June Challenge - The Villains

[Ottawa]

In an article from Men's Health there was an interesting analogy comparing certain foods and Super Villains. Although done in a light vein, I thought that we could use it as a starter for a disscussion on these two foods. As well I would like to know how something like HFCS gets away without releasing an Insulin Spike as listed below in the article. I will find out over the weekend but if anyone knows please add it now.

The Villians:
http://heroicimages.net/toons/Resources/Images/Superman_STAS/_Thumbs/bizzaro_small.gifThe Sweet Masquerader: High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
"The Villain: The Sweet Masquerader
Given Name: High-Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
Primary Evil Powers: Identity theft; inflicts intense hunger pains.
Nutritional Crimes: This artificial sweetener that masquerades as sugar is twice as sinister as the sucrose it impersonates. Bearing primary responsibility for the collective weight gain in our society, the Sweet Masquerader hypnotizes eaters into thinking they're always hungry.

Here's how this little guy was born: About 30 years ago, food manufacturers figured out that they could make sodas, cereals, yogurts, and some 40,000 other manufactured foods taste sweeter -- for a lot less money than with simple sugar. They did it by developing HFCS (which is derived from corn).

Sounds fine in theory, but here's the problem: When you eat any type of carbohydrate (like bread or fruit), your body releases insulin to regulate your body weight, pushing those carb calories into your muscles to be used as energy or storing them for later. Then it suppresses your appetite. Those carbs are the signal for you to stop filling your tank.

But the Sweet Masquerader doesn't stimulate insulin, so your body doesn't register it the way it registers simple white sugar. (That's why you can drink a few Big Gulps and never really feel full.) So what are you left with? You eat the HFCS-containing foods that are high in calories, but, like a band that stops after one set, those foods leave you wanting more. So you eat more foods with HFCS, stockpiling those calories like they're savings bonds, and the cycle of eating -- and storing fat -- continues.

Attack Plan: Today, you can find HFCS in things like ketchup, pasta sauce, and crackers -- it's everywhere. If HFCS is listed first or second on an ingredients list, see how many grams of "sugars" (HFCS is lumped in that category) the food product contains."

http://heroicimages.net/toons/Resources/Images/Superman_STAS/_Thumbs/kalibak_small.jpgThe Blob: Trans Fat

"The Villain: The Blob
Given Name: Trans Fat
Primary Evil Powers: Turns fat in foods into fat on your belly.
Nutritional Crimes: "Trans fats" may sound like the name of a cross-dressing pool hustler, but the reality is even more bizarre. Artificially made fats, trans fats are like wigs in shower drains -- mammoth cloggers. They gunk up the works by increasing the amount of bad cholesterol in your body. (Trans fats have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.)

You can understand why when you realize how they're made. Trans fats are created by combining vegetable oil (a liquid) with hydrogen to create partially hydrogenated oil, or trans fatty acids. Once infused with the hydrogen, the liquid vegetable oil turns into a solid at room temperature.

And the food industry loves trans fats, because they are cheap and seem to stick around forever. Plus, you can add trans fats to all kinds of foods in a way you can't add regular oil (for instance, normal vegetable oil in a cookie recipe would ooze out when the weather gets warm; with trans fats, the treats stay crisp and solid). So now trans fats -- like HFCS -- get added to chips, fries, muffins, and all sorts of on-the-shelf products.

But the real evil is what the Blob does to you on the inside. Remember, these fats are supposed to be liquid but have turned into solid. So instead of melting, like they would in their natural state, inside your body, they try to revert to their waxy, solid makeup -- inside your arteries.

Attack Plan: Scan the label and eliminate. Like hotel bars on business trips, little good can come from them. Some tips for total avoidance:
• Check ingredients lists for aliases like "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated." The higher these ingredients are on the label, the more trans fats they contain.
• Pick high-protein breakfasts like eggs and Canadian bacon over waffles. Processed bread products and margarine are two of the most common forms in which trans fats find their way into our bodies.
• At a restaurant, ask what kind of oil the chef uses. You want to hear olive oil, not shortening (another code name for the Blob).
• When eating out, stick to soup or salad and avoid the bread, which can be filled with trans fats."


So here we have it.
Have either of these Villains been around you?
Have you checked your cupboards?
Do you know the reward for getting rid of them?

Stay tuned ....

[LisaS]

here is a little bit about fructose metabolism
http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/2/1/5

and a little more technical
http://www.medbio.info/Horn/Time%201-2/carbohydrate_metabolism.htm

[Ottawa]

Thanks Lisa. Those are great links and show the dangers of HFCS..
Dr. Eades has a good one as well at http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/archives/2006/04/.


Before we get into what the findings were, let's look at what we do know for sure about HFCS and fructose. First, there is no question that the consumption of fructose has increased dramatically since the development and entry of HFCS into the food supply in about 1970. Depending upon whom you want to rely, the figures as to the actual increase vary, but there is no doubt that the amount of fructose has significantly increased over the past few decades. And there is no doubt that the overall consumption of caloric sweeteners (another term for sugars) has increased over the same period. In fact, sugars of one form or another account for an unbelievable 20-25 percent of calories consumed by the average American. Think about that for a minute. Almost a quarter of our diet is composed of empty calories from a substance that we as humans were never exposed to during the 2.7 million years of our existence as humanoid creatures on this planet as we were being molded by the forces of natural selection to be the creatures we are today. (One of my favorite quotes on this comes from Blake F. Donaldson, M.D. who long ago wrote a book called Strong Medicine. Says Dr. Donaldson: "During the millions of years that our ancestors lived by hunting, every weakling who could not maintain perfect health on fresh meat and water was bred out.")
So fact one, we know were eating more sugar in general and more fructose in particular. We also know that fructose is metabolized differently than other sugars. Glucose, for example, can be used as is by virtually every cell in the body; fructose can only be metabolized in the liver (and in sperm cells). If we eat too much glucose, the metabolic process stores it away as glycogen--if we eat too much fructose, our livers convert it to fat and, typically, store it in the liver. Why? Because glucose metabolism is tightly controlled and fructose, in simple terms, jumps the main control point in the sugar metabolism pathway. Click here (http://www.medbio.info/Horn/Time%201-2/carbohydrate_metabolism.htm) to read a fairly accurate and comprehensible essay on this process. Click here (http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/76/5/911?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1077102153430_1815&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&volume=76&firstpage=911&journalcode=ajcn) for full text of a paper about fructose metabolism. (I don't totally agree with the conclusions in this paper, but the description of the control point in fructose metabolism is accurate.)

The article referenced in the above clip includes ...

"Carbohydrate metabolism starting from glucose or galactose proceeds under strict control; fructose is in a special class! We are "constructed" to conserve energy. The rapid entry of fructose into glycolysis leads to fatty acid synthesis in the liver. Because fructose metabolism "fills" glycolysis with substrate at a very high rate, frequent use of sucrose (remember sucrose is a dimer of fructose and glucose) or fructose promotes fat production. ... Fructose does not cause insulin release from beta cells, as these lack fructokinase. One of the results of this is that fructose consumption does not dampen appetite. This may lead to increased caloric intake with obesity and the metabolic syndrome as a result."

Reading this, you wonder why anyone would consume such a product and yet many of us were into sweets prior to PP, that it may have taken a shock (loss of image, energy, health) to provoke a change.

[Gabriel Guzman]

Reading this, you wonder why anyone would consume such a product and yet many of us were into sweets prior to PP, that it may have taken a shock (loss of image, energy, health) to provoke a change.

Randy, thanks for this thread, it's very informative!

Humans have been exposed to fructose ever since we crossed paths with fruits. However, the amount may not account for the amount we are exposed nowadays, particularly when countless foods include HFCS.

One of the reasons that I think we've been lead to consume fructose almost on a steady basis, besides HFCS being a cheaper way to make things sweet, is that fructose is one of the waiving flags of the glycemic index. Since fructose has a very low GI, it makes it the perfect alternative to glucose... unfortunately, even though its GI is low, it's metabolic effects are nothing but detrimental. For more information, Lisa's link is a good one.

Also, as you pointed out in your discussion, since fructose doesn't induce insulin release, it makes it the perfect alternative for diabetics, at least in the eyes of those who know nothing about how fructose is handled by the body.

With the current knowledge about the detrimental effects of excess fructose, I think the question should now be:


Reading this, you wonder why the experts and those who make their living treating and helping people with their nutritional choices, still insist in recommending the consumption of fructose under the false idea that it's safer and even better for those already with inpaired glucose metabolism...