Fructose and obesity
There is no question that we have an obesity epidemic in our country. When wondering what could be the cause, it’s easy to conclude that people are just eating too much. While there is no question that portion size has something to do with this crisis, there must be other and more subtle factors at play that prevent people from knowing when they’ve had too much to eat.
According to recent research, one such factor could be fructose, increasingly used as a sweetener for drinks.
In this study researchers used MRI scans to track blood flow to different parts of the brain.
What they found is that, when people had a drink sweetened with fructose or high-fructose corn syrup containing 55% fructose, areas of the brain that have to do with feeling like we’ve had enough to eat were not getting stimulated like they were when regular sugar was used.
I am not saying this to promote the use of sugar which
, I believe, is a metabolic poison in all its forms except if consumed only occasionally and in tiny amounts. However, when looking at studies like this one – and others like it – it becomes very clear that fructose presents problems for health and weight regulation that go beyond those of regular sugar or glucose. Read about this research here: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/01/01/fructose-overeating-sugar-obesity_n_2393297.html.
