Fatty Liver Disease: America's Silent Epidemic (High fructose corn syrup)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/Headline/fatty-liver-disease-nonalcoholic-steatohepatitis-epidemic/2015/01/04/id/616329/


Sunday, 04 Jan 2015 05:31 PM
By Charlotte Libov


A major health crisis is emerging in our nation that is flying under the radar of even health-conscious Americans.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease used to be rare in the U.S. But today it afflicts fully 20 percent of adults and its incidence is rapidly accelerating, causing an approaching tidal wave of disability, illness, and death.

“Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is becoming the next big epidemic to hit America,” says Anurag Maheshwari, M.D., a liver disease specialist at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Md. “Within the next few decades, fatty liver disease will become the largest cause of long-term disability in the U.S.”

Not long ago, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease was so rare that many doctors had never seen a case of it. But over the last 20 years, the incidence has more than doubled, and health authorities are just now starting to realize the full scope of the crisis.

FULL excellent story at link.

Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.NewsmaxHealth.com/Headline/fatty-liver-disease-nonalcoholic-steatohepatitis-epidemic/2015/01/04/id/616329/#ixzz3NyCztZX6
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[NYC_SKP]

1. The modern American diet.

Small wonder that we are so sick physically and emotionally.

[yellowcanine]

2. It is Newsmax so therefore fact checking should be treated as akin to Fox News.

Don't trust and definitely verify by checking other sources.

[Omaha Steve]

4. I knew that would come up, this is from Huffington Post

Mark Hyman, MD Practicing physician

Is High Fructose Corn Syrup Really That Bad for You?
Posted: 11/05/2014 10:36 am EST Updated: 01/05/2015 5:59 am EST


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup_b_6060720.html

Snip

Only your liver cells can process fructose, and that's where the problems begin. Among the damning claims, recent studies conclude HFCS increases appetite [5], promotes obesity [6] more than regular sugar, and can be more addictive than cocaine [7]. HFCS contributes to diabesity and inflammation.

High doses of fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining [8], allowing nasty by-products of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your bloodstream and trigger inflammation.

Because fructose goes straight to your liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol), liver damage -- called fatty liver [9] -- affects 70 million people in this country. Studies show fructose [8] contributes to the development and severity of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, increasing hepatic fat, inflammation, and possibly fibrosis.

Snip

When fructose is processed into high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), it is absorbed more quickly than regular sugar and enters your cells without any help. It doesn't require the help of insulin the way glucose does, nor do the fiber and nutrients help buffer out that fructose load. Fructose makes a beeline straight to your liver, where metabolic havoc ensues.

[jeff47]

6. HuffPo isn't much better when it comes to medical articles.

For example, their breathless coverage is fantastic at stoking fear. Problem is they're deliberately conflating different things.

A handy tell-tale sign that they don't know what they're talking about is they get the creation of HFCS wrong:

When fructose is processed into high-fructose corn syrup

Corn syrup is 100% glucose. When they make HFCS, they convert some of the glucose into fructose. So fructose isn't processed into HFCS, glucose is processed into HFCS.

Another thing they commonly do is conflate similar terms so that they can make the result more sinister:

High doses of fructose have been proven to literally punch holes in the intestinal lining , allowing nasty by-products of toxic gut bacteria and partially digested food proteins to enter your bloodstream and trigger inflammation.

Because fructose goes straight to your liver and triggers lipogenesis

HFCS isn't fructose. HFCS is a mixture of glucose and fructose. There's several blends available, but they are all near 50% glucose, 50% fructose. Lots and lots of people writing about HFCS as pure evil conflate HFCS and fructose as if they are the same chemical. They aren't. That 50% glucose is very important in how HFCS is processed, resulting in HFCS acting like sucrose, not fructose.

Sucrose, aka table sugar, is a fructose bonded to a glucose by an oxygen atom. That bond is broken in the stomach, so your digestive tract sees a mixture of 50% fructose and 50% glucose when you eat sucrose.

Why do they conflate HFCS and fructose? So it can be more evil. For example, they make claims like fructose doesn't satiate hunger like glucose does. That's true, because there's a complex regulatory system involving insulin, glycogen, glucose and hunger. But HFCS isn't just fructose, so it actually does trigger that glucose regulation.

The problem, when you cut through the bullshit, is we're eating too much sugar. Be it HFCS or sucrose. Switching to all-natural sucrose is not going to fix the problems.

[Omaha Steve]

7. oregonlive.com: High-fructose corn syrup more toxic than sugar, study finds

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2015/01/high-fructose_corn_syrup_more.html

By Lynne Terry | [e-mail]

on January 05, 2015 at 7:37 AM, updated January 05, 2015 at 8:32 AM

High-fructose corn syrup, found in sodas and many processed foods, appears to be more toxic than table sugar, a new study found.

Researchers at the University of Utah looked at the effect of the two ingredients on mice. One group was fed a diet with 25 percent of the calories from the equivalent of high-fructose corn syrup. The other, in comparison, consumed sucrose, or regular sugar.

Female mice on the fructose-glucose diet had death rates 1.87 times higher than those on the sucrose diet and they produced 26.4 percent fewer offspring.

"This is the most robust study showing there is a difference between high-fructose corn syrup and table sugar at human-relevant doses," said Wayne Potts, senior author of a the study which will be published in the March issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

FULL story at link.

[jeff47]

8. Rodent models routinely fail in this area.

For example, saccharin. Causes bladder cancer in rats. Doesn't cause bladder cancer in humans. Saccharin interacts with a protein in rat bladders. Humans don't have that protein.

If you'd like an even broader study, and one done in humans, there's similar health effects happening in countries where HFCS isn't used. We only use HFCS due to corn subsidies. In other countries sucrose is cheaper so it's used in processed foods and drinks instead.

Those countries are also seeing a rise in diabetes, fatty liver, obesity, and everything else being attributed to HFCS.

Again, the problem is too much sugar, either from sucrose or HFCS. Switching to sucrose won't fix it.

[ncliberal]

3. It's a horrible disease.

My cousin died from it in 2013. She was 50. It was a long and painful death that I wouldn't wish on anyone. It is extremely hard to get a liver because they don't become available often and the person is usually not well enough to remain a viable transplant candidate when there is one.

My grandmother also died from fatty liver disease. Neither one of them drank alcohol.

[Snotcicles]

5. They think Belviq the diet drug can help with NASH. They are doing studies on it right now. nt

[mmonk]

9. I would post this to Facebook but it's Newsmax.

[progressoid]

10. I blame vaccinations.

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[Dreamer Tatum]

11. One meta-analysis isn't so sure

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140226075021.htm

[Omaha Steve]

12. Well I'm cutting back on it

Anybody else?

[Strelnikov_]

15. Not at all

I'm totally avoiding it.

Why not. Is it poison or just another sweetener? Don't know, but enough questions have been raised that I will just avoid it. Not like we have a real shortage of sweeteners.

I do have a bad feeling about HFCS, though. I don't think the recent spikes are due just to obesity . . . the 'Merican diet has been loaded with junk food for forty+ years now.

[malaise]

13. When parents pour sodas into infant bottles

You know we have a problem

[whistler162]

14. Life: America's Silent Epidemic - title fixed

[Quantess]

16. Serving up some foie gras!

Cannibals would love it.