How Sodas Make You Fat(ter)

What makes fructose fattening?

The dietary concerns of too much fructose is well documented. Sweeteners containing fructose are commonly added to processed foods. Many dietary experts believe this increase directly correlates to the nation’s growing obesity epidemic. Now, new research at Oregon Health & Science University demonstrates that the brain – which serves as a master control for body weight – reacts differently to fructose compared with another common sweetener, glucose. The research is published in the online edition of the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism and will appear in the March print edition...

...Brain activity in the hypothalamus, one brain area involved in regulating food intake, was not affected by either fructose or glucose. However, activity in the cortical brain control areas showed the opposite response during infusions of the sugars. Activity in these areas was inhibited when fructose was given but activated during glucose infusion.

This is an important finding because these control brain areas included sites that are thought to be important in determining how we respond to food taste, smells, and pictures, which the American public is bombarded with daily.

“This study provides evidence in humans that fructose and glucose elicits opposite responses in the brain. It supports the animal research that shows similar findings and links fructose with obesity,” added Purnell.

 In the United States, high fructose corn syrup is a major component of many food and drinks, including most soft drinks.  Curiously, in other countries, common sugar, sucrose, is preferred for taste reasons.  In the US the annual consumption of HCFS is 38 lbs per year.. Dang, that's a lot of sugar.  And we eat even more sucrose.  We should be sweeter than we are.