Be careful with that Halloween candy!

It seems lately that unhealthy foods are being closely related to brain function - and not in a good way.  I recently wrote about how junk food can make you stupid.  Well, with Halloween this week - sugar takes another blow.

I have spoken before about HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) which is basically a chemical form of sugar, but on a much cheaper, unhealthy level.  HFCS has now been associated not just with obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, etc., but also with memory disfunction and brain inflammation which leads to dementia and more.

These findings come from a recent study lead by Scott Kanoski and published in Hippocampus.  The study involved 76 adolescent rats that were allowed to consume large quantities of liquid solutions containing sugar or HFCS in concentrations comparable to popular sugar-sweetened drinks, those rats experienced memory problems and brain inflammation, and became pre-diabetic.  Adult rats who were fed the same sugary drinks did not develop the same problems, neither did adolescent rats who did not consume sugar.

This means that adolescents are at a greater risk of problems associated with the consumption of HFCS than adults.

"The brain is especially vulnerable to dietary influences during critical periods of development, like adolescence," said Scott Kanoski, corresponding author of the study and assistant professor at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

Sugar in large quantities is toxic for the human body, especially inflammatory sugars like HFCS.  The average American teenager gets a huge 17% of their calories from added sugars alone.  That adds up to almost 1/5 of their diet from refined inflammatory sugars.

HFCS is also responsible for provoking leptin resistance.  Leptin is the hormone which helps us to know when we are full.  This leads to overeating, spiked blood sugar levels, and leads to obesity and diabetes.

Obviously there is a huge marketing plan in place to try and make HFCS seem inoffensive - a huge section of the market is at stake here and it is understandable that the manufacturers of HFCS are trying to protect their income and make their product seem healthy or at least - not so dangerous.

One of their messages is that it is the same as normal sugar.  However, it isn't.  Dr. Mark Hyman
explains this:

"HFCS and cane sugar are NOT biochemically identical or processed the same way by the body. High fructose corn syrup is an industrial food product and far from “natural” or a naturally occurring substance. It is extracted from corn stalks through a process so secret that Archer Daniels Midland and Carghill would not allow the investigative journalist Michael Pollan to observe it for his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The sugars are extracted through a chemical enzymatic process resulting in a chemically and biologically novel compound called HFCS. Some basic biochemistry will help you understand this. Regular cane sugar (sucrose) is made of two-sugar molecules bound tightly together– glucose and fructose in equal amounts.The enzymes in your digestive tract must break down the sucrose into glucose and fructose, which are then absorbed into the body. HFCS also consists of glucose and fructose, not in a 50-50 ratio, but a 55-45 fructose to glucose ratio in an unbound form. Fructose is sweeter than glucose. And HFCS is cheaper than sugar because of the government farm bill corn subsidies. Products with HFCS are sweeter and cheaper than products made with cane sugar. This allowed for the average soda size to balloon from 8 ounces to 20 ounces with

little financial costs to manufacturers but great human costs of increased obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease.Now back to biochemistry. Since there is there is no chemical bond between them, no digestion is required so they are more rapidly absorbed into your blood stream. Fructose goes right to the liver and triggers lipogenesis (the production of fats like triglycerides and cholesterol) this is why it is the major cause of liver damage in this country and causes a condition called “fatty liver” which affects 70 million people."

So, if you are handing out sweets this Halloween, try buying healthier sweets that don't contain HFCS.  They may not realize it, but you will be doing those children a favor.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com