Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup: Let's Deconstruct!

By Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

Part 2: How HFCS Super-Sized Us

A number of studies have shown that when we drink our calories (as opposed to eat them), our brains will process information differently. Unlike solid food, liquid calories don't satisfy hunger because they don't suppress a hunger hormone called ghrelin which tells us to eat more. In an analysis of the eight-year Nurses' Health Study II, it was shown that women who upped their caloric soft drink consumption from one soda per week to one or more per day gained weight and had a higher risk of type II diabetes.¹

Sodas are unquestionably linked to obesity, both the adult kind and the childhood kind. Research conducted in 2001 by David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital in Boston found that the odds of a teenager becoming obese increased a whopping 60% for each can or glass of sugar-sweetened soft drinks.²

Which brings us back to HFCS. "The low cost of high fructose corn syrup allowed the explosion of 20-oz sodas, Super Big Gulps and the like to happen," C. Leigh Broadhurst, PhD, a research scientist and nutritionist at the USDA told me.

"Because sucrose was quite expensive, for years sodas were limited to the 12-oz can. We have also had an explosion of candies, bakery items, and ice cream novelties which would have been just too costly if they were all made with sugar. But now because of high fructose corn syrup, they are much cheaper to produce."

So let's review. We have a metabolically damaging simple sugar (fructose) which we now consume in record quantities due to how cheaply and easily HFCS can be manufactured. And we have Americans getting somewhere between 10-20% of their daily calories from this stuff. This is hardly good news.

You may remember from Part 1 of this article that HFCS is slightly higher in fructose than regular sugar (55/45 vs. 50/50). You'd think this wouldn't make much of a difference, and it probably doesn't -- if you're taking in only a few grams of sugar a day. But consider that there are folks out there drinking 12 cans of soda daily. That extra 5% of fructose can easily add up to an additional 20-30 grams of fructose, no small matter when you consider the metabolic damage it can do to the body.

So is regular sugar any better? Not much. "The rush to put "cane syrup" back into processed foods in lieu of HFCS does not make then any healthier", Dr. Broadhurst told me. "Any refined sugar is to fruit as distilled liquor is to grain. It's to be used with discretion and not fed to kids."

References

1. http://nutrition.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=nutrition&cdn=
   health&tm=3&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_p674.5.336.ip_&tt=2&bt=1&bts=1&zu=
   http%3A//jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/292/8/927
2. Ludwig, et al. Lancet, Vol. 357, No. 9255: 505-508

(We thank a sharp-eyed reader for catching an error in Part 1 of this article published on October 24. In paragraph 4, sentence 2 should read: Table sugar is about 50% glucose and 50% fructose, while in most high-fructose corn syrups, the proportion is similar but not identical -- 55% fructose and 45% glucose. [Not sucrose]. Ed.)

[Ed. note: Dr. Bowden is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health. He's a board certified nutrition specialist with a Master's degree in psychology and the author of five books including The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. His latest book is The Most Effective Cures on Earth.For more information, click here.]

Cutting Edge Fitness: The Truth About Cardiovascular Exercise By Kimberly Jones

I'm going to admit something that might shock you. I've been a professional fitness instructor for about ten years. During that time, I've studied quite a few different fitness programs. All of them required exercising for long periods of time. I was trained to think that I needed to keep my body going for 45-60 minutes to get a good work out... the kind that would burn off fat and increase both the strength of my heart and the capacity of my lungs.

Recently, I've learned from seeing all the research on this topic, that I had it all wrong. It turns out that I was busy getting my clients to exercise in a way that was contrary to their goals. The reality is that exercise programs using short bursts of intense physical activity are much more effective in increasing your body's cardiovascular (heart) and pulmonary (lungs) capabilities.

Now, it is true that if you do long duration exercise that your body will develop the stamina for something like jogging five or ten miles -- but it's doing that at a cost.

I've actually seen studies that compared the results of men doing both short burst workouts and long duration exercise. In the study I read about, men who performed repeated short sessions of exercise reduced their heart disease risk by 50% more than those who performed long duration exercise. Let me explain why:

Your body has what's known as reserve capacity. It's your ability to respond effectively to sudden demands placed upon it. The problem with exercising for long periods of time is that it makes the heart, lungs, and muscles smaller so that they can go longer with less energy. This may sound like a good idea, but it's not.

While your cardiovascular system may learn to handle a 30-, 45-, or 60-minute jog, it loses its ability to rapidly provide you with big bursts of energy for short periods. So instead of protecting your heart, you actually become more vulnerable to a heart attack! To further exacerbate the situation, your heart and lung capacity shrinks with age, so this exercise only accelerates these negative changes of aging.

In addition, when you do long duration exercise your body slows down its overall metabolism, and burns less fuel. This is the opposite of what you want when you're trying to keep lean and fit.

When you do short burst intense exercise, your body creates an oxygen debt. In other words, when you start panting it's because your body used up more energy than it had available and now it's trying to pay back that oxygen debt. During this exercise process, your body creates lactic acid which must be cleansed, and this keeps it working even after you've stopped exercising.

Furthermore, you're teaching your body that it needs to get bigger so it can cope with the demands of the intense short burst exercises. This causes your heart, lung and muscle capacity to increase. And finally, it's much easier for most people to squeeze in a short intense workout rather than an hour-long workout just for cardio, so there's a better chance that you'll stick to your program.

I strongly recommend that you use short burst exercise for your cardiovascular workouts. You can create your own workout or use one developed by a fitness professional. I've recently created a program that I call "Cardio Combustion". It uses only short burst exercise and has the added dimension of low intensity exercise during break time. When these two types of exercise are combined together, it really packs a wallop that will get you into amazing shape. If you want to learn more about my program, you can go to the link below.

[Ed. Note: Kimberly Jones has been a certified fitness trainer for ten years. For more information on her Cardio Combustion program, click here.]

Healthy Recipes: Pears and Cashews with Greens Salad By Laura LaValle, RD, LD

One of the tricks to eating well is knowing when to buy fresh foods for peak ripeness. Buying foods in season generally means lower price and better taste. Pears are in season right now, so it's a great time for this salad -- so light and simple, but so tasty.

Time to table: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Healing Nutrient Spotlight

Excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C, folate, magnesium, copper, manganese
Good source of calcium, thiamin, riboflavin

Ingredients*

Salad:
2 bunches (about 2 cups each) of your favorite salad greens, i.e., Bibb lettuce and watercress, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup diced fresh pears, any variety
1/3 cup cashews, lightly salted, if desired

Dressing:
1 T. grapeseed or walnut oil
1 T. fresh lime juice
1/2 T. organic tamari

*Choose organic ingredients for optimal nutrition.

Preparation

In a large bowl, whisk together oil, lime juice, and tamari. Add greens, pears, and cashews. Toss together well to distribute dressing. Serve immediately.

Nutrition

230 calories, 18 g total fat, 3 g saturated fat, 6 g monounsaturated fat, 2 g polyunsaturated fat, 15 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 7 g sugar, 6 g protein, 3200 IU vitamin A, .2 mg thiamin, .2 mg riboflavin, .8 mg niacin, .6 mg pantothenic acid, .2 mg vitamin B-6, 80 mcg folate, 30 mg vitamin C, 100 mg calcium, .6 mg copper, 2 mg iron, 80 mg magnesium, .4 mg manganese, 600 mg potassium, 4 mcg selenium, 1.3 mg zinc, 400 mg sodium

[Ed. Note: Laura B. LaValle, RD, LD is presently the director of dietetics nutrition at LaValle Metabolic Institute (formerly part of Living Longer Institute). She offers personal nutritional counseling at LMI for clients who need help with their diet in relation to illness or disease. Laura also provides educational services in the areas of health promotion, wellness, and disease prevention. To learn more click here]

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise’s Total Health Breakthroughs [Issue 10-28-08] which offers alternative solutions for mind, body and soul. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.totalhealthbreakthroughs.com/