Health And Fitness News 

Of Rats And Men - And Obesity

The furor started with some studies that seemed to point out that high fructose corn syrup was processed differently in the body, leading to a greater storage of fat. The associative evidence was that there has been a rise in obesity as well as increases in drinking sweetened drinks like soda. Thus, the blame was laid at the feet of soft drink manufacturers who tend to use high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar in their drinks.

Soft drink manufacturers and producers of corn syrup claimed they were being unfairly targeted, that they were not uniquely responsible for the obesity epidemic. The battle for the minds of the public thus began!

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA), in association with the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institute of Health, and the American Beverage Association, co-funded some new research that presents some different information.

Before I go into any of the details, I'd like to address the issue of funding. Whilst it might seem like the interested parties are buying their own truth through funding research, if the studies are designed well, and they can be replicated, then this need not be the case. It is no less a distortion of science when interest groups seize preliminary research and associative studies and draw conclusions that may turn out to be wrong (based on good science). As with anything, the quality of the research needs to be considered.

Back to the studies that started it all. The first point is that the studies on the way corn syrup is processed were done on rats. Animal studies are preliminary studies. They may be a starting point for research with people, but until their is evidence that humans metabolize corn syrup differently, all we have is an unsupported hypothesis. It may well turn out to be true - or it might not. Either way, it is not conclusive.

Secondly, the association between soft drink consumption and obesity may be flawed. It could be that other dietary and lifestyle factors are in the very least contributing to the problem.

Given that we are more sedentary now, and that we actually eat a lot of other things that are high in calories - or simply eat more food than we did in years gone by - it seems premature to single out soft drinks. And even more premature to single out one ingredient in soft drinks, when the fact is, both corn syrup and sugar are full of calories. Excess calories in relation to activity levels mean weight gain. That's not rocket science. It seems easier psychologically to blame something else than one's own habits of consumption.

Now the recent research. This research was actually done in people (a big bonus!), though it was only a small group - 37 volunteers. They were each given cola drinks with the same number of kilocalories (215). Some were sweetened with sucrose (sugar), or with varying percentages of high fructose corn syrup (42% and 55%). The researchers looked at what effect these different drinks had on hunger, satiety (feeling full), and energy intake (how much one ate as a consequence afterwards).

There were three controls which the results with the cola drinks were measured against. One was diet cola with 2 kilocalories, another was milk with 1% fat (215 kilocalories), and the final was no drink at all. Measurements were taken at 20 minute intervals after the drinks were consumed.

Nutraingredients quote the researchers: "We found no differences between sucrose- and HFCS-sweetened colas in perceived sweetness, hunger and satiety profiles, or energy intakes at lunch."

HFCS is an abbreviation of 'high fructose corn syrup'.

It was also reported that all of the drinks with calories (sugar sweetened soda, HFCS sweetened soda, and milk) were associated with a partial reduction in the amount of energy (kilocalories) consequently eaten at lunch. The diet drink, and having no beverage did not impact this.

There are no doubt still questions that need answering. Do humans process corn syrup differently? If this turns out to be true, there may indeed be a long term association that was not measurable in this study. But as it stands now, there are many questions about the assumptions made by those who have jumped on the earlier preliminary research by blaming corn syrup wholesale.

At the end of the day, no matter how we metabolize things, if you eat too many calories without burning them off through activity, you are highly likely to put on weight. Some foods may turn out to be greater culprits than others, but if you want to lose weight, the first place you should look is calorie control and exercise levels. Nothing quite boosts your metabolism like exercise.