What do you think is the most fattening food ingredient? Here’s a hint: it’s not saturated fat. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not white flour, either. The most fattening food ingredient in the American diet is fructose, a major component of HFCS, or high fructose corn syrup.
Because HFCS is cheap and appeals to the taste buds, it is added to most everything. Foods that you wouldn’t even think of as sweet, like ketchup, baby food, barbecue sauce, and whole wheat bread, contain HFCS. Because of this, most Americans consume copious amounts of fructose without even realizing it.
Annual HFCS consumption increased from ZERO in 1966 to a whopping 62.6 pounds per person in 2001. Consequently, HFCS is now one of the #1 sources of calories for all Americans!
So what’s so bad about a natural sugar like fructose?
Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it’s healthy to eat in large amounts. Unlike glucose, an abundant form of sugar readily used by every cell in the body, fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and is rapidly converted to fat.
Because fructose turns straight into fat in the body, it can lead to weight gain, insulin resistance, and diabetes faster than you can say supersize me.
Additionally, fructose raises your uric acid levels, which can lead to gout, high blood pressure, and kidney disease. It can also significantly raise your triglycerides and contributes to the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
What’s the final kicker? Unlike other sugars, fructose does not appropriately stimulate the release of insulin in the body. Therefore, you can eat large portions of food, but still, feel hungry. This is because without insulin, your “hunger hormone”, ghrelin, is not suppressed, and your “satiety hormone”, leptin, is not stimulated. This hormonal malfunction means you end up with an uncontrollable appetite that drives you to eat far too much food. Even worse, the foods you crave and will choose to eat in this situation will likely be high in sugars, particularly fructose.
Should I stop eating fruit because it contains fructose?
No, while whole fruits do contain some fructose, they also contain significant amounts of fiber and antioxidants that help mitigate the negative impact of the small amount of fructose and other sugars. It is best to eat smaller portions of fruits that are in season in your local area and to choose organic whenever possible. Though large portions of fruit on a daily basis could cause health problems, an apple a day is still a great way to keep sickness at bay.
How do I avoid gaining weight from fructose?
Follow these tips to avoid fructose-related weight gain:
1. Eat whole, organic fruit seasonally and in small portions
2. Try to avoid drinking soda and other HFCS sweetened drinks
3. Reduce fruit juice consumption (it’s concentrated fructose)
4. Reduce your consumption of prepared and processed foods
5. Read labels to ensure your foods contain no added fructose or HFCS
6. Keep your total consumption of fructose under 20 grams a day
Most people can handle about 20-25 grams of fructose a day without negative metabolic consequences. If you are diabetic, you may want to consider cutting that number in half until you are able to maintain healthy blood sugar levels. When choosing foods and drinks, keep in mind that one medium-sized orange contains around 6 grams of fructose, and your average soda contains more than 20 grams! That means even one can of soda a day will sabotage your efforts to lose weight and could jeopardize your health.
If you follow the suggestions above and avoid fructose as much as possible, you will be well on your way to restoring or maintaining your ideal body weight and overall health.
Related Articles By Cathe:
Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Worse Than Sugar?
Another Look at Fructose: Does It Cause You to Overeat?
Should You Be Concerned about the Sugar in Fruit?
Are Natural Sweeteners Really Better for You?
Ingredient in Processed Foods Linked with Weight Gain and Metabolic Syndrome
