Fructose Sweetener Linked to Obesity Rise

Thursday, March 25th, 2004

I’m not sure how much faith I put in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and its peer-review process. Fructose Sweetener Linked to Obesity Rise summarizes a recent study from the journal:

Researchers say they’ve found more evidence of a link between a rapid rise in obesity and a corn product used to sweeten soft drinks and food since the 1970s.

The link?

The data showed an increase in the use of high-fructose corn sweeteners in the late 1970s and 1980s “coincidental with the epidemic of obesity,” said one of the researchers, Dr. George A. Bray, a longtime obesity scientist with Louisiana State University System’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center. He noted the research didn’t prove a definitive link.

At least he noted the research didn’t prove a definitive link.

Here’s some misguided science writing:

The debate over high-fructose sweeteners centers on how the body processes sugar. Unlike glucose, a major component in table sugar, fructose doesn’t trigger responses in hormones that regulate energy use and appetite. That means fructose is more likely to be converted into fat, the researchers said.

Table sugar, or sucrose, is composed of glucose and fructose.

Why is high-fructose corn syrup so popular compared to table sugar?

The sweeteners are also cheaper to produce and use in food manufacturing than cane and beet sugars, the study noted.

Why are they cheaper? Because American sugar producers got huge protective tariffs put on sugar.

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