If you are wary of consuming products with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), your suspicions may prove right. A new study, for the first time conducted on humans, not lab rats, confirms what many have suspected for a long time – the fructose in HFCS contributes to obesity.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation earlier this year, was carried out by a team of scientists at the University of California, Davis. It is entitled Consuming fructose-sweetened, not glucose-sweetened, beverages increases visceral adiposity and lipids and decreases insulin sensitivity in overweight/obese humans.

Here’s what the experiment looked like:

Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a strictly controlled diet, including high levels of fructose, produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems. read more…

Kimber L. Stanhope, the study leader, said “This is the first evidence we have that fructose increases diabetes and heart disease independently from causing simple weight gain. We didn’t see any of these changes in the people eating glucose.”

While fructose is found in fruits, honey and table sugar, it’s highest percentage is in HFCS, hence the name “High Fructose” corn syrup.

What you need to know:

Consumption of sweetened food and beverage has grown significantly in the US over the past decades. Those who blame HFCS for the country’s obesity epidemic and related maladies have shown that the alarming rise in obesity rates is in tandem with the introduction and rapid adoption of HFCS by food and beverage manufacturers since the early 1980’s.

Why did manufacturers switch to high fructose corn syrup to begin with? They certainly did not plan to make America fat. Our obesity epidemic is simply a side effect of the quest for efficiency and lower cost of production. In the 1970’s, huge surpluses of corn in the US, prompted the creation of a new sweetener, HFCS, half the price of sugar, which has become the sweetener of choice in almost all soft drinks today.

Please note that the study was conducted on 100% fructose, not HFCS, which is 45% sucrose 55% fructose.  Many scientists still maintain that there is no difference between sugar (50/50) and HFCS. As more studies are carried out in humans in coming years, the truth will become clearer. But in the meantime, most everyone agrees that we should all reduce the amount of sweet we consume daily, be it sugar, HFCS, or others.

What to do at the supermarket:

The easiest way to drastically reduce high fructose corn syrup from your diet is to stop visiting the drinks aisles at the supermarket. Switching to tap water is healthier for you, your wallet, and the environment.

HFCS appears in the ingredient list just like sugar, dextrose, and corn syrup. Watch out for it in snacks, sauces, prepared meals, and other products.

[thanks Robyn for the hat tip]

Get Fooducated: RSS Subscription or Email Subscription

Follow us on twitter: twitter.com/fooducate

Help us test our new food comparison tool: alpha.fooducate.com

On Friday, Dannon Company announced it had settled a class action suit to the tune of $35 Million. The lawsuit was filed in early 2008, alleging that Dannon knowingly misled consumers in its marketing activities around its Activia yogurt line. The massive false advertising campaign convinced shoppers to pay 30% more for yogurt containing “probiotic” bacteria because of the products’ supposed health benefits.

While no nutritionist doubts the health benefit of yogurt, the question asked is what’s so special about Activia’s probiotics compared to other brands, and in and of themselves. Seems like a judge was going to provide the answer, but executives at Dannon decided to fog things up by dishing out millions of dollars AND not admitting to any wrongdoing.

In case you are wondering, here’s what you’ll find inside Activia Strawberry Yogurt. Read more…

Fooducate reader Terri G asks: “Yoplait just came out with a new yummy treat. Yoplait Parfait. It’s really good. What can you tell me about it? Is it very bad, okay, good?”

Yes, Yoplait has  introduced a new product line a few weeks ago, called Yoplait Delights Parfait. They come in 4 different flavors, Chocolate Raspberry, Creme Caramel, Triple Berry Creme, and Lemon Torte.
There’s a definitive European touch to these treats, which Yoplait classifies under the SNACK category, in case anyone is wondering. If you have mistaken this product for yogurt, we invite you to learn together with us what’s inside the label. Read more…

We recently covered freeze dried fruit snacks, and today we’ll take a look at leather snacks. Chef Roberts, operating in the New York metropolitan area, has recently launched a line of fruit leather. From the Chef’s marketing department:

Matt’s Munchies are all-natural fruit leathers free of gluten, nuts, eggs and dairy products. There are 6 palate-pleasing flavors with no artificial coloring or preservatives. Great for vegans and those concerned with food allergies. All flavors are less then 100 calories per one ounce serving with no added sugar, oils or salts. They make for a super convenient, tasty nutrition-perfect snack on the go, a tasty companion to a glass of wine, or a healthy dessert after dinner.

The six flavors are divided into 2 categories:

Banana based – Choco-Nana, Apple Pie, and plain old Banana
Mango based – Island Mango, Ginger Zest, and plain Mango

Read on to find out which flavor is the tastiest, and learn what’s inside the label.

Read more…

As children, we loved visiting The Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. Besides all the cool spacegear, a special treat awaited us at the souvenir shop – Astronaut Dessert in the form of freeze dried ice cream. Strawberry and Chocolate flavor. Melt in your mouth heaven for a 9 year old.

Fast forward to present day, Freeze Dried Partners LLC has recently introduced a line of freeze dried snacks called Funky Monkey, made from real fruit. There are 4 flavors, 3 of which are USDA Organic. From the manufacturer:

Funky Monkey Snacks contain no added sugar, preservatives, colors or flavors.  The snacks are made using a proprietary freeze-drying process on whole slices and large pieces of fruit.  The process, not used on any other snack available in the U.S., removes approximately 97 percent of the moisture content of the fruit, providing a crisp, crunchy texture, while retaining nearly all of the fruit’s nutrients.

Funky Monkey Snacks are a healthier and more natural alternative to dried fruit or fruit snacks.  Dried fruit does not preserve all the nutrients of fresh fruit, and fruit snacks often contain added sugars (including high-fructose corn syrup), colors, flavors and preservatives.

Below are the results of our taste test and nutritional analysis. Read more…

Last month, Nestle Nutrition, a subsidiary of Nestle, launched BOOST Kid Essentials Nutritionally Complete Drink. According to Nestle’s press release:

…parents have a new way of providing their children with optimal nutrition and protective benefits… the only nutritionally complete drink that gives kids ages 1 through 13 the power of immune-strengthening probiotics plus complete, balanced nutrition…fortifies a child’s diet with 25 essential vitamins and minerals, seven grams of muscle-building protein, key antioxidants and 244 energy-packed calories.

BOOST Kid Essentials Drink can fill in nutritional gaps and help support the strong growth and healthy immune system every child deserves. As a refreshing treat or meal, BOOST Kid Essentials Drink can be part of a child’s daily diet.

“Parents can feel good knowing they are building the right health foundation for their children with this one-of-a-kind product,…”

What you need to know:

All of the above is great, but we’d like to know what’s in inside. Specifically – how do they get kids to like it.

Especially because the press release boasts:

does not contain high-fructose corn syrup

A look at the ingredient list, reveals that 3 out of the first four ingredients are sugar:

Ingredients: WATER, SUGAR, MALTODEXTRIN, FRUCTOSE,…

In fact, in an email response to our question, Nestle Consumer Services stated that an 8 fl oz (1 cup) serving contains 24 grams of sugars. That’s the equivalent of FIVE TABLESPOONS of sugar!

Is this a sweet deal for parents?

At $2.50 a pop (a 6 pack costs $14.99 at Walgreens), this sounds more like expensive candy juice with a torrent of nutrients thrown in.

Can’t kids get their vitamins and minerals from real food?

Get Fooducated: RSS Subscription or Email Subscription

Help us test our new food comparison tool: alpha.fooducate.com

flickr photo: Jennie R. F.

Prevention magazine’s nutrition director Cynthia Sass on diabetes and sugar consumption:

If you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, you don’t need to abolish every speck of sugar from your diet. Read why here…

What you need to know:

Your blood sugar level is determined by many factors. There is a difference between consuming sugar naturally occurring in food such as fructose in an apple, and consuming refined sugar such as is found in a chocolate chip cookie.

What to do at the Supermarket:

Unfortunately, nutrition fact labels don’t distinguish between naturally occurring sugars and added sugars so it’s hard to know if you are getting the “right” kind. But take a look at the ingredient list and check the first few items listed. If you see a sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucrose, maltose, or any other sugar synonym, chances are you are getting the refined kind of sugar.