Fructose and the Calorie Myth
Weighing too much is a matter of energy balance, a matter of calories going in verses calories going out, right? Maybe not. New research and new thinking in nutrition has started shifting this idea of energy balance to a view centered on food as a whole. It may be that getting rid of those pounds does not require hours of pounding on a treadmill as much as it requires rethinking what you eat. The fundamental error in the calorie myth is that any calories you consume is exactly the same as any other calorie. The complicated reality is that energy in the diet come from different sources which route through different processes. To understand it, put on your lab coat for a couple of minutes.
A Very Quick Summary
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However, the atoms are arranged a little differently. Two molecules that have this type of relationship are called isomers.
It doesn’t sound very important. After all, both molecules have the exact same amount of energy, and a calorie is a calorie. This small difference is important because it means that the two molecules do not behave the same way in the body.
Glucose can be used directly by any cell in the body. It easily moves into the cell where it is directly burned for energy. No such luck with fructose. It must first be transported to the liver where a wide variety of things (none of them good) happen.
The metabolism of fructose in the liver is complex, but there are two important results. Fructose is more readily turned into fat. Fructose metabolism signals the liver to increase fat storage. A calorie is not a calorie. Table sugar (sucrose) is a two unit sugar, one glucose and one fructose melded together. Therefore a high level of added sugar in the diet is also a high level of fructose.
The Worst Thing Richard Nixon Ever
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Hot Pockets hit the supermarkets in 1983, and our waists have never looked back.
Examples of Fructose in Food
Consider fructose in soda. The total sugar content for a typical 12 ounce soda is about 27 grams, split between 16 grams of fructose and 11 grams of glucose. Another way to get 16 grams of fructose would be to eat two cups of kiwi fruit.
The two cups of kiwi has loads of vitamins and minerals and 10 grams of fiber while the soda has nothing. When fiber is part of digestion, the uptake of sugars from the gut slows and the response of the pancreas is less dramatic. Taking 16 grams of fructose in an empty solution is much more damaging that taking it as part of food.
Should I control fructose?
Fructose is having a negative impact on the modern diet, but a broader lesson than “fructose is the problem” will lead to better results. Looking back to America before Nixon signed the farm bill provides guidance.
Americans of that era, ate plenty of meat, but also ate vegetables and starch. The most important difference in the diet of that era versus the modern American diet was the lack of prepared food. While there were certainly some overweight people, obesity simply did not exist in the way it does
The book begins with the question of “What should we have for dinner?” and stands to answer that question the rest of the way. Speaking directly of Americans, Pollan explains in-depth how the Nation tends to jump from fad to fad, first being afraid of carbohydrates, and then switching to fats, and so on. He goes on to explain where this thought process might have come from with the history of the Carter administration in 1977, as dietary goals were issued and the red meat lovers of America were warned to cut back. From that time on it has been an ever-changing lipo-, carbo-, phobia, with a cycle of weight loss and gain. With this question at hand, Michael Pollan begins to dive de...
The use of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contributes drastically to obesity. In the normal process of glucose consumption the pancreas responds by producing insulin to transport sugar to the body cells to use as energy. It then stimulates the production of the hormone leptin, which regulates appetite and fat storage, and suppresses production of the hormone ghrelin. When properly functioning, these hormones serve to regulate food intake and cause hunger to dissipate. However, fructose (the most commodious substance in HFCS)
Most of the critics agree with the movie and highly recommend the film, although other critics challenge the film, saying it has inflated the facts blaming a single nutrient, sugar, may lead to overweight and obesity. In 1977, the United States Government produced a document titled, “Dietary Goals For The United States.” This document set the dietary goals we know today. The recommended carbohydrate consumption in 1977 was 55%-60%, with a 15% sugar intake. In 2010, that is the most current, it is recommended to consume 45%-65% and 5%-15% sugar intake. The film mentioned that carbohydrates that include processed starch has the same effect as pure sugar. According to Hardvard T.H. Chan under the School Of Public Health, when the public consumes food containing carbohydrates, the body digest it into sugar. The critics Steve Dorfman, Michael Sauter and David Templeton all agree that the government, the media and the sugar industry plays an important role in the rise of the American obesity epidempic. They also make valid points that the average American consumes more sugar than before. Although Jerry Hagstrom and the International Food Council Foundation states the film Fed Up inflated claims, the facts presented are significant enough to be noticed. The U.S. government policy effectively regulates the safety of the food industry, although the long
The slight differences in the way their atoms are arranged give them slightly different properties. These are shown below: α-glucose: β-glucose: Galatose: Fructose: [IMAGE] [IMAGE] The main function of monosaccharide is that they are able to move through bodies, gut walls and therefore important as a source of energy. All other carbohydrates have to be converted to monosaccharides before energy can be released and its is due to it’s small size they are very soluble and it is the form of monosaccharides that all carbohydrates are carried in the blood.
type of energy is lost or gained, and whether or not a factor that is
Soda is high in calories. A 20 ounce can of Coca Cola contains 17 teaspoons of sugar and 240 calories…empty calories devoid of any nutritional value. It would take the average adult over one hour of walking to burn off the 240 calories in a 20-ounce soda.Soda increases obesity risk in children. Each additional soda or other sugary drink consumed per day increases the likelihood of a child becoming obese by about 60%. Sugary drinks are connected to other health problems as well.Soda contains artificial sweeteners. While many people opt for artificial sugar to lower caloric intake the tradeoff for your health isn’t so sweet. Artificial sugars are linked to numerous illness and diseases including
Since 1916, the United States Department of Agriculture (the government agency responsible for all U.S. policy regarding agriculture, food, and farming) has revised their recommendations several times. Unfortunately, money talks and the USDA’s recommendations are based on outdated science and are influenced by people with business interest. Even so, its recommendations are considered almost “holy” by physicians, nutritionists, and dieters, but in reality, they are the root cause of the problem. A single visit to our local public school cafeteria and it will become clear that they do not have the best interests of the children at heart. What they are feeding our innocent children is preposterous. Doctors, the people we trust and expect to be “the experts”, do not know much about the subject of nutrition. A vast majority of medical schools in the U.S. require just 25-30 hours or less of nutrition training, and some do not require at all. So doctors must rely on the ...
The link between the number of carbon atoms in a fuel with the amount of energy it releases
America’s food source has altered drastically in the last century and so has the health of many. Americans used to thrive on natural foods for nutritional value, now Americans thrive on processed and manufactured food for just for convenience. Food companies have changed the very way we view nutrition. They have taken chemistry to a whole new level and added what they want it to what we now call food even if that harms our bodies in the long run. Food companies have also caused many hard working farmers to lose their jobs. These food companies have lost insight as to what is truly important in a food product and don’t care if that means taking someone else’s job.
When a person exercises the body uses either sugar or fatty acids as fuel to create energy. During the beginning of an exercise most of the sugar that is used as fuel comes from the bloodstream or the muscles. After about 15 minutes the fuel starts to come from the liver. When one exercises after 30 minutes the body receives energy from free fatty acids and glycogen gets stored resulting in a decrease in blood sugar levels. Glycogen is the sugar stored in the liver and muscles.
Clearly, when it comes to how they affect your body, not all calories are the same. Simple calorie counting accomplishes little if you don't control the types of calories you are consuming. Still don't believe me? Here's that experiment I was telling you about:
This is a classic example of human ignorance. How can one worry about something and not know what it is, where it comes from, and what it does? A French scientist, Antoine Lavoisier coined the term calorie, actually caloric, in the eighteenth century. Mr. Lavoiser observed that chemical reactions gave off heat. He believed that this heat was some form of fluid, much like water, that carried the heat away from the reaction. (Rothman, 69) Antoine was on the right track; he merely got on the wrong train.
Energy in equals energy out, the amount of energy you take in needs to equal or less than the energy you lose/use to either maintain your weight or lose weight. If you have a negative balance meaning that you use most of the energy you take in than you will lose weight. If you have even a small positive energy balance than you would gain weight because you are not using the energy you take in instead you are accumulating it which results in gradual weight gain. It does not matter what kind of calorie/energy you put in a calorie is a calorie.
With each passing decade, there has been an increase in sugar consumption among the United States population. According to the United States Department of Agriculture(USDA), the average American consumes between 150 to 170 pounds per year, which is around one-fourth to half a pound per day. For comparison, during the early 1800s the average American only consumed about 4-6 pounds per year. Our sweet tooth has since grown and so has our collective waistline. Scientists have directly linked sugar to obesity, and today, one third of US adults are categorized as obese and a formidable one out of five premature deaths in the United States are due to obesity. But for some reason the food industry and the government aren’t doing enough to stop this epidemic. Could it be that the food industry is knowingly profiting from a product that is killing us?
Fructose can be just as harmful as sucrose if you ingest too much of it. The naturally occurring sugar found in fruit is referred to as fructose. Sucrose is the form of sugar which is found in granulated sugar which is made from sugar cane and other sugar sources.