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Obesity expert cites
fructose, soft drinks
By
Larry Schuster SAO
PAULO, Brazil, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- A pioneering obesity and diabetes researcher has
identified the rapid introduction in the 1970s of high-fructose corn syrup into
the food supply -- particularly in soft drinks -- as an important factor
contributing to the obesity epidemic that has swept the world in the last 30
years. At
the same time soft drink consumption has risen, consumption of calcium via milk
-- which is protective against obesity -- has fallen, said Dr. George Bray, a
principal investigator on the widely quoted Diabetes Prevention Program study.
He is the former executive director of one of the leading research centers
looking at metabolism, diabetes and obesity: Pennington Center for Biomedical
Research at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. At
the 9th International Congress on Obesity on Friday, Bray displayed four charts
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. The charts show from 1970 through 1990 a dramatic rise in the
consumption of high fructose corn syrup as the use of cane sugar dropped. At the
same time, from 1970, a chart shows a steady decline in milk consumption as soft
drinks grew in popularity to eclipse per capita consumption of milk just before
1980. High-fructose
corn syrups and related sweeteners manufactured from corn starch became
commercialized in the 1970s into major food additives. One food information Web
site, at Oregon State University, describes the development of these sweeteners
from corn starch as "one of the greatest changes in the sugar and sweetener
industry over several centuries." In
1980, soon after these substances became commercial products, Bray noted, the
chart from the CDC demonstrates the beginning of a sharp rise in obesity for
both men and women. From 1980 to 2000, the incidence of obesity at least doubled
for men and women in the United States, while obesity had remained relatively
flat for the preceding 20 years. The
changes of food consumption involving fructose-sweetened soft drinks and the
drop in milk consumption "fits precisely on top of the inflexion point of
the rise of obesity," Bray told a small news briefing at the congress. He
said he could find no other single combination of environmental changes or food
consumption habits that could be as significant to obesity as the change in
drinking habits around the world. He
said fructose, sweeter than either sucrose or glucose, sidesteps certain key
regulatory processes in the body. For example, it does not stimulate insulin,
which is believed to be part of an important feedback pathway involved with
feelings of fullness. At the same time, it stimulates formation of fat cells
more than other sweeteners. "Once
inside the cell, it forms the backbone for fat molecules," he said of a key
breakdown product of fructose. Although
Bray acknowledged the epidemic of obesity is the result of many factors, he
added, "I believe (fructose) plays a role." Philip
James, chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce in London, said Bray's
views are consistent with what is emerging from a report still being drafted on
diet, nutrition and chronic disease in by the United Nations' World Health
Organizaation and Food and Agriculture Organization. Neville
Rigby, director of public policy and public affairs for the task force, told UPI
Bray is one of the founding fathers of the study of obesity. The statement by
Bray, he said, represents one of the strongest he has heard from an elder
statesmen in the field to identify fructose in soft drinks as a potentially
important cause of obesity. Bray's
comments came one day after the board of the Los Angeles County school district
voted unanimously to extend the ban on carbonated soft drinks to all its schools
in an effort to combat childhood obesity. News
reports quote Sean McBride, a spokesman for the National Soft Drink Association
as saying, "Physical education and physical activity are, by far, more
important in combating obesity than banning soft drinks from students' diets. In
the end, this is really about the couch and not the can." |