As far as speculation goes, they put fructose in baby formula and what would be the final result on that? Most of the experiments about metabolic imprinting deals with low birth weight infants, but there is one study I read that dealt with feeding rats high carb milk at least compared with to rat milk. If I remember correctly, the rats developed high insulin levels in the first 24 hrs and later developed obesity as adult rats. From those rats they raised a second generation which was treated identically to the controls (raised on rat milk) but that second generation became obese. Something about phenotype expression.

Yeah, they are rats but would this occur in humans. We are on the second and third generation of formula fed children, i.e. are you much more likely to have high insulin levels if you been formula fed a couple of generations? Granted the first formula generation was raised on evaporated milk. This would be hard to figure out, right? How much would obesity be a result of imprinting as an infant or subsequent lifestyle?

Hi Mmmm–

I suspect that fetal imprinting makes a huge impact on health for a couple of generations.  It will be interesting to see how our generations fare in the longevity sweepstakes.

Best–

MRE

The jump in obesity comes from using products that the public did not realize were all substituting HFCS for cane sugar and flavoring. There was never a general announcement since most companies did this without consulting each other, but the results have been the same as if the public had volunteered for a massive experiment.

IF I don’t cook what I’m eating, I make sure I can have a piece of rare meat without anything on it when I go out with friends.

Dr Mike, it would be helpful if on some post, you addressed the problem of fatty liver and how long it would take someone to alleviate the problem on low or zero carb.

Hi LC–

Yeah, HFCS has wormed its way into everything.  And it’s all because of our government.  Our government put price supports on cane and beet sugar causing their price domestically to be out of whack with the world price of sugar.  Good ol’ American ingenuity tackled the problem and created HFCS in the 1970s.  Once created it could be sold cheaply and started replacing sugar in soft drinks and other sugar-laden products to keep the cost down.  Then food manufacturers discovered that HFCS has many virtues in the food processing biz that real sugar didn’t have.  It mixes easier, it doesn’t crystallize, it jas better mouthfeel, it adds moisture–just to name a few (No health virtues, needless to say).  In short order, due to these properties, HFCS has found its way into almost all processed foods.

Had our leaders (whom we elected and paid) shunned the money from Big Sugar and let the price fluctuate with world supply, it’s doubtful that anyone would have invested in developing a substitute.  If we had no HFCS, no one would know how well it lends itself to food processing, and, well, you can fill in the blanks.

I plan a post soon on the hidden epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.  Bad stuff.

Cheers–

MRE

Hi Steve–

You’re right.  Fructose does cause less of a blood glucose spike because it is diverted to fat production in the liver.  Interestingly, a little fructose, such as the amount found in a serving of fruit, actually increases the body’s sensitivity to insulin.  But the amounts typically consumed in the American diet convert to fat in the liver, and over enough time actually deposit there leading to a condition known as NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Best–

MRE

Hi Cathy–

I, too, have had the sugar-free versions on occasion, and I like them a lot.

Best–

MRE