Nutrition & Diet High Fructose Corn Syrup

[Digger]

I have to admit that initially I bought the whole line about HFCS being exactly the same as sugar, but now I think otherwise. It's not just that this Princeton Study found great differences in the metabolism of sugar versus HFCS but personally I've now found that HFCS causes me to break out in cystic acne. What are your thoughts about this?

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/

 

[Scorpius]

Why is their department of psychology conducting what should be a physiology/metabolic study?

 

[Destiny7777]

I don't eat and don't serve it to my family

 

[peacefulveglady]

High fructose Corn Syrup helped erode some of my teeth and gave me some teeth and mouth problems, I have to be careful what I eat now especially my health scares. We get natural sugar stuff or Sugar in the raw or anything raw.

 

[Freesia]

Ive noticed in many of the boards I have frequented, that hfcs seems to lead to huge arguments and locked threads and quoting of studies and flame wars and feuds... strange that sugars can be such a controversial topic.

My controversial opinion is that it is best to stay away from refined sugar and try and reduce it in your diet, and especially avoid the processed, sugary syrups like hfcs. Fruit, vegetables and grain carbs provide adequate glucose for the brain and organs. Unfortunately sugary things are tempting.....

 

[Pickle Juice]

Dunno. I've always been neutral on it myself.

"The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered...'

I shall wait til they can determine whether it is actually something about fructose itself that has a direct chemical effect on metabolism, or something about the corn syrup makes the rats just eat more. It's hard to be convinced of the dangers of fructose itself, since it is a natural fruit sugar when found in non-GMO fruits, and people who thrive on the fruit-and-greens diet don't experience obesity and elevated triglycerides, in spite of higher than average fructose intake. There has to be some piece of the puzzle missing still.

Not that I think it's a good idea to consume lots of foods made with HFCS. But to blame these problems on fructose alone would be to say eating lots of fresh fruit would do the same things to people that drinking lots of soda does, and that makes no sense.

I wonder what would happen if they controlled for fiber intake. Say give one group HFCS and a soluble fiber supplement, and another group HFCS without any fiber. That's one of the big differences between soda and fruit, besides soda having no nutrients. It also has no fiber.

 

[Scorpius]

 

[Freesia]

Yeah I hate reading a study then I read they used animals and I pretty much stop reading after that, I feel angry.

 

[AlmandineSky]

I don't buy anything with it in it but when I eat out or at someone else's house I don't ask about the ingredients (almost all my friends are vegan, so that's why I don't question ingredients with them) because I don't think a little here and there is going to make a difference. At the same time I don't use much processed/refined/whatever sugar anyway. A bag of white sugar for baking will last over a year in our house. The only other sugars I buy are brown sugar (we use 1 to 2 small bags a year) and agave nectar but the bottle of agave we currently have was bought about two years ago. I do also have a bottle of maple syrup that I bought almost three years ago and it's still half full.

So, I guess for me it's more just about sugar that isn't from fruit being an actual treat rather than using it often regardless of the form.

Fruit on the other hand, I eat probably between three to five servings a day. Back when I used to use more sugar and consumed a lot of HFCS my sweetness tolerance was really high and a lot of fruit tasted almost sour to me.

 

[Freesia]

I really need to get my sugar in my diet down. There is a vulnerability to diabetes in my family, and my blood sugars were high last time I had medical tests. So challenging though. I always feel so much healthier without refined sugars, I wish I could reduce it a lot. I have perhaps one to 2 pieces of fruit a day and I think that is plenty of sugars for the day.

 

[Dave in MPLS]

But to blame these problems on fructose alone would be to say eating lots of fresh fruit would do the same things to people that drinking lots of soda does

There's a heck of a lot more to fruit than just the fructose. It probably isn't directly comparable to HFCS mixed into carbonated water. No fiber in soda.

 

[KLS52]

I stay away from it when I can but I don't obsess over it. Like Freesia, I need to reduce my intake of sugar, in general. I have cut down considerably, but could really stand to reduce my intake more. I definitely feel better when I'm not overdoing it. Sadly, I haz the sweet tooth.

 

[Forster]

My controversial opinion is that it is best to stay away from refined sugar and try and reduce it in your diet, and especially avoid the processed, sugary syrups like hfcs. Fruit, vegetables and grain carbs provide adequate glucose for the brain and organs. Unfortunately sugary things are tempting.....

That's my take on it. I avoid all processed sugars as much as I can though if I have a choice I will choose other sugars before hfcs.

 

[shyvas]

I don't buy anything with it in it but when I eat out or at someone else's house I don't ask about the ingredients (almost all my friends are vegan, so that's why I don't question ingredients with them) because I don't think a little here and there is going to make a difference. At the same time I don't use much processed/refined/whatever sugar anyway. A bag of white sugar for baking will last over a year in our house. The only other sugars I buy are brown sugar (we use 1 to 2 small bags a year) and agave nectar but the bottle of agave we currently have was bought about two years ago. I do also have a bottle of maple syrup that I bought almost three years ago and it's still half full.

So, I guess for me it's more just about sugar that isn't from fruit being an actual treat rather than using it often regardless of the form.

Fruit on the other hand, I eat probably between three to five servings a day. Back when I used to use more sugar and consumed a lot of HFCS my sweetness tolerance was really high and a lot of fruit tasted almost sour to me.

Where did you meet them, or do you live in Veganland ?
I don't have one single vegan or vegetarian friend on the horizon.

 

[KLS52]

I don't have one single vegan or vegetarian friend on the horizon.

Me either...my one vegetarian friend/co-worker just went back to eating meat.

 

[AlmandineSky]

I sort of do in a way. I live near Seattle and I go to a lot of animal rights and vegan related events there. But I also started a vegan meetup group in my city and ran an animal rights book club for a while along with the group. I host monthly vegan dining-outs for everyone from veggie-curious to long time vegans to attend and socialize. It's helped some people go vegan because of the support they receive. There is one lady whose husband is so against it that he won't even attend the dining-outs, he drops her off and then sits in the car until it's over. The group has helped her a lot and hopefully some day he'll break down and join us too. We also do get togethers like vegan BBQ's, cross post activism stuff, work parties at sanctuaries, etc. I just spent the entire day at a work party for my favorite sanctuary.

So, I've just met a ton of vegans or people who are vegan-friendly that way. Where I lived before I never knew a single vegetarian or vegan though.

 

[shyvas]

Me either...my one vegetarian friend/co-worker just went back to eating meat.

I met another fellow Brit the other week. She also told me (to my dismay) that she was a vegetarian for 12 years and since becoming pregnant has become an omni !

 

[shyvas]

I sort of do in a way. I live near Seattle and I go to a lot of animal rights and vegan related events there. But I also started a vegan meetup group in my city and ran an animal rights book club for a while along with the group. I host monthly vegan dining-outs for everyone from veggie-curious to long time vegans to attend and socialize. It's helped some people go vegan because of the support they receive. There is one lady whose husband is so against it that he won't even attend the dining-outs, he drops her off and then sits in the car until it's over. The group has helped her a lot and hopefully some day he'll break down and join us too. We also do get togethers like vegan BBQ's, cross post activism stuff, work parties at sanctuaries, etc. I just spent the entire day at a work party for my favorite sanctuary.

So, I've just met a ton of vegans or people who are vegan-friendly that way. Where I lived before I never knew a single vegetarian or vegan though.

Apparently Seattle is a very modern city and vegan friendly. It must be so interesting to have so many vegan and animal welfare functions. I certainly would also go to all of them if I lived in your neck of the woods. I really wish that I could get to know vegan/vegartian people as we have so much more in common.

Overhere, the only meet ups are in omni restaurants where everyone indulges in dairy, meat etc and there are no animal welfare groups. So sad.

 

[Forster]

I went to Seattle for the 1st time last month, only there for a day but I liked it. I suspect I will be visiting much more as my daughter lives there now.

This is a few blocks from her apartment.

 

[RascalsMom]

My dream is to one day live in a very vegan friendly city