Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 29, Number 5, 1 May 2012 — A spoonful of sugar [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A spoonful of sugar

By Claire Ku'uleilani Hughes, Dr. PH„ R.D. Surely you remember that Mary Poppins tune "A Spoonful of Sugar." But not many of us know the number of actual teaspoons of sugar Americans eat every day. A nutrition newsletter recently reported: "The average American now consumes 22 to 28 teaspoons of added sugars a day - mostly high-fructose corn syrup and ordinary table sugar (sucrose). That's

350 to 440 empty calories!" That's a whole lot of sugar. But, wait, what's high-fructose corn syrup? Check food labels and you will find it's in many foods. Fructose is a naturally occurring "simple" sugar that makes up half of regular table sugar. It is found mostly in fruits and honey, and, obviously, corn syrup. Fructose is mueh sweeter to our taste sensors than other sugars. So, it takes less fructose to reach the desired sweetness in food. Thus, high-fructose corn syrup costs less to use. Health professionals are focusing attention on sugar and high-fructose corn syrup beverages because most of the recently added sugar in U.S. diets comes from consumption of soft drinks and other sugary beverages (sports, coffee and juice drinks). Thus, the

important question is how do these sweeteners affect health? Recent research has focused on identifying how sugars are handled by the human body. And differences were found between the effects of sugar and sugar replacements on our health and appearance. A four-year study of 50,000 U.S. women showed the greatest weight gain (10 pounds) occurred among women who changed from drinking fewer than one sugar-sweetened beverage a week to drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage every day. Three other studies compared drinking sugar-sweetened beverages and drinking diet beverages. These studies found that only those drinking the sugar-sweetened or high-fructose-corn-syrup-sweet-ened beverages gained weight. Another study strongly suggests that calories from fructose may be more likely to settle in

your waist. For 10 weeks, two groups of 32 very overweight middle-age men and women eonsumed 25 percent of their calories from beverages sweetened with fructose or glucose, also a simple sugar. Both groups gained about three pounds, but the new fat went into different places. Those given fructose increased their visceral fat. Visceral fat is deep belly fat; subcutaneous fat deposits are just under the skin. Visceral fat is more closely linked to an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease. And then, Danish scientists assigned 47 overweight men and women to four groups that drank three 12-ounce cans of either: regular eola (sugar-sweetened), reducedfat milk, diet soda (sweetened with aspartame) or plain water. After six months, visceral fat increased, in impressive amounts, only in the group that drank regular soda. (Remember, sugar is half

fructose.) Thus, new evidence points to health concerns with both the sugar- and high-fructose-corn-syrup-sweetened beverages. Scientists believe visceral fat may cripple the body's ability to use insulin and set the stage for diabetes and heart disease. Researchers have found a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, gout and weight gain in people who consume sugar-sweetened beverages. Today, mueh of our "food" is no longer what is harvested or grown on the farm. Instead, we eat more and more "processed" foods. Unfortunately, there is an enormous laek of consumer education/information about new ingredients and foods. We need to be diligent about what we add to our family's food. That is the intelligent way. ■

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