with HFCS instead of sucrose, or table sugar,

is totally ridiculous, " said Dr. Richard Adamson, the NSDA's vice president of

scientific and technical affairs.

 

" People are heavier today because they are taking in too many calories and not

getting enough exercise. "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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