Scientists have proved for the first time that fructose, a cheap form of sugar used in thousands of food products and soft drinks, can damage human metabolism and is fuelling the obesity crisis.
Fructose, a sweetener usually derived from corn, can cause dangerous growths of fat cells around vital organs and is able to trigger the early stages of diabetes and heart disease. It is known to raise blood pressure, thus increasing the risk of a heart attack. Unlike sugar, fructose promotes triglycerides in your body which in turn promote obesity and illness.
Also fructose interferes with your brain’s communication with leptin. This results in overeating since leptin is a hormone that suppresses appetite and stops you overeating.
Several studies carried out in 2009/10 show increasingly that fructose is metabolised (used) by the body in a different way compared to sucrose (table sugar). Over 10 weeks, 16 volunteers on a controlled diet including high levels of fructose produced new fat cells around their heart, liver and other digestive organs. They also showed signs of food-processing abnormalities linked to diabetes and heart disease. Another group of volunteers on the same diet, but with glucose sugar replacing fructose, did not have these problems.
Fructose contains no enzymes, vitamins or minerals, and it leeches micronutrients from your body. A mountain of evidence has accumulated demonstrating that it is absolutely terrible for your health. When you eat fruit you eat fructose, so how can fructose be so bad for health?
It is true that fructose is found in fruit. However, eating small amounts of whole fruit does NOT provide concentrated amounts of fructose. When fruit is intact and whole, its fibre will somewhat moderate the release of fructose into your bloodstream, as well as somewhat moderate insulin release. Furthermore, the act of chewing the fruit in the mouth allows the fructose to be released into the body much more slowly than gulping it down as juice.
Fruit juice contains little to no fibre -- but it does contain about eight full teaspoons of fructose sugar per eight-ounce glass. This fructose is brought rapidly into your body, promoting obesity and other health problems. Drinking a glass a freshly squeezed orange juice, even if diluted with a little water, may give you some nutrients, but is super-bad for health because of the concentrated fructose. Humans were not meant to drink their fructose and for this reason you should always avoid any kind of fruit juice.
You should avoid all flavoured fizzy drinks, all kinds of fruit juice and all kinds of artificial sweeteners. Stick to water or club soda instead of fruit juice, and avoid dairy milk which is bad for health for a multitude of other reasons. Also, avoid agave syrup/nectar which is almost pure fructose! Honey is also best avoided because it is high in sugar and has negligible nutritional value.
If you must add a sweetener to your drinks or cooking use just one of the following: stevia or xylitol. Stevia is a natural low calorie sweetener that can be purchased in granular form just like table sugar. Xylitol is also a good natural sugar substitute and has the added benefit that it helps protect the teeth. Xylitol has been used safely since the 1960’s. Every household should have a stock of these two sugar substitutes.
If you need to lose weight don’t forget to check www.the-foolproof-diet.com.
I wish you a really great year in your life for 2011.
Russell Eaton
