Update on High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar

I previously posted about the health dangers associated with High Fructose Corn Syrup, a "super sweetener" used in everything from pastries to sweetened beverages, breakfast cereal and even ketchup.  It is ubiquitous it seems.  
My house is HFCS-free, and thankfully all the kids like to drink water.  We have orange juice, and make our own fruit smoothies.  I don't keep any other fruit juice in the house, and don't do juice boxes.  I am alarmed at how much juice some of the children I see at my office drink.  Children of any age should not be drinking more than 6 oz. of juice daily; it is even better if they DON'T drink juice at all.  Unfortunately, there is a huge industry pandering juice boxes and pouches to families with children.  Some parents mistakenly feel that the "Capri Sun Roarin' Water" is good for their children because it is mostly water -- these beverages may actually be WORSE than juice because they are all sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. 

My husband recently e-mailed me an article entitled "9 Reasons to Avoid Sugar As If Your Life Depended On It".  Pretty catchy, but is a good summary about the dangers of sugar.  Both sugar and HFCS contain fructose.  Simple glucose is easily digested and eliminated by the body, but the same is not true of fructose.  Fructose is metabolized by the liver; since our liver is busy maintaining normal blood sugar levels in our blood, "extra" fructose is converted into fat -- for us to use later.  Too much fructose being diverted this way leads to excess deposition in the liver.  Over time, "fatty liver" develops.   As we ingest more sugar, our body has a harder time struggling to keep blood sugar levels stable, and our pancreas will make more and more insulin to keep blood sugar levels in a normal range.  This "hyperinsulinemia" leads to obesity and increases in fat deposition throughout the body, as well as increases in cholesterol.

Studies looking at people who ingested 25% of their calories in glucose or fructose-sweetened drinks showed that these people had increased levels of LDL ("bad cholesterol"), triglycerides (another blood fat), higher fasting blood sugar and insulin levels and, worse, decreased insulin sensitivity.  Increasing amounts of insulin resistance leads to obesity, type two diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
What can be said additionally to all of the above mentioned science is that sweetened beverages add empty calories, calories devoid of nutritional value.
Fructose-sweetened beverages have also been shown to interfere with the normal satiety reflex - fructose drinkers felt less satisfied and were still hungry.  Fructose ingestion also did not lessen the body's level of ghrelin - the "hunger hormone".  The higher the level of ghrelin, the hungrier one is.   Fructose also causes resistance to leptin, another hormone that is released by our fat cells after we have eaten.  Leptin basically tells the body, "I am full; stop eating".  Obviously, in someone leptin resistant, this signal does not function as intended.
 There are also many studies that suggest that the high sugar, western diet can lead to "sugar addiction" or at least a form of sugar toxicity leading to the above medical problems.

As parents, we are responsible for setting examples for our children.  If we stress activity and exercise, our children will be active and exercise.  If we stress healthy eating habits, our children will be healthier.  Beware the dangers of high fructose corn syrup - limit or eliminate fruit juice, and get into the habit of reading labels.  Know what you are eating and drinking, eat more fruits and vegetables and limit processed foods.