Sugar is sugar is sugar, right? Or is it?

fructose

Don’t let the chemical symbol for fructose scare you. I am not in the mood for chemistry class either!

By now we have all heard that dietary sugar is of greater concern than dietary fat ever was. But is sugar all the same? The Nutrition Facts panel on food products lumps all sugars into one number. That might give the impression that sugar is indeed just one thing. However, it is not. Fruit for example, contains fructose and glucose as well as sucrose, which is a combination of the other two. Common table sugar is sucrose. Does it matter? In a word, yes. For a long time, many believed that isolated fructose might be better for our health because it is less likely than others to quickly raise blood sugar. However, there is growing evidence that fructose may be a villain, not the hero it was proposed to be:

  • Despite not raising blood sugar, fructose appears to increase insulin resistance in the liver. (Insulin resistance leads to diabetes.) It also turns to fat more quickly. I’ve written in the past that it has also been linked to high blood pressure, gout and kidney stones.
  • Fructose increases appetite and interferes with brain function. STUDY.
  • A diet high in fructose may be a risk factor for heart disease. STUDY.
  • Fructose also seems to damage the lining of the gut and lead to fatty liver disease. STUDY.
  • Fructose may be more likely than other sugars to sugar-coat our body’s proteins—a process called glycation. This virtual caramelization of our proteins is an aging factor. Glycation is especially concerning if the sugar-coating is of our brain proteins or our DNA. STUDY.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is about ½ fructose and is the most common way we consume fructose. It is very easy to overdose on corn syrup because it is used in thousands of grocery store products and not just sweets and sodas. It is in many brands of sauces, dressings, yogurts, frozen meals and other foods that you might not suspect. HFCS is especially insidious in liquid form because beverages slide down so easily without making us feel full.

Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red is a great example. (Hah! Clever how they subtly imply it is juice by adding “juicy” to the name.) The drink’s facts panel lists that 8 ounces contains 20 grams (5 teaspoons) of “sugar”. We must look at the ingredient list* to learn where the sugar comes from. The first ingredient on the list is water. That is another clue that this is not a natural juice. High Fructose Corn Syrup is next in order of abundance. The water and HFCS represent 98% of the product! Only a small amount of sugar comes from the tiny amount of fruit the punch contains. (In the footnote, I highlighted some other worrisome ingredients.)

Over-consumption of any type of sugar is very hard on the body. But, it is extremely difficult to get complete consensus (and government action) about the potentially elevated risks from fructose and high fructose corn syrup. That is because there are massive and powerful industries built on that sweetener. They don’t fool us by changing name of HFCS to the softer “fructose”, “corn sugar” or “fruit sugar”. HFCS is extremely profitable because it is so cheap…in part because our government subsidizes corn production. (!) For business reasons, those industries pressure regulators, legislators, the media and even scientists. We now know that industry can fund studies to come out with a conclusion that they like. They have also gone so far as to bribe scientists (even at Harvard) to publish good news on sugar when none was deserved. Who knows if that positive spin pressure is at work in this REVIEW. However, some points in that study are correct: over-consumption of beverages and accompanying additional bad habits of big fructose eaters are part of the problem.

A bit of good news: I stumbled across a study showing that cinnamon was very helpful in off-setting some of the negative effects of fructose. (No, no. I’m not suggesting it is okay to drink the punch if you just add cinnamon.)

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*Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red Ingredients: Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and less than 2% of: Concentrated Juices (Apple, Clarified Pineapple, Passionfruit, Orange), Fruit Purees (Apricot, Papaya, Guava), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Pectin, Acacia Gum, Ester Gum, Red 40, Blue 1, Sucralose, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Hexametaphosphate (preservatives).

 



One Response

  1. Aleen O'Sullivan says:

    In addition to your compelling report I shall share on Twitter/Facebook/Gab.ai, Martie, globally celebrated health pioneer Dr. Gary D. Young warns that fructose can negatively impact eyesight too!

    For healthy soda I simply add flavored Sweet Leaf liquid Stevia (Root Beer or Chocolate-Raspberry) to effervescent springwater. Stevia reduces plaque and isn’t bitter unless overdosed (stevia is 100x sweeter than sucrose). I use Sweet Leaf plain liquid Stevia in yogurt with fruit and essential oils, and in fruit/veggie/protein/cacao smoothies. (I don’t bake with Stevia since heat cancels out its sweetness.)

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