Text 11305, 85 rader
Skriven 2011-05-25 22:00:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: HFCS explained
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I finally came across a plain English article that explains it all
in simple layman's language...


Fructose: Sweet, But Dangerous
High Fructose Corn Syrup Worse Than Sugar
By Laura Dolson, About.com

Fructose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar), which the body can use
for energy. Because it does not cause blood sugar rise tremendously
(has a low glycemic index), it was once thought that fructose was a
good substitute for sucrose (table sugar). However, the American
Diabetes Association and nutritional experts have changed their
minds about this.

A small amount of fructose, such as the amount found in most
vegetables and fruits, is not a bad thing. In fact, there is
evidence that a little bit may help your body process glucose
properly. However, consuming too much fructose at once seems to
overwhelm the body's capacity to process it.

The diets of our ancestors contained only very small amounts of
fructose. These days, estimates are that about 10% of the modern
diet comes from fructose.

Most of the carbohydrates we eat are made up of chains of glucose.
When glucose enters the bloodstream, the body releases insulin to
help regulate it. Fructose, on the other hand, is processed in the
liver. To greatly simplify the situation: When too much fructose
enters the liver, the liver can't process it all fast enough for the
body to use as sugar. Instead, it starts making fats from the
fructose and sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides.

This is potentially bad for at least three reasons:

High blood triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease.

Fructose ends up circumventing the normal appetite signaling
system, so appetite-regulating hormones aren't triggered and you're
left feeling unsatisfied. This is probably at least part of the
reason why excess fructose consumption is associated with weight
gain.

There is growing evidence that excess fructose consumption may
facilitate insulin resistance, and eventually type 2 diabetes.

Fruits and vegetables have relatively small, "normal" amounts of
fructose that most bodies can handle quite well. The problem comes
with added sugars in the modern diet, the volume of which has grown
rapidly in recent decades. The blame has often been pinned to high
fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is made up of 55% fructose and 45%
glucose. However, sucrose is half fructose and half glucose. So,
HFCS actually doesn't have a whole lot more fructose than "regular"
sugar, gram for gram.

High fructose corn syrup has become incredibly inexpensive and
abundant, partially due to corn subsidies in the United States. So,
really, the problem is more that it has become so cheap that it has
crept its way into a great number of the foods we eat every day.

Is corn syrup fructose different than fructose found in other foods?
No, all fructose works the same in the body, whether it comes from
corn syrup, cane sugar, beet sugar, strawberries, onions, or
tomatoes. Only the amounts are different. For example, a cup of
chopped tomatoes has 2.5 grams of fructose, a can of regular
(non-diet) soda supplies 23 grams, and a super-size soda has about
62 grams.

Today, almost all packaged foods have sugar added in some form,
which almost always includes a lot of fructose. Honey has about the
same fructose/glucose ratio as high fructose corn syrup. Fruit juice
concentrates, sometimes used as "healthy sweeteners," usually have
quite a lot of fructose as well.


Cheers

YK Jim


... I don't need a tin foil hat to see They like it that way.

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