Fructose leads to Metabolic Syndrome and is basically toxic

Fructose most certainly does spike insulin, so I'm going to go ahead and discount all the other alarmist stuff, as well. Also, fructose can and certainly is, converted by the body into glycogen by the liver, same as glucose.

Fructose is not evil. Sugar is not evil. Artificial sweeteners are not evil. Saturated fat is not evil. Dairy is not evil. No food is evil. Food is food.

Fructose does not spike insulin.

"Fructose, unlike glucose, does not stimulate insulin secretion from pancreatic ß cells. The lack of stimulation by fructose is likely due to the low concentrations of the fructose transporter GLUT5 in ß cells. Insulin is involved in the regulation of body adiposity via its actions in the central nervous system (CNS) to inhibit food intake and increase energy expenditure."

http://www.ajcn.org/content/76/5/911.long --- > free science.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/2929488/

Fructose on its own is almost identical to glucose as far as glycemic response. It's only when mixed with glucose that fructose seems to have no effect, and that's because the glucose is responsible for glycemic response. In the same vein, the body only metabolizes an equal amount of fructose and glucose when ingested together. This why I shake my head at the anti HFCS crowd, who are brainwashed into thinking it is some evil fructose delivery device,as HFCS is 41% glucose, so even though it has 55% fructose, the body only metabolizes 41% of it, and the rest just gets eliminated.

Also, there is no normal food that I know of, that contains fructose without glucose, it doesn't exist.

And the studies that showed fructose had negative impacts on leptin response were done on rats, so it's equally irrelevant. I also can't find any information that says that insulin response is a prerequisite for leptin to signal the brain that a person is sated, because it really has nothing to do with it. After all, if that were the case, you'd never feel full eating high fat, since fat isn't insulinogenic.

Thanks for sharing that link. I watched the whole thing and can say I will be avoiding as much of this as I can. I don't drink soda often or indulge in many packaged foods but will be even more careful about reading labels. It's all about awareness. Type 2 diabetic and other heath issues will be easier to treat I am hoping.

Fructose is abundant in honey, all fruit, and all vegetables, especially root vegetables. It's not something you should be trying to avoid, as the real science doesn't support that video..

Yes, because singling out fructose as some evil boogeyman making our kids fat makes so much more sense than the fact that kids spend more time indoors, are much less active now, and eat more calories in general, than kids of the past.

But yeah, it's not the fact that the majority of kids stay indoors playing video games instead of being outside and active, and it's not the fact that they are eating more food than they should be, it's simply because people are suddenly eating fructose. Because, let's face it, people obviously must not have been eating fructose for the past few million years or so...

And eating clean is irrelevant. Fructose is in EVERY natural food except meat. It's in fruit, vegetables, beans, honey, nuts, agave, eggs, milk, wheat, rice (even brown rice,) etc. If it's so terrible and toxic the human race should've died out millennia ago.

Overly dramatic videos and books, which claim to have *the* answer to the health problems so common in our society, rely on scare tactics and sensationalism to hammer home their theory and leave no room for debate. The drama, appeals to emotion, and scare tactics they use are irresponsible and far removed from the world of carefully tested, reliable scientific opinion. Here's an easy tip: if they have a recent discovery, and they are trying to convince you that it's absolutely correct with no complicated exceptions or still unknown elements that still need further study, then it's almost certainly not properly conducted, well-supported research that you should find compelling.

Yes, there are a lot of problems with the modern diet. Yes, changes are necessary. But if you think there is one nutrient or one molecule that is secretly causing all the problems, you're fooling yourself and being taken by a (potentially expensive) ride by someone with their own agenda.

If you want to jump from one "breakthrough discovery" to another, go ahead. Go low fat and change your mind and go low carb. Take some HCG and then decide that it's actually fructose that's the problem. Listen to the people that tell you it's essential to eat every 4 hours and exercise before 10AM, and then change your mind and switch to a juice fast cleanse. Whatever makes you happy.

But if you're sick and tired of the changing advice and the extremes of moving from one overly dramatic scheme to another, you could just do the things that almost everyone agrees works:
- Exercise more
- Reduce your portions
- Cut out processed foods and cook from scratch where possible
- Eat more fruits and veggies

You'd be surprised how far the basics will take you.

Yes, because singling out fructose as some evil boogeyman making our kids fat makes so much more sense than the fact that kids spend more time indoors, are much less active now, and eat more calories in general, than kids of the past.

But yeah, it's not the fact that the majority of kids stay indoors playing video games instead of being outside and active, and it's not the fact that they are eating more food than they should be, it's simply because people are suddenly eating fructose. Because, let's face it, people obviously must not have been eating fructose for the past few million years or so...

And eating clean is irrelevant. Fructose is in EVERY natural food except meat. It's in fruit, vegetables, beans, honey, nuts, agave, eggs, milk, wheat, rice (even brown rice,) etc. If it's so terrible and toxic the human race should've died out millennia ago.

You've missed the main point which is simply that fructose, at the levels we currently consume it, is unsafe. It's everywhere! If it were just in veggies, fruits, grains, etc., that would be less damaging than when it is hiding in my Ragu or my cheerios..yanno?
I'm not disagreeing with you about any of your points. I just think that it is VERY important to bear in mind how much sugar you're taking in considering that so many of us have gotten fat eating a high fat, high carb diet. I certainly would not advocate for removal of sugar from the diet. Neither does the speaker in that video.

Moderation and all that...

Too much of anything is bad for you. I probably have a slightly different perspective on it, because I make EVERYTHING from scratch, from bread, to mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauces, grind my own meat, make my own tomato sauces, and my own pastas. The only thing I buy that comes in a box is Grape Nuts, and that only has wheat, malted barley, yeast and salt in it.

*BIG SIGH*

No, fructose isn't toxic.

No, fructose doesn't lead to metabolic syndrome.

Obesity causes metabolic disfunction. Excess calorie consumption causes obesity. End of story.

Please, for the love of all things rational and good, someone make the alarmist baloney disappear. PLEASE?!!

When will people not notice that these studies are done with 100% pure fructose which none of us EVER EAT. EVER.

Fruit has fructose, and glucose, and mannitose... and FIBER and all kinds of other stuff that are GOOD FOR YOU. *sigh*

OMG.. the video was about HFCS *RUN FOR THE HILLS*...... Idiots. HFCS is 50/50 glucose/fructose JUST LIKE TABLE SUGAR IT IS NO DIFFERENT.

Take it from a food scientist please that all of this stuff is total BOGUS. 100% BS.

*BIG SIGH*

No, fructose isn't toxic.

No, fructose doesn't lead to metabolic syndrome.

Obesity causes metabolic disfunction. Excess calorie consumption causes obesity. End of story.

Please, for the love of all things rational and good, someone make the alarmist baloney disappear. PLEASE?!!

I'll second that request. Please?

I'mma third this.

I'd also like to add, "Lustig" is the German word for "funny".

Just, you know... sayin.

And yeah, when was the last time any of us ate pure fructose? SMH.

obviously this is not the place for biochem discussion

that's the understatement of the year. :laugh:

BLASPHEMY!! Every thread is the place for a biochem discussion Biochemistry is life.

Yes, because singling out fructose as some evil boogeyman making our kids fat makes so much more sense than the fact that kids spend more time indoors, are much less active now, and eat more calories in general, than kids of the past.

But yeah, it's not the fact that the majority of kids stay indoors playing video games instead of being outside and active, and it's not the fact that they are eating more food than they should be, it's simply because people are suddenly eating fructose. Because, let's face it, people obviously must not have been eating fructose for the past few million years or so...

And eating clean is irrelevant. Fructose is in EVERY natural food except meat. It's in fruit, vegetables, beans, honey, nuts, agave, eggs, milk, wheat, rice (even brown rice,) etc. If it's so terrible and toxic the human race should've died out millennia ago.

You've missed the main point which is simply that fructose, at the levels we currently consume it, is unsafe. It's everywhere! If it were just in veggies, fruits, grains, etc., that would be less damaging than when it is hiding in my Ragu or my cheerios..yanno?
I'm not disagreeing with you about any of your points. I just think that it is VERY important to bear in mind how much sugar you're taking in considering that so many of us have gotten fat eating a high fat, high carb diet. I certainly would not advocate for removal of sugar from the diet. Neither does the speaker in that video.

Moderation and all that...

Too much of anything is bad for you. I probably have a slightly different perspective on it, because I make EVERYTHING from scratch, from bread, to mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, barbecue sauces, grind my own meat, make my own tomato sauces, and my own pastas. The only thing I buy that comes in a box is Grape Nuts, and that only has wheat, malted barley, yeast and salt in it.

Sounds like you're doing what we all need to be doing!! Have you always? Or is it a change you made gradually?

I'm so interested in the chemistry behind metabolism because I'm a scientist. I work in toxicology and environmental contamination and it's so fascinating seeing how organisms react differently to compounds in nature. A molecule can be almost identical to another and one can have a ridiculously different toxicities. So, when I'm looking at the difference between fructose and glucose metabolism in the liver (most chemical contaminants are also processed there) I like to see how their minute structural differences cascade through various enzyme inductions and result in different chemical or physical endpoints. It's so cool.

I've always done it that way. I have a culinary background, and honestly, it's just so much cheaper to make everything from scratch. Mayonnaise, for example, takes about 3 minutes to make, and I can make 3 or 4 jars for the cost of buying one in the store. And it takes longer, but for the cost of your average loaf of whole grain bread at the store, I could probably bake 5 loaves of bread at home. It's just never made sense to me to buy things that I can easily make myself.

I do however, still drink sodas when I want them, and will buy occasional candy bars. I'm not concerned with HFCS in food to be honest, since on a biological level, the human body can't distinguish a difference between HFCs and sucrose, and all the products that have HFCS in them, had sucrose in them before. Also, since HFCS is actually sweeter in flavor than sugar, due to the slightly higher fructose content (it's not 50/50 like another poster stated, ithe most common version used in food is 55/41/4, fructose/glucose/other sugars) so there's actually less HFCS in those foods than if it was sucrose. Also, since the body struggles to absorb and process fructose without an equal amount of glucose involved, it means that gram for gram, you eat less fructose when you consume HFCS over sucrose, to a ratio of about 0.82/1. Is that significantly less? No, it's similar enough that a gram of sucrose and a gram of HFCS are processed identically in the human body. Biologically, the digestive system can't tell the difference.

Is there too much sugar in the Standard American Diet? I'm sure there is. Does that make sugar, or any component of sugar, the cause of the obesity and diabetes epidemic? Nope. Excess calories are the culprit there. While it's true that cutting sugar can cut calories (approximately 4 calories per gram of sugar, it's not really that big of a calorie hit in the long run,) that doesn't mean it's sugar that causes any of these issues, as cutting out any other equivalent amount of calories from your diet would have the same net effect. Trying to blame any one specific food or chemical in food is missing the forest for the trees.

Thank you for posting! I watched the entire video and have some educational background in Human Physiology so I too am very interested and enjoyed the learning experience. Everyone keeps posting without watching the whole video so they don't understand how the body completely processes Sucrose & Fructose at the molecular level. Bottom line Sucrose & Fructose (Not from fruit) are slowly poisoning us and keeping us hungry which is why I never let my daughter drink soda and we limit processed foods.

If your brain can't recognize it, your body will think you're still hungry! Look at the proof people!


I genuinely appreciate that post, thank you again!

I do need to watch the video to understand how the human body processes sugar. I already understand the processes. Also, why do you think fructose and sucrose in fruit are somehow magically not toxic, but everywhere else it is? It's the same fructose and sucrose, no matter what food source it comes from. The human body doesn't recognize "fruit" or "soda" when you eat, it recognizes sucrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, and whatever other sugar may be In them and processes them in the exact same way.

If sucrose and fructose are slowly poisoning us; then the sucrose and fructose in fruit, vegetables, and grains are equally poisoning us. You can't have it both ways. It doesn't work like that.