Heart of the Matter
"A Prescription for Change"A Green Cleaning Company featuring a 1 hour dry time! We offer 100% safe and non toxic cleaning. Proudly cleaning carpets, area rugs, upholstery, tile & grout on the South Shore, Cape Cod, S.E. Mass & Rhode Island.
A foundation helping kids through community events. Visit our site for events, monthly photos and see how you can help our local kids and their community. (Chatham)
Let Me Call You SWEET Heart...
Can sweeteners stimulate your appetite and are they a health hazard?
Sugar is expensive, at least when you buy it by the ton. So if you are a soft drink maker or a donut maker you might consider looking for alternatives. Wa la! Born the artificial sweetner and corn syrup industry.
Artificial sweetners are expensive to make but up to 200 times sweeter tasting than sugar so a little goes a long way toward sweetening your diet soda. Corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup as the processed form is known is just about as sweet as sugar but, due to US government subsidies to corn growers and high tariffs on imported sugar, is much cheaper. Since the mid-80's when HFCS was first used by Coke and Pepsi, its use has skyrocketed. An editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine this week stated that currently 20% of carbohydrate intake and 10% of all calories consumed by Americans is from HFCS!
The questions are: do these sugar alternatives contribute to obesity or to other health issues?
This has been heavily debated in the lay, internet and medical literature. The sum on ‘other health issues' (i.e. cancer and heart disease) is that in 25 years no convincing evidence has come forward that there are cancer or other health risks from artificial sweetners. Skeptics still say the definitive study has not been done and feel there is a coverup. Indeed the original FDA approval of aspartamine was provided by Ronald Regan for his buddy Donald Rumsfeld's company G.D.Searle without any independent studies on safety. Fortunately for the rest of us there have been no obvious health risks identified. They do contribute to your appetite for sweet things. High intake increases your insulin levels and may make you hungry sooner. Paradoxically, they may contribute to obesity.
How about HFCS, does it contribute to obesity?
In the same issue of AIM (July 28, 2008) researchers reported from Boston University that eating HFCS sweetened beverages increased weight and the incidence of diabetes in African American women. It didn't matter if they drank soda or fruit juices. This is no surprise since virtually all, ‘healthy alternative' and ‘all natural' fruit drinks like Frutopia, Nantucket Nectars, Gatorade, Snapple, Newman's Own Lemonade, etc.,etc.,etc. have HFCS as their second ingredient, after water and an insignificant amount of actual fruit juice. They act nutritionally like expensive soda. The incidence of diabetes and increased obesity in these women of 25-31% was directly related to the amount of HFCS in their diet. It appears that drinking sweetened drinks made them fatter and gave them diabetes.
The bottom line:
we are eating increasing and shocking amounts of corn syrup. It is definitely contributing to the obesity epidemic. It can give you diabetes. There is no good reason to drink these products. We would be better off making alcohol from the corn for our cars or feeding the world's hungry. As an alternative, try water! It is healthy, all natural (well, mostly) cheap and won't rot your teeth or make you fat or give you diabetes. As for sweetners, they contribute to an appetite for more sweet things and maybe for food in general. Like salt we should save this taste for special treats not make it the flavor of every meal.
5 comments
Blog posts and comments are entirely the thoughts and ideas of the people who write them and in no way represent the views of CapeCodToday.com, eCape, Inc., or its employees or owners.
New research continues to confirm that high fructose corn syrup is no different from other sweeteners. It has the same number of calories as sugar and is handled similarly by the body.
No single food or ingredient is the sole cause of obesity. Rather, too many calories and too little exercise is a primary cause.
Consumption of high fructose corn syrup has been dropping in recent years, yet the rates of obesity and diabetes in the United States continue to rise. Moreover, many other parts of the world have rising rates of obesity and diabetes, despite having little or no high fructose corn syrup in their foods and beverages.
Consumers can see the latest research at www.HFCSfacts.com and www.sweetsurprise.com.
Audrae Erickson
President
Corn Refiners Association
Have you seen the documentary 'King Corn'? There are more problems w/HFCS than just the health benefits, the process would be far too expensive to be competitive if not for the lavish subsidies that come from our tax dollars. (Kinda like oil)
Tell me, if HFCS is so great, why do we need a Corn Refiners Association to tell us how great it is?
it' s the processed crap most eat and drink that reeks havoc..
simple science folks
Curves is a facility specially designed for women featuring a complete 30 minute workout. You can burn over 500 calories in one strength training workout! New 30 Day Diet Plan. Lose weight and keep it off! Five convenient Cape locations.
Your key to minimizing taxes and maximizing wealth. Visit our website for more info and a free consultation. (Chatham)
This is a one-time-only process (or if you change the email on your account), and will help CCToday keep out the spammers. If you cannot validate your email because it is invalid, and you are a legitimate user, feel free to contact us and we will update your account to your current email.
Please Login or Register to leave a comment. There are 3,367 registered commenters!
CapeCodToday requires readers register an account with us in order to post comments. Become a trusted commenter and receive the benefits of posting instantly throughout the site. It's quick and easy!
Please note: If you are a CapeCodToday registered blogger, you can use your blogger login. Your login for the blogs is separate from your CapeCodToday main site login (if you have one).
Previous/Next posts in this blog
About This Blog
Thomas Sbarra, MD is a board certified cardiologist practicing on Cape Cod and Program Director for The Cardiovascular Wellness Program in Falmouth.
Dr. Sbarra founded Falmouth Cardiology Associates in 1980 and served as President until 2000 when the practice was merged with a cardiology group in Hyannis to become The Cardiovascular Specialists, LLC, (www.tcsma.com) a 22-physician cardiovascular practice servicing patients throughout Southeastern Massachusetts, the Cape & Islands. In addition to his years of private practice, Dr. Sbarra founded and served as Director for the Cardiac Rehabilitation programs at both Falmouth Hospital and The Rehab Hospital of The Cape & Islands (RHCI), and served as President for the American Heart Association Cape & Islands Division. His primary focus has always been on cholesterol management and prevention of cardiovascular diseases with special interest in exercise and nutrition. Personally, Dr. Sbarra maintains a very active lifestyle, and engages audiences in numerous speaking events to raise awareness in the community about cardiovascular disease prevention.
Recent Comments
- maverick [Member] writes:
"Buzz, Peter Walker, Jack(Maverick) and possee have all
5 mins ago - Temper, temper Peter. Breath deeply.
You really should calm down. Getting
11 mins ago - "If you're so hot on liberals not avoiding questions, why
29 mins ago - Suggestion for you Mav,
If you don't like reading comments that
36 mins ago - "Doesn't it make you stop and think what kind of
37 mins ago
CCT Blog List
- Newest Blog Posts
- Newest Comments
- Entering Bourne
- Rog's Gallery
- Police and Fire News
- Bismore Park
- Cape & Islands News
- EXTRA...
- Cape Cod History
- Entering Falmouth
- Long Bridge Runner
- Bill Snowden's Blog
- Latimer on Law
- Cape Yoga
- Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary
- The Ballyard
- The Poet's Perspective
- Cape Cod Rock Hopper
- Editorial
- Media Watch
- Mr. Mom I am not
- Politicalendar
- Cheap Eats
- Rep. Jeff Perry in His Own Words
- The Belly Check
- Conservative's Conscience
- Mahler's Music Notes
- Historic Harwich
- Off-the-Shelf
- Ned Sonntag
- Literary Pop
- Boston Bureau
- Frugal Internet Marketing
- Cape Native
- Sea Street
- State of Cape Cod
- Town Notes
- Solon Economou
- Cape Cod Barrister
- Cape Eyes
- CapeCodToday Arts Calendar
- One Day at a Time
- Cape Cod Tracker
- DIY Marketing
- Trail Hound
- Letters to the Editor
- Project I.E.P.
- Op-Ed
- Through a Washashore's Eyes
- Travel Tales
- CapeCodToday Featured Event
- Off Cape
- My day
- The Natural
- Buckley's Blog
- Eastham Windmill
- Washington Window
- Seufert's Scenes
- Massachusetts Paranormal Institute
- Cape Cod Pets
- Reflections on a Quarter-life Crisis
- Myrbie & Dax
Archives
- March 2009 (1)
- February 2009 (1)
- October 2008 (4)
- September 2008 (4)
- August 2008 (3)
- July 2008 (9)
Become a CapeCodToday Blogger!
Are you passionate about your community? Do you blog or at least harbor thoughts of doing so?
If so, CapeCodToday.com would like to host your blog on our CapeCodToday weblog publishing platform.