Fructose metabolism by the brain increases food intake and obesity

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/e-fmb032409.php

Public release date: 25-Mar-2009

Contact: Adriaan Klinkenberg
[e-mail]
31-204-852-456
Elsevier

Fructose metabolism by the brain increases food intake and obesity

Increase in consumption of high fructose sweeteners raises concerns

Amsterdam, 25 March 2009 - The journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ybbrc) (BBRC), published by Elsevier, will publish an important review this week online, by M. Daniel Lane and colleagues at Johns Hopkins, building on the suggested link between the consumption of fructose and increased food intake, which may contribute to a high incidence of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

Over the past four decades life-styles have gravitated toward the excessive consumption of 'high energy' foods and sedentary behavior that has resulted in a high incidence of obesity and its pathological consequences. This scenario has led to the increased occurrence of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. At present, approximately thirty percent of adult Americans can be classified as obese. Moreover, these changes now extend into the younger age group.

M. Daniel Lane and co-workers at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore have now pulled together work, largely in their laboratory (many papers beginning in 2000), dealing with the role of malonyl-CoA in the signaling system in the brain (specifically the hypothalamus) that has inputs into the higher brain centers that determine feeding behavior, most notably appetite. Two papers in the journal PNAS in 2007 and 2008 showed that glucose and fructose act quite differently in the brain (hypothalamus) - glucose decreasing food intake and fructose increasing food intake. Both of these sugars signal in the brain through the malonyl-CoA signaling pathway and have inverse effects on food intake.

Lane commented: "We feel that these findings may have particular relevance to the massive increase in the use of high fructose sweeteners (both high fructose corn syrup and table sugar) in virtually all sweetened foods, most notably soft drinks. The per capita consumption of these sweeteners in the USA is about 145 lbs/year and is probably much higher in teenagers/youth that have a high level of consumption of soft drinks. There is a large literature now that correlates, but does not prove that a culprit in the rise of teenage obesity may be fructose."

…

[tridim]

1. Pull those lying HFCS commercials now.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Are they great (or what!?)

Once they started appearing I knew something big was happening.

[MADem]

6. You know, the first time I saw one of those (I don't watch a lot of TV, it was quite recently)

I was flat-out stunned.

You know that slack-jawed look some people get when they're in the presence of blatant, unrepentant prevarication? Well, that was how I first reacted. Then, I actually SPUTTERED! I did a cross between Jimmy Stewart and Porky Pig, I was sputtering so .... dynamically!

That was followed by a great big honking chain of pure OUTRAGE, along the lines of "Why, the NERVE of those baaastids....!!!"

Talk about The Big Lie!!!! One of The Biggest Lies I've ever seen!!

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. "The (industry) doth protest too much, methinks."

I'm not a large consumer of TV either, but the way the commercials are written simply screams out for attention.

I particularly like the nerd slamming the jock. ("Jane, you ignorant slut!")

[Avalux]

3. I'd cross-post this in GD too.

Many here take up the mantle of HFCS - claiming there's no difference from sucrose and there are no health issues from its consumption. I'd like to hear them dispute this article. Thanks for posting it. :hi:

[NOW tense]

4. Thanks

Now I want to know the dangers of maltodextrin it is in everything.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. But...sugar is sugar! They specifically address this on TV.

They wouldn't LIE to us, would they?

[tom_paine]

7. TV never lies. Only if something is on TV do we know it is real.

And THAT is the sad sate of the American Subject Populace's National Mind.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. And of course, the corollary to that is -

if it isn't on TV, it didn't happen.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Years ago, I was in a conversation with a couple of WW II veterans

We discussed some of their experiences during the war, and how a number of them were not widely known, or officially denied.

At one point, one of them said to the other. "You know… I saw a lot of things during the war that 'never happened…' how about you?"

That statement has stuck with me…

[trotsky]

11. Well, the article does specifically say fructose as found in...

"both high fructose corn syrup and table sugar".

Too much sweetener of ANY kind is bad.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. True, but…

Table sugar (sucrose) breaks down evenly into glucose and fructose.

HFCS 55 (the variety typically used in "soft drinks") is roughly 55% fructose, 41% glucose and 4% "other sugars."

So, the fructose/glucose ratio is like 1.34:1 (as opposed to 1:1.) Assuming that glucose and fructose have "inverse effects on food intake," a balanced sugar (like sucrose) would have a different effect from HFCS 55.

HFCS is heavily processed to produce its "high fructose" content. (Corn syrup is 100% glucose.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup#Production

[trotsky]

14. Yes, I'm just pointing out that the article itself also groups table sugar...

as a "high fructose sweetener."

[JohnWxy]

12. and the reason so much high fructose Corn syrup is used? because of the sugar tariff which protects

about 3,000 domestic sugar producers (mostly in Louisiana and Florida).


Comparing prices

20.83 cents per pound, U.S. raw sugar price, May 2008

12.23 cents per pound, world raw sugar price, May 2008


http://www.tampabay.com/specials/2008/graphics/sugar-prices/

How it works for sugar
1. Each year, the Agriculture Department lends money to sugar cane processors to operate factories and to pay sugar growers for the cane or beets they deliver to the refineries.
2. In return, processors agree to pay growers set minimum prices.
3. If the market price of sugar rises, processors sell their product and pay back the loan.
4. If the market price falls, processors can forfeit the sugar to the government and not repay the loan.

The role of tariffs

5. To keep from getting stuck with a bunch of unpaid loans and tons of sugar to distribute, the government uses tariffs. Sugar is much cheaper on the world market than in the United States. The government sets quotas on how much foreign sugar can be imported into the country. By keeping out this cheaper sugar, the government keeps sugar prices higher in the United States.


Comparing prices

20.83 cents per pound, U.S. raw sugar price, May 2008

12.23 cents per pound, world raw sugar price, May 2008
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Florida to pay U.S. Sugar $1.75-billion for 187,000 acres in Everglades

[applegrove]

15. Good cause I just saw an ad on the TV where the high fructose corn syrup people

claim there is nothing wrong with their form of sugar.