Tag Archives: sugar

Fructose Research Does Not Change Perception of HFCS

A couple of weeks ago Medpage Today published an article titled Fructose May Not Be Culprit in Weight Gain which seems to contradict the Princeton research that found considerable more weight gain from ingesting high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Even when caloric intake was the same, rats gained more weight when eating HFCS than table sugar. Diets in Review has consistently spoken out against high fructose corn syrup as an unhealthy genetically modified food. Fructose and HFCS are not exactly the same as Tanvir Hussain, physician and adjunct professor of bioethics at Pepperdine University School of Law, points out, “[the study] did not include high fructose corn syrup in their analysis, but only simple fructose. Thus it would be difficult to make conclusions about high fructose corn syrup and weight gain based on this particular study. Nonetheless, the results do call into question the hypothesis that fructose disproportionately contributes to weight gain over other carbohydrates.”

Those are exactly the questions that have been posed to me – does this mean that HFCS is not bad for you?

Ann A. Rosenstein clearly explains the difference between sugar and HFCS, saying, “HFCS is an industrial food product and far from “natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would not allow the investigative journalist Michael Pollan to observe it for his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS.”

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Posted on March 9, 2024 by Brooke Randolph

Should Sugar be Regulated Just Like Tobacco and Alcohol?

35 million people die each year due to heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The major risk factors causing these diseases are tobacco use, alcohol use, and poor diet. Two of these factors are regulated by the government: tobacco and alcohol. Professionals are now arguing that sugar is the other main culprit of these diseases and should also be put through the same regulations as alcohol and tobacco.

In the past 50 years the worldwide sugar consumption has tripled. This has contributed to an obesity epidemic. As a result, there are now 30 percent more obese people in the world than malnourished people.

Just in America alone, people are consuming nearly 500 calories a day in added sugar. That’s not naturally occuring sugars like the ones found in fruit, but food and drink with sugar specifically added in. Soda is a major source of this added sugar as the average American is is consuming 57 gallons of soda a year, over half on which is not diet or sugar free soda.

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Posted on February 18, 2024 by Lacy

Sugar Should Be Regulated Like Tobacco and Alcohol Argues Professor

pastreyIn the most recent edition of the medical journal Nature, Dr. Robert Lustig and co-authors Laura Schmidt and Clair Brindis make an argument for regulating access to sugar similar to the restrictions placed on alcohol and tobacco. Dr. Lustig, a professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco, writes that sugar is responsible for an increasing number chronic diseases around the world.

Lustig’s call for regulations is sure to be controversial, just as the soda tax debate has been in the past. However, Lustig says that health risks posed by increased levels of sugar consumption makes it a danger that should not be left to individual responsibility alone. The paper outlines how sugar alters the body’s chemistry, not only leading to problems like metabolic resistance but also leading people to crave more and more sweetness.

The paper further argues that sugar is a bigger underlying than obesity alone, noting that 40 percent of individuals with a normal weight have metabolic resistance problems that can lead to diabetes and health disease. The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar each day, which is three times as much as was consumed 30 years ago.

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Posted on February 2, 2024 by Health Buzz

Soda vs Marijuana – Which Do You Think is Worse?

There’s a chart that has been floating around the Internet for a while comparing various health effects of soda and marijuana. The agenda doesn’t appear to be pro-pot as much as it is pointing out societal hypocrisy and the serious dangers associated with foods most of us have no moral issue with.

I would be the first to get in line with people who think the demonizing of marijuana in Western culture has always been taken to an extreme level. However, if you think it somehow comes without any serious health risks, you need to consider putting the bong down for a moment and read on. Let’s take a look at how soda and marijuana really compare:

Carcinogens – Let’s start with the biggest hole in the chart’s argument: that there are no carcinogens in marijuana. According to Donald Tashkin, MD, a researcher at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, there are as many or more carcinogens and co-carcinogens in marijuana smoke as in cigarettes. Inhaling carcinogens for a long period of time can’t be harmless, can it? (more…)

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Jason

Coconut Sugar is a Nutritionally Superior Natural Sweetener

By Abra Pappa for NutritiousAmerica.com

Seems like there is a hot, new “healthy sweetener” on the market every 10 minutes and as soon as you are convinced that this is the ONE, new reports come out saying, “NO, stay away!” Frustrating, I know.

Let’s look at the star “healthy sweetener” of the moment, Coconut Palm Sugar. Is it all it’s cracked up to be?

What exactly is Coconut Sugar?

Coconut sugar is an unrefined sweetener derived from the nectar of the blossom or bud of the coconut palm tree; not the coconut itself but the bud that would form a coconut. This is important because this bud is the source of all nutrients that are being fed to the maturing coconut, kind of like the umbilical cord from mom to baby. Skilled farmers, called “tappers,” tap the bud and release the sap. The sap is then heated and crystallized. (more…)

Posted on September 30, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Eat More Honey for National Honey Month

This month is National Honey Month and it just so happens that this week, we’re all about honey. Between the Jewish New Year, which includes a tradition of dipping apples in honey for a “sweet” New Year to First Lady Michelle Obama’s honey beehive at the white house, we just can’t get enough. Plus, there is just no denying that the sweet sugar alternative has some astounding health benefits.

According to the National Honey Board, Americans consume nearly 1.5 pounds of honey per year annually. While honey is certainly not new, it has recently gained popularity as a healthy alternative to sugar. At 60 calories per tablespoon, honey offers a number of advantages.

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Posted on September 28, 2023 by Maris

5 Foods That Will Help You Snooze

By Lise Turner for Care2.com

It has been a sleepless several nights for me, mainly because of troubling events. But it made me start thinking about food, and how it’s intimately connected to our patterns of sleep. If you can’t sleep, and life is calm and happy, maybe it’s something you ate–or didn’t. The foods we eat can dramatically affect how much, and how well, we snooze. Some foods calm and relax, some wake up the nervous system, and some just downright wire you for the night.

What you should eat for deeper sleep depends partly on your patterns. If you toss and turn before drifting off but then doze soundly for the rest of the night, you might benefit from adding slow-burning carbs (beans, sweet potatoes, berries) to your evening meal to prompt the production of serotonin, a brain chemical that promotes calm. If you zonk out quickly but wake up a few hours later, you might be suffering from blood sugar fluctuations. I’ve tried a high-protein snack before bed–a handful of walnuts, a spoonful of almond butter, a small cube of cheese–and these tend to keep blood sugar levels steady throughout the night.

Focus on foods with soothing nutrients, like magnesium, which help relax muscles and calm the body, and B vitamins, key in the production of serotonin and other brain chemicals necessary to sleep. Trytophan, an amino acid that’s needed to make sleep-inducing serotonin, is especially effective when it’s paired with complex, slow-burning carbs.

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Posted on August 27, 2023 by GuestBlogger

How Much is Too Much Sugar?

By Melissa Breyer for Care2.com

The federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest an upper limit of 25 percent of daily calories come from added sugar. Doesn’t that seem really high? If you have an extra 500 calories to spare, wouldn’t it be wise to spend it on something with some nutritive value? Aside from a waste of calories, a new study shows that adults who consume high levels of sugar have significantly elevated levels of several risk factors for heart disease.

The study, conducted by a group of researchers at the University of California, Davis, and in Japan suggests that the generally-accepted guidelines for sugar may be too lenient and should be reconsidered. The results of their study were reported online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and will appear in the journal’s October print edition.

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Posted on August 22, 2023 by GuestBlogger

Sugar Consumption Decreases as Americans Drink Less Soda

Maybe it was the recession or maybe the public started listening to the health professionals’ pleas, but either way, added sugar consumption has actually decreased in the United States.

Research has been continually held to track the added sugar consumption in this country. These stats refer to extra sugar used to sweeten foods, not naturally occurring sugars like fructose in fruit. One of the biggest culprits of added sugar consumption is found in soda. The quarter drop in sugar consumption was due majorly to the decrease in soda consumption.

The experts believe that the initiatives to remove sodas and sweetened drinks from schools had a large effect on the numbers. Also, the multiple campaigns to make consumers aware of the extreme amounts of sugar in small amounts of soda are believed to have been effective.

The study also leads the experts to believe that people were simply not able to afford as many calories as they were in previous years due to the economy. Hopefully, as the recession ends, this will be one number that will stay low and not increase.

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Posted on August 11, 2023 by Lacy

Four Lessons We Learned from Dr. Hoebel

Renowned Princeton physiological psychologist and researcher Bart Hoebel has died at the age of 76. He was a leader in research on eating behaviors and the addictive qualities of food. He seems to have been a professor that invested in his students, and we hope that some of them will continue his research in his absence.

Below are just some highlights of what Dr. Hoebel’s research has taught us.

Sugar is addictive and affects brain functions the same way as cocaine and heroin.

High-fructose corn syrup leads to more weight gain than ingesting the same amount of calories via traditional sugar. It also causes abnormal increases in body fat, particularly in the belly, and triglycerides.

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Posted on July 29, 2023 by Brooke Randolph

Nutella Still Claiming They are a Healthy Breakfast Choice

The commercial seems innocent – a mom, trying to do the right thing for her family. She’s looking for a healthy breakfast choice, one that her kids will eat. She opens the pantry and pulls out a jar of Nutella, and the family happily sits down to nosh on it. She’s surrounded by smiling faces, all enjoying a breakfast of Nutella spread on whole grain toast. It’s a blissful shot, one that most moms would give their right arm to enjoy. Everyone eating breakfast with no fuss, no complaint, no “I hate that!” within hearing.

Sounds too good to be true? Well,  it is. We’ve been ’round this debate before. Despite a lawsuit, the company is still insisting that Nutella is a nutritious breakfast choice. But is it really, or is this just a case of false advertising?

Janine Bolton, RD, has this to say about Nutella for breakfast: “I would not consider Nutella part of a healthy or balanced breakfast for kids. A balanced breakfast is one that features foods from different food groups, so that we get a variety of nutrients. Nutella does not belong to any food group and packs in over 10 grams of sugar per tablespoon. I wouldn’t recommend Nutella for anything other than an occasional treat.”

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Posted on July 26, 2023 by Carmen