Remember a time when you were eating, but never felt full and ended up eating more food? This could be caused by the consumption of fructose. As reported by Medical News Study, researchers found glucose and fructose have an influence on parts of the brain that control appetite.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Assocation (JAMA), found that fructose produces hormones in the brain that will leave you feeling hungry. However, the study did find that glucose will leave you filling fuller and satisfied. Glucose is a type of sugar you get from food, which your body takes and turns into energy.
Since fructose makes your brain think you are still hungry and causes you to eat more, could there be a link between fructose and obesity?
Our resident dietitian, Mary Hartley RD, comments on the study’s new findings, saying, “Excessive fructose intake may have a link to obesity, but it is too early to tell. It is very difficult to single out a particular nutrient to blame. In addition, obesity is a multifactorial problem and contributing factors are not the same for all people.”
Natural fructose can be found in fruit, but most Americans eat artificially produced fructose, known as high fructose corn syrup, from processed packaged foods. When your body absorbs high fructose corn syrup it goes straight to your liver and builds belly fat.
Deanna Schober, a writer for Coach Calorie, explains the way bodies breaks down fructose, saying, “More and more studies are evident that natural and artificial fructose are broken down differently in our bodies. Natural fructose in fruit, like an apple, has more fiber and the apple is absorbed along with the glucose. It doesn’t cause so much damage to your body compared to artificial fructose.”
So how can we stay away from foods high in fructose? Hartley says, “Make highly processed foods in the diet an exception rather than the rule. Choose a daily diet that emphasizes natural foods that have not been manufactured. When choosing minimally processed foods, such as bread, crackers and cereal, read the ingredient list on the food label and avoid products that list high fructose corn syrup as one of the first three ingredients.”
For years studies have been investigating fructose and its effects on the body. It’s obvious that different forms of sugar are not similar to each other, debunking the phrase “sugar is sugar” that big companies use to support the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup in their products from soda to cough syrup. Schober concluded this won’t be the last study we’ll see that shows high fructose corn syrup is highly dangerous for our bodies.
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