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... By Karli Taylor
Have you seen the commercials downplaying the effects of high-fructose corn syrup? Are you wondering why it has gotten such a bad reputation over the years if it really is no worse for us than simple sugar? The advertisements made me start to wonder, so I decided to look into it a little bit further. There are a ton of studies out there about high fructose corn syrup, but I have noticed that nothing compared it directly to sugar.
For example, a recent study at a well known university found that consuming high-fructose corn syrup ultimately leads to abnormal increases in body fat--especially in the abdominal region. So corn syrup must be bad right? Not so fast… the study compared rats eating a diet rich in high fructose corn syrup to another group of rats eating no added sugar at all. The study actually proved only that excess sugar increases abdominal fat- it said nothing about the source of the sugar.
Similar studies have compared diets rich in simple sugars to diets very low in sugar and have come up with similar findings. Though more research is needed to find out which type of sugar is the bigger offender, all of these studies are leading me to the same conclusion: there is definitely valid reason to limit your intake of all sugars.
Excess sugar results in excess calories. Excess calories results in excess weight. In other words, excess = excess. We knew that already, didn’t we?
So how do we cut back on sugar? Here are some little changes that can make a big difference:
- Limit your intake of sweetened beverages. You may be shocked at how many calories you are drinking every day…
- Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables
- Limit your intake of packaged foods
- When you do eat packaged foods, read the labels and stay away from food that are high is “ose” words. Sucralose, fructose, lactose etc- they are all types of sugar!
