[xMenace]

Clues seen to how fructose may promote diabetes | Health | Reuters

Clues seen to how fructose may promote diabetes

Tue Mar 3, 2009 12:19pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new animal study may help explain why diets high in the sugar fructose have been linked to insulin resistance, a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Scientists found that a particular gene, known as PGC-1 beta, appears to play a key role in the development of insulin resistance in response to a high-fructose diet. Rats that had the gene's activity blocked were protected from insulin resistance despite feasting on a diet loaded with fructose.

A sweetener known as high-fructose corn syrup has been widely used in sodas and processed foods since the 1980s, and some researchers have blamed this trend at least in part for the concurrent rise in obesity and diabetes.

The authors of the current report, in the journal Cell Metabolism, explain that some studies have shown that fructose is metabolized differently than glucose is, being more readily converted into fat.

Other studies have linked diets heavy in high-fructose corn syrup to elevated risks of high triglycerides (a type of blood fat), fat buildup in the liver, and insulin resistance, note Dr. Gerald Shulman and colleagues at Yale University School of Medicine.

For their study on the genetic underpinnings of fructose-induce insulin resistance, they zeroed in on PGC-1 beta because it activates another gene that governs the production of fat by the liver.

When the researchers blocked the gene's activity in rats fed a high-fructose diet, the animals did not develop insulin resistance and elevated triglycerides.

The implication, according to Shulman's team, is that inhibiting PGC-1 beta could help treat some cases of high triglycerides, fatty liver disease and insulin resistance. Much more research remains to be done, however.

SOURCE: Cell Metabolism, March 4, 2009.

[fgummett]

Thanks for posting this John.

Trying to reach the original study, I hit the usual brick wall of needing to log in ($$$) but I did grab this tidbit from the abstract (my bold emphasis) :

Fructose is a highly lipogenic dietary nutrient that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia and insulin resistance.

Lipogenesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hyperlipidemia

[TommyC1]

Wow!
So all we need is to monkey with our genes and we can drink all the soda we want!
Ain't science wonderful.

Tommy

[foxl]

Originally Posted by TommyC1

Wow!
So all we need is to monkey with our genes and we can drink all the soda we want!
Ain't science wonderful.

Tommy

Let me reword this: All we need to do is PAY for one set of people to monkey with our genes ... and then another set of people can continue to SELL us all the soda THEY want to ...

[fgummett]

Not just soda...

let's not forget that fructose is also in fruit and is all too often promoted as a "natural" sugar which somehow makes it better for us.

Also because of the way it is metabolised in the Liver -- quickly converted to fat rather than raising the BG level -- many foods high in fructose are considered low GI.

[foxl]

True Frank, but what IS driving the recent T2D epidemic?

[PERKDOUG]

Common table sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose. And for you Hippies, honey and agave nectar also contain very high percentages of fructose.

And just for a little dark humor. I have an obese friend (280 lbs). This guy has a considerable knowledge of nutrition compared to the average Joe Sixpac. We were discussing the danger of carbohydrate consumption and he stated that he had control of and carefully watched his carbohydrate intake. With some glee he said that he only consumed about 1/4 cup of sugar a day. I had to bite my tongue. If this is the viewpoint of persons with considerable knowledge of nutrition, heaven help the rest of the world.

Obama type 2 bailout: Free soda pop and twinkies for all type 2's.

[fgummett]

Originally Posted by foxl

True Frank, but what IS driving the recent T2D epidemic?

I have no doubt it is the increased intake of highly refined carbohydrates with the chief suspect being the insidious HFCS... BUT I think it so worth remembering that what we tend to consider "healthy" such a fruit juice must also be treated with caution.

[Evermont]

I posted this a while back - about fructose, and a distinction between fructose, and fructosan (in agave for example):

An older thread: Fructose Metabolism More Complicated Than Was Thought

[Newby]

I like a little half n half in my morning coffee. Bought the no fat by mistake. Guess what? It has HFCS. I threw it out. Yes I know it is a sin to waste food (and money).
Don't you love the commercial promoting HFCS, sponsored by the makers of HFCS?

[kmac]

I think it is, no doubt, a waste of money. Whether this or any of the other chemical concoctions in some low-fat foods can be called "food" is another matter. Since starting to read labels I have thrown out some brand-new, perfectly fresh packages of "food" too.

Kathi

[cyberus]

I read labels prior to purchase and have been disappointed on so many occasions that some weeks I hate the store.
Just yesterday I decided to get some good peanut butter for snack purposes, picked up a jar of Skippy "Natural" Peanut Butter, Ingredients: Peanuts, SUGAR, Palm Oil, salt.

ARRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!

Whats natural in peanut butter about leeching perfectly good peanut oil out of peanuts, ADDING another oil and SUGAR?!?!?

[fgummett]

Originally Posted by kmac

Whether this or any of the other chemical concoctions in some low-fat foods can be called "food" is another matter.

Michael Pollan talks about keeping a Twinkie on his desk and every few weeks gives it a squeeze to see if it is still "fresh"... think about it: the reason that "foods" like these -- not to mention white flour and sugar -- travel and last so well is because not even microbes bother to eat them... maybe because they have no nutritional value

[Evermont]

Originally Posted by fgummett

Michael Pollan talks about keeping a Twinkie on his desk and every few weeks gives it a squeeze to see if it is still "fresh"... think about it: the reason that "foods" like these -- not to mention white flour and sugar -- travel and last so well is because not even microbes bother to eat them... maybe because they have no nutritional value

I have a friend who has a very strange hobby. Every year on the same day he goes to McD, sometimes BK and buys a burger of one sort or another. He then brings it home and places it on a shelf next to all the (20 or so) others - still in the wrapper. He says after a few days the dogs seem to lose interest. He'll take one down and open it up to show his well preserved 'trophy' burgers. They still look like the day he bought them.

[fgummett]

You certainly have an interesting friend Keith but the point is well made... we really need to adjust our view of what constitutes "real whole food"... realistically it is going to cost more, but I am finding time and again that quality trumps quality in the eating department