The Fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup generated some good comments and questions, which I knew it would because of its controversial nature and all the conflicting research that is out about these two nutrients.

It reminded me to reinforce something that I try to teach everyone, but it is sometimes hard to do because of all the mass media stories that for some reason seem to be believed before something I say or any other health professional for that matter. 

When you hear about these studies that say fructose causes weight gain or high fructose corn syrup has fructose in its formula they are many times unique studies on just one nutrient by itself or it was researched in a specific environment.

Generally neither of these forms of studies actually relate to how we live and eat on a day to day basis. 

Let me give you an example that most will be able to relate to since the mass media has portrayed this for years.

Most people believe that sugar when eaten contributes to weight gain and fat storage because it elevates your blood sugars too high, which means you are more likely to store calories as fat.

This is true and if you eat only sugar or sugar only type products and too much of it then this result can happen.

What you don’t see in the mass media is that when you eat sugar combined with protein, fat, and fiber your bodies blood sugar levels do not elevate as high.  As a result you are not likely to be promoting fat storage. 

For many people we eat a combination of nutrients that I list in the sentence above.  There are of course exceptions and some people do eat only high glycemic carbs with no other nutrients.  These are the people that I educate on why they need to eat their lean protein, fruit, veges, etc so that they have a combination of nutrients. 

Though for those that say you shouldn’t eat carbs or don’t eat foods that contain any amounts of sugar are mis-informed.  They are taking the normal mass media information and thinking that this one study applies to everything food related.  When in actuality the study was on someone just consuming that one nutrient. 

Again, we don’t generally consume just sugar or carbs by themselves.  We consume protein, fat and fiber as well so our blood sugar response is dramatically different than what many of these studies discuss.

It is important to pay attention to the latest research because it does give us things to think about and maybe monitor to see if there is more research that supports these studies.  Most importantly though does this information in the study actually apply to our normal daily eating habits or does it apply to only a laboratory setting.

So the next time you hear about a study saying "such and such" ask yourself if there are other studies that support this study and does the study look at normal daily eating patterns.  Or is it more of a single laboratory environment. 

I know you can do it!

Yours in health

Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS
America’s Trusted Weight Loss Expert

Tags: HFCS, high fructose corn syrup

<p>The Fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup generated some good comments and questions, which I knew it would because of its controversial nature and all the conflicting research that is out about these two nutrients.</p> <p>It reminded me to reinforce something that I try to teach everyone, but it is sometimes hard to do because of all the mass media stories that for some reason seem to be believed before something I say or any other health professional for that matter.  </p> <p><span id="more-325"></span></p> <p>When you hear about these studies that say fructose causes weight gain or high fructose corn syrup has fructose in its formula they are many times unique studies on just one nutrient by itself or it was researched in a specific environment. </p> <p>Generally neither of these forms of studies actually relate to how we live and eat on a day to day basis.  </p> <p>Let me give you an example that most will be able to relate to since the mass media has portrayed this for years. </p> <p>Most people believe that sugar when eaten contributes to weight gain and fat storage because it elevates your blood sugars too high, which means you are more likely to store calories as fat. </p> <p>This is true and if you eat only sugar or sugar only type products and too much of it then this result can happen. </p> <p>What you don’t see in the mass media is that when you eat sugar combined with protein, fat, and fiber your bodies blood sugar levels do not elevate as high.  As a result you are not likely to be promoting fat storage.  </p> <p>For many people we eat a combination of nutrients that I list in the sentence above.  There are of course exceptions and some people do eat only high glycemic carbs with no other nutrients.  These are the people that I educate on why they need to eat their lean protein, fruit, veges, etc so that they have a combination of nutrients.  </p> <p>Though for those that say you shouldn’t eat carbs or don’t eat foods that contain any amounts of sugar are mis-informed.  They are taking the normal mass media information and thinking that this one study applies to everything food related.  When in actuality the study was on someone just consuming that one nutrient.  </p> <p>Again, we don’t generally consume just sugar or carbs by themselves.  We consume protein, fat and fiber as well so our blood sugar response is dramatically different than what many of these studies discuss. </p> <p>It is important to pay attention to the latest research because it does give us things to think about and maybe monitor to see if there is more research that supports these studies.  Most importantly though does this information in the study actually apply to our normal daily eating habits or does it apply to only a laboratory setting. </p> <p>So the next time you hear about a study saying "such and such" ask yourself if there are other studies that support this study and does the study look at normal daily eating patterns.  Or is it more of a single laboratory environment.  </p> <p>I know you can do it!</p> <p>Yours in health</p> <p>Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS<br /> America’s Trusted Weight Loss Expert</p>

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