Study: HFCS Leads To Much More Weight Gain In Rats Than Sugar

[baldguy]

Over 6 months, one group of rats was fed rat chow sweetened with HFCS and another just regular rat chow. The group consuming HFCS showed signed of obesisty, like unusual weight gain, and big increases in triglcerides and fat deposits in the belly. Overall they rats on HFCS ganied 48% more weight than those on a regular diet.

In an earlier study, the researchers gave one group of rats access to water sweetened with table sugar and another, water sweetened with HFCS. The rats on HFCS gained much more weight than the others. The concentration in the table sugar formula was the same as what is found in some soft drinks, while the HFCS was only half as concentrated as most soda pops.

"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel. "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese — every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."

Since HFCS was introduced into the American food supply as a cost-effective sweetener, the population's obesity rate has shot up from 15% in 1970 to nearly 33% today.

more:
http://consumerist.com/2011/03/studies-hfcs-leads-to-much-more-weight-gain-than-sugar.html
http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/HFCS_Rats_10.pdf

This poison should be banned for human consumption.

[Taverner]

1. Waiting for the war to begin

This subject, for some reason, always seems to rile up this place

[baldguy]

2. .

air-popped, of course

[tkmorris]

4. There's no HFCS in that, right?

I always check. They put that stuff in everything.

[Johonny]

11. not sure why the poster links this old paper

this actual study has been talked about over and over here. Don't see any point talking it our again.

[Warpy]

3. The operative words are "HIGH FRUCTOSE"

Table sugar is half fructose. Most HFCS used in processed foods is 55%. It seems that 10% increase in fructose does have a significant effect on metabolism in mice. Now that has to be proven in humans.

[aquart]

5. Look around.

Really pathetic, the depth of the denial.

[Warpy]

6. Don't discount the adenovirus angle, either

The pattern and spread of obesity is classic for an infectious process.

[Taverner]

20. How do you know the obesity was caused by HFCS and not something else?

I'm not trying to be in denial, but instead play devils advocate

One could site the mass marketing of unhealthy food to be a contributor as well

Our hectic work schedules could be a cause too (no time to eat anything but fast food)

I do think there is a case to be made for the dangers of HFCS, but I'm not sure if it's the prime mover in the obesity trend

[NutmegYankee]

9. From what I have read -

Regular sugar is slowly broken down by the body, reducing the maximum fructose levels. The same with corn, as it has to slowly digest. HFCS on the other hand just dumps the fructose (and glucose) right into the system and the body responds by depositing it as fat.

Granted, this was a study a few years back. I can say this - I cut that crap out of my diet and lost 20 pounds. Take that for what it's worth.

[The Backlash Cometh]

25. Sounds about right.

Not to mention that a hypoglycemic can tell the difference. The HFCS surges the sugar so fast that it feels like a diabetic reaction.

[blondeatlast]

34. HFCS is marvelous for curing severe hypoglycemia because it works so quickly.

When I have an hg episode (I'm an insulin-dependent diabetic) I've noticed that I respond much more quickly than I did when sodas were made with white sugar (soda is the easiest thing to get down when that happens).

But I'm also well aware that that makes it not a good choice for my kid for the same reason.

[hunter]

17. It also explains why they bother bumping the fructose component up.

HFCS 42 is the raw stuff, but then they go to all sorts of extra trouble to make HFCS-90 and HFCS 55.

Clearly there is an addictive quality to the higher fructose corn syrups.

[Taverner]

22. Not sure about 'addictive' - but definitely not good for our insulin balance

From what I've read - it's the sudden spike of insulin caused by the fructose

I avoid HFCS because I hate the taste - tastes too much like Diet Soda, and if I wanted a diet soda I would order one, dammit! :)

[Warpy]

36. I think that sweetness and mouth feel have more to do with that

than any conspiracy theory about addiction.

They started to use the stuff because it was cheap.

[hunter]

37. Here's an interesting table comparing HFCS-42 vs. HFCS-55 use in soft drinks.

http://www.beverage-digest.com/cgi-bin/hfcs.cgi

I don't think it has to be a "conspiracy." All it has to be is the makers of certain products have determined that HFCS-55 will increase sales and market share enough to justify the extra cost.

The flavor and "mouth feel" change in switching from sugar to HFCS-55 is more noticeable than the switch to HFCS-42. Some beverages having a smaller market share but more loyal customer base, for example, Dr. Pepper and A&W, switched from sugar to HFCS-42. and were then confronted by competing HFCS-55 products like Mr. Pibb, and Barq's.

The entire "New Coke" fiasco may have been engineered to distract from "classic" Coke's switch to HFCS-55, a much bigger flavor jump than an HFCS-42 version of the "classic" would have been.

Very simply, HFCS-55 gives you a quicker soft-drink sugar high and leaves you wanting more.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. The first doesn't come as much of a surprise. The second, however, does.

It would be helpful if we knew the concentrations. They say the same as found in "some soft drinks," and "half as concentrated as most soda pops." Are we talking about the concentrations of say Kool-Aid vs an equal portion of soda? I know Kool-Aid, when made per the directions, has much less sugar per serving, so this is a kind of important fact.

[SoCalDem]

12. I used to put in half the sugare that koolaid called for

and of course my kids always commented that other kids koolaid tasted better:rofl:

My kids mostly drank unsweetened iced tea so koolaid with half the sugar was pretty sweet to them....until they went to a birthday party:rofl:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

35. That's too funny!

The first time I made Kool-Aid by myself I was freaked out by how sweet it was. When I asked my mom why mine came out wrong she said she only uses half the sugar it calls for. I liked it better less sweet since it was what I was used to. :shrug: :rofl:

[reggie the dog]

8. every time i come to the usa for a 2 month vacation

i seem to put on ten or 20 pounds DESPITE going cycling for 2 to 3 hours most days, DESPITE eating moderately with my parents and DESPITE eating a lot of cakes. Last year i limited myself to one slurpee per week and one trip to crispy cream per week. i ate cereal for breakfast, a small lunch with yogurt fruit and a sandwich and a normal dinner with a salad. i ate out perhaps twice a week and i worked out DAILY and i still put on ten pounds in my 2 months in the states.

hfcs? is there less of it in our food over here in france?

[spinbaby]

15. Every time I go overseas, I lose weight

I ate my way across Tokyo and lost weight. Yes, there's something wrong with our food over here.

[reggie the dog]

24. all the weight i gain comes off within a month of being back in france

and i work out less because i begin my teaching year and have less free time. i eat "normally" and one year the 20 pounds i had put on (from 155 to 175) came off in a month despite cutting my biking from 7 days a week in the usa for 2 to 3 hours a day to 3 days a week for 1 to 3 hours. it cant be the weed either, i smoke hash here and i get less munchies but even during harvest season when the local weed comes in and i smoke grass for 3 months including christmas holiday time i never gain more than 5 kilos from the munchies and holiday meals combined with shit weather meaning less biking. in the usa i gain 10 to 20 pounds biking 2 hours a day and in france i gain 5 pounds biking 1 or 2 hours A WEEK!

[Lorien]

27. Yep, me too. Lost about eight pounds last time I spent two+ weeks in Europe

and I ate quite a few pastries in France and fondue in Switzerland!

But I think that it's more than just the HFCS. There's the hormones in our dairy and all the GMO crap. I've become gluten intolerant over the past three years and a worker at a health food store swore that the recent spike in that condition comes from all the tinkering that Monsanto does with our food supply.

[Occulus]

39. "hfcs? is there less of it in our food over here in france?"

I've found HFCS in bread here in MI.

BREAD.

Yes, there's more HFCS in US foods and no, that HFCS really isn't necessary. It's in so many inappropriate places I really do suspect an addictive quality to HFCS, and one food manufacturers/processors are quite well-aware of, at that.

Yeah, tinfoil hat and all, but when you find it in shit like bread and buns, you have to wonder. Maybe it's used as a preservative or something, but I just checked some poppy-seed rolls made in a store's bakery, and they didn't have HFCS, but the brand-name hamburger buns did in fact contain HFCS. So it's not necessary, but it's there nonetheless.

[Ken Burch]

10. Shouldn't our in-house HFCS flack be posting in this thread?

n/t.

[SoCalDem]

13. 7-6-5-4-3-

they will be here shortly..never fear:rofl: probably on a MountainDew break

[Qutzupalotl]

14. That would involve kicking a thread with a negative title.

You'll see him/her/it more on threads that support the industry position.

[Snoutport]

16. my student's lunches are FULL of the stuff! nt

[theophilus]

18. I agree it is horrible stuff and it is in too much food. I found it in concord grape

jelly! What crap. Since I drastically cut down on HFCS sodas I feel much better. I firmly believe HFCS should be banned entirely.

[Mosby]

33. isn't the production of cane sugar subsidised?

The us gov created "price floors" for cane suger so manufacturers switched to HFCS. Either way we need to do away with this shit, its in everything now some manufacturers have switched (like oceanspray cranberry) but most haven't.

[originalpckelly]

19. Chemistry-wise they are not the same.

The glucose and fructose in table sugar are bound together to form a disaccharide, while in HFCS they are free monosaccharides. Who knows if this has any impact on the absorption of the two sugars, but it might make some sense.

An independent university with no axe to grind either way should do a really in depth study on this.

I personally think there is some kind of funky off taste to HFCS products. I prefer the ones with regular sugar. Hey, that's me, and it could be that the regular sodas use a different formula from the HFCS ones.

But of course, the best thing is to just limit overall calorie consumption in your diet, especially if they are empty calories like junk foods and sodas.

[Johonny]

21. The paper is from Princeton University

that the link, links to, so I'm not sure if you consider them independent or not.

http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/HFCS_Rats_10.pdf

You will probably wonder why so much could be made of so little results. In general the last time this appeared at the DU some people good at reading science papers were not overly WOWed by data in the paper. However the general DUer not so good at reading science papers rec the crap out of it because the papers conclusions fit their own. I was hoping this time through would be a link to a better study and not the same study as before. Not sure why this is news as the study was talked to death here before.

[BlueIris]

23. HFCS is the kiss of death. nt

[Lorien]

26. Agreed. If I eat something with HFCS at a party I know within a half hour

I get covered in sweat from head to toe and nearly faint. It gives me a violent hypoglycemic fit; table sugar and honey does not.

The stuff is banned in other Nations and SHOULD be banned here, not subsidized as it is by the government!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

28. HFCS just got the gov't to allow it to change it's name to "corn sugar" on product

[Arctic Dave]

29. Look! Shiney!

[SpiralHawk]

30. Mutant GMO food and HFCS = crapola

:puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[libodem]

31. Have you seen the ads

Trying to convince consumers there is no difference. The shit is poison. I'm convinced HFCS is behind the increase in diabetes and insulin resistance.

[shanti]

38. true

i firmly believe that drinking sodas daily for the past 30 years had a causal effect on the development of my t2 diabetes and acid reflux. i was diagnosed a year ago, and haven't touched a soda (other than diet) since then. feel much better too.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

32. It takes away your ability to know you're full...

...and makes you feel seriously hungry far sooner than if you had regular sugar.
HFCS is poison.

[Hissyspit]

40. Hmm, whatever happened to so-and-so?