Too much fructose could leave dieters sugar shocked

[Guest guest]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own

opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic. If you do not wish to

receive these posts, set your email filter to filter out any messages

coming from @nutritionucanlivewith.com and the program will remove

anything coming from me.

---------------------------------------------------------

Public release date: 12-Dec-2007

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-12/uof-tmf121207.php

Contact: April Frawley Birdwell

afrawley@...

University of Florida

Too much fructose could leave dieters sugar shocked

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Here’s one tip for how to eat at the holidays:

Don’t take your cues from Santa. The sugary cookies and fat-laden

fruitcakes the mythical North Pole resident eats are a no-no. But you

don’t have to go no-carb to stay fit at the holidays, either, University

of Florida researchers say.

In fact, many dieters may actually be cutting out the wrong foods

altogether, according to findings from a UF paper published recently in

the European Journal of Nutrition. Dieters should focus on limiting the

amount of fructose they eat instead of cutting out starchy foods such as

bread, rice and potatoes, report the researchers, who propose using new

dietary guidelines based on fructose to gauge how healthy foods are.

“There’s a fair amount of evidence that starch-based foods don’t cause

weight gain like sugar-based foods and don’t cause the metabolic

syndrome like sugar-based foods,” said Dr. , the senior

author of the report, which reviewed several recent studies on fructose

and obesity. “Potatoes, pasta, rice may be relatively safe compared to

table sugar. A fructose index may be a better way to assess the risk of

carbohydrates related to obesity.”

Many diets -- including the low-carb variety -- are based on the

glycemic index, which measures how foods affect blood glucose levels.

Because starches convert to glucose in the body, these diets tend to

limit foods such as rice and potatoes.

While table sugar is composed of both glucose and fructose, fructose

seems to be the more dangerous part of the equation, UF researchers say.

Eating too much fructose causes uric acid levels to spike, which can

block the ability of insulin to regulate how body cells use and store

sugar and other nutrients for energy, leading to obesity, metabolic

syndrome and type 2 diabetes, said , the division chief of

nephrology and the J. Cade professor of nephrology in the UF

College of Medicine. UF researchers first detailed the role of uric acid

on insulin resistance and obesity in a 2005 study in rats.

“Certainly we don’t think fructose is the only cause of the obesity

epidemic,” said. “Too many calories, too much junk food and too

much high-fat food are also part of the problem. But we think that

fructose may have the unique ability to induce insulin resistance and

features of the metabolic syndrome that other foods don’t do so easily.”

About 33 percent of adults in the United States are overweight or obese,

according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Studies at other institutions have shown that following a low-glycemic

diet can reduce the risk for diabetes and heart disease, but the effect

could occur because these dieters often are unintentionally limiting

fructose as well by cutting out table sugar, said.

“Processed foods have a lot of sugar,” said. “Probably the

biggest source (of fructose) is soft drinks.”

also noted that, in relation to obesity, the type of fructose

found in foods doesn’t seem to matter. For example, the fructose in an

apple is as problematic as the high-fructose corn syrup in soda. The

apple is much more nutritious and contains far less sugar, but eating

multiple apples in one sitting could send the body over the fructose edge.

In another UF paper, published in October in the American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, and his collaborators tracked the rise of

obesity and diseases such as diabetes with the rise in sugar

consumption. The rates of hypertension, diabetes and childhood obesity

have risen steadily over the years.

“One of the things we have learned is this whole epidemic brought on by

Western diet and culture tracks back to the 1800s,” he said. “Nowadays,

fructose and high-fructose corn syrup are in everything.”

Aside from soft drinks, fructose can be found in pastries, ketchup,

fruits, table sugar and jellies and in many processed foods, including

the sugar substitute high fructose corn syrup.

UF researchers plan to test a low-fructose diet in patients soon,

said.

Kathleen Melanson, an associate professor of nutrition and food sciences

at the University of Rhode Island, said establishing a fructose index

for foods could “be an appropriate approach,” depending on how foods are

classified. It makes sense to limit foods prepared with high fructose

corn syrup and table sugar, which often contain empty calories, but

fruits are an important part of a person’s diet, she added.

“One concern I have always had with the glycemic index is the potential

to pigeonhole foods as good or bad,” she said.

--

ne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar@... >

" Ask the Parkinson Dietitian " http://www.parkinson.org/

" Eat well, stay well with Parkinson's disease "

" Parkinson's disease: Guidelines for Medical Nutrition Therapy "

http://www.nutritionucanlivewith.com/