Can We Not Get Plump Enough with Sugar?

March 29, 2010 in Diabetic Menu Item, Nutrition, Weight Management by Joyce Bunderson

With skyrocketing numbers of people suffering from obesity, the metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes studies are popping up all over the U.S., not to mention the rest of the world. Similar to the battle against big tobacco, research for years couldn’t prove that cigarettes caused cancer.  Slowly, good studies appeared, controversial at first, which proved the link. There seems to be an increased number of studies showing a strong link between intake of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and the onset of obesity/diabetes/heart disease. Because table sugar and HFCS are made of the same building blocks, it didn’t seem possible at first, that HFCS could be a major causal factor. But more and more evidence supports the argument that HFCS acts differently than sugar and has harmful effects on health outcomes.

Certainly, we at Dr. Grandma’s do not believe that sucrose (table sugar) is a health food; but it is becoming increasingly clear that HFCS is even worse than sucrose.

A new Princeton University study which is being published in Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior has found that:

  • Rats gained significantly more weight with access to high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
  • Long-term consumption of HFCS led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially abdominal fat (associated with metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and diabetes).
  • The long-term group also had a rise in circulating triglycerides (blood fats).

The lead researcher of the new Princeton study, Bart Hoebel Ph.D. specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. The Princeton News reported a quote of Dr. Hoebel:

“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."

Although there are strong similarities between sugar and HFCS, it is becoming clearer that something different is going on in the metabolism of HFCS, compared with sugar.

  • To begin with, table sugar - sucrose (from both beets and cane) has equal amounts of glucose and fructose and the two molecules are bound together as a disaccharide (two sugars ‘chemically bound together.’ Instead of 50-50, like sugar, HFCS has 55 percent fructose, 42 percent glucose, and some 3 percent of larger sugar molecules.
  • Table sugar (sucrose) must make one step in metabolism to break apart the two sugars. In HFCS the sugars are already separated, ready to be absorbed into the blood and used quickly.
  • It appears that the excess energy from sucrose, table sugar is being stored in the liver and muscles as a carbohydrate – glycogen. The significance is that it apparently has a better chance as being used for energy.
  • Because fructose is absorbed further down the intestine than glucose, it is beyond a regulating step in metabolism. This essentially supplies the body with an unregulated source of the building blocks for making fat (glycerol and fatty acids).
  • Another problem with missing this regulating step of metabolism is that it bypasses the insulin-driven system that drives satiety, the system that tells us we’re full. HFCS seems to reduce circulating insulin (May keep blood sugar higher that it should be.) and leptin levels (Tells us we are full). Essentially, this may contribute to a problem of not feeling full, when we would normally feel satisfied – this, in effect, could contribute to our continuing to eat/drink.
  • The excess energy for the HFCS is being stored as fat.

Why has this study caused such widespread emotional arguments? Has Princeton hit a raw nerve of the Corn Refiners Association (CRA)? The CRA didn’t seem to become as upset with the study done at Duke University Medical Center (lead researcher Manal Abdelmalek, MD, MPH); which reported links between the consumption of HFCS and liver scarring (fibrosis) in people with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. This study, like the Princeton study, also shows a relationship with complications of metabolic syndrome, including insulin resistance. The scarring of the liver puts people at an increased risk for liver failure, liver cancer, and the need for liver transplant.

Why are people putting so much credence in the CRA? Should we ask the tobacco processors association whether we should smoke cigarettes? One of the complaints by the CRA is about using rats. First, I don’t think that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Human Subjects Committee is going to allow humans to be put on a HFCS diet for very long. Let’s not forget, HFCS (and all calorie-laden sweeteners) are empty calories. That means there are almost no nutrients other than energy. Georgia State University said that rats are an excellent animal model to study the effects of fructose intake because the metabolism of fructose by rats closely resembles that of humans. They reported this in a study that found memory problems with rats that were fed HFCS. The big argument being waged over this Princeton study is over something that should not be considered the final study or the final word. I like what Parke Wilde Ph.D. of Tufts University said:

“no one study settles the argument on this type of debate. This study moves the

needle five degrees toward showing that HFCS is metabolically different from

equivalent amounts of table sugar.”

The Corn Refiners Association is complaining loudly and with anger that there are “gross errors” in the study. It is reported that Audrae Erickson, president of the Corn Refiners Association, said that the Princeton study was an example of “efforts to disparage high-fructose corn syrup and perhaps drive it out of the marketplace.” None of the scientists involved has made such a sweeping policy statement. They merely report their results. She continued with a statement, about “this natural sweetener,” and people being misled into thinking that there’s something different about this sweetener.” I don’t think that the CRA, with enormous profits at stake, is a good place to turn for health information regarding HFCS.

I believe that The American Heart Association, looked long and hard at the huge pile of research regarding sweeteners, before they declared that we Americans should limit our intake of caloric sweeteners to 100 calories/day for women and 150/day for men. It’s true: This is not many calories for discretionary sugar consumption. I don’t think that the AHA made the decision lightly; and I know that there have been plenty of darts thrown their way for making the decision. I honor them for making it in spite of the darts. If in your striving for improved health, you embrace this goal, you only have 100 – 150 calories per day for caloric sweeteners. The research is not definitive yet, but the AHA recommendation means a huge reduction in either sugar or HFCS.  If you believe the research will eventually bear out that HFCS is a culprit in obesity and diabetes, just as the cigarette research eventually proved that the tobacco industry was wrong in their denials and lawsuits over so many years, cut way back on it. If you think that HFCS will be vindicated, just cut it back to 100-150 calories per day.

Best of all, switch to a zero-calorie all natural sweetener like Doctor Grandma’s Delight.  We have a conflict of interest in saying this, but the research is real, and believe me, it is really tough for a small company offering healthy alternatives to make a go of it and avoid being trampled by the industrial food giants.

Flavors of Vietnam Soup

This is an example of Mediterranean-style recipes; yes, I did pass my elementary geography class. The point is that you can eat Mediterranean-style, with any cuisine in mind. All traditional diets include healthy whole foods. I was attracted to making this soup when my friend Shawn, a native of Vietnam, told me about having radishes in soup. I have never had radishes other than in salad, so this is my American version of Vietnamese soup.

I suggest that you prepare all your ingredients before starting the cooking phase. This recipe is finished so quickly, you will not have time to do much in the few minutes that it’s cooking. Including the washing, chopping and cooking this meal is done in about 25 minutes; it’s definitely a ‘do again’ for me – we really enjoyed the flavor.

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

½ cup scallions – green onions

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cups water

4 ounces whole wheat capellini (angel-hair pasta)

1 anchovy, ground to paste (Don’t worry, your soup will not taste like anchovies.)

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

½ cup chopped radishes

1 cup chopped spinach

½ pound extra firm tofu, cubed

½ cup fresh mung bean sprouts

2 tablespoons limejuice

1 cucumber – peeled, seeded and thinly sliced

Lime wedges for serving

1 ½ tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

Mint leaves

Directions:

In a large pot, heat the oil. Add the scallions and ginger, sauté for about 2 minutes; this infuses the oil with the flavors of the scallions and ginger. Add the broth and water and bring to a boil. Add the angel hair pasta, anchovy paste and dried basil leaves, cook according to package directions, about 3 or 4 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the radishes, spinach, tofu, bean sprouts, and limejuice; and cook for about 3 minutes.

Top each serving with a lime wedge, cucumber sticks, mint leaves and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Note: To toast the sesame seeds, use a nonstick skillet, stir constantly until golden brown, about two minutes.

Gather the vegetables.

Gather the vegetables.

Peel and mince the ginger.

Peel and mince the ginger.

Peel, remove the seeds and julienne the cucumbers.

Peel, remove the seeds and julienne the cucumbers.

Crush an anchovy to paste.

Crush an anchovy to paste.

Saute the scallions and ginger.

Saute the scallions and ginger.

Ginger and scallions only take about two minutes.

Ginger and scallions only take about two minutes.

Add the whole wheat capellini to the broth mixture.

Add the whole wheat capellini to the broth mixture.

Add the radishes.

Add the radishes.

Add the spinach.

Add the spinach.

Add the sprouts.

Add the sprouts.

Add the tofu.

Add the tofu.

Stir and simmer for about 3 minutes.

Stir and simmer for about 3 minutes.

Serve and top with cucumber, lime wedges, sesame seeds and mint leaves.

Serve and top with cucumber, lime wedges, sesame seeds and mint leaves.