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fitness
Forbidden fruit
Fructose is a simple sugar present in fruits, fresh juices, honey and many commercial sweets and beverages. Taken in excessive amounts, it can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease
If
you thought going on a
fruit diet will help you lose your flab, think again! Undisputedly,
fruits and vegetables are central to a weight-loss diet and good
health. However, recent research suggests that excessive intake of
sugar from fruits can be harmful. Sugar from fruits, also called
fructose, in excessive amounts (more than 50gm / day) can be
counter-productive for many and can increase the risk of obesity,
diabetes and heart disease. A 100gm of apple gives you about 6 gm of
fructose and a single serving of a sweetened carbonated beverage can
give you as much as 20 gm of fructose.
High fructose corn syrup is used in commercial baked goods
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HIDDEN SOURCES OF FRUCTOSE
Some popular sources of fructose found in eatables and drinks of every-day use are table sugar, honey, jaggery, molasses, brown sugar, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn or agave syrup, sucrose, laevulose, and maple syrup.
Fresh fruit juice may contain about 25 gm of fructose per glass |
Honey, which may be considered healthy, also contains fructose |
Fructose is a simple
sugar that is present in fruits, fruit juices and honey, and is
responsible for their sweet taste. Besides fruits, a significant
source of fructose in our diets is table sugar, which is made up of 50
per cent fructose and 50 per cent glucose. Nowadays, fructose is
cropping up not just in fruit juices, where it occurs naturally, but
in all sorts of foods and drinks — from biscuits to ice creams.
Fruits and fruit juices
are generally perceived as health foods, low on calories, fat and
cholesterol-free. These are, in fact, a disguised form of fructose.
For those who believe that fresh fruit juice is an alternative, the
truth is that it may contain about 25 gm of fructose per glass.
Sweetened beverages and fruit juices contribute significantly to high
fructose intake in the urban diet worldwide. This leads to extra
pounds in tricky way and in part explains the growing epidemic of
obesity and diabetes.
Unlike other sugars like
glucose, ingestion of excessive fructose is associated with insulin
resistance leading to metabolic syndrome - a constellation of factors
including increased blood sugar levels, high triglycerides, high uric
acid, fat deposition in the liver (fatty liver) and weight gain,
particularly around the belly. Other complications associated with
metabolic syndrome, include high blood pressure, endothelial
dysfunction, increased oxidative stress, increased inflammation,
increased intra-abdominal fat accumulation, leptin resistance. These
eventually increase the risk to obesity, type-2 diabetes and heart
disease. Those who are particularly vulnerable to high fructose
include individuals who are overweight with insulin resistance or
diabetes. According to recent research, fructose intake correlates
closely with the rate of diabetes worldwide.
Fructose intake causes
fat to accumulate in the blood and liver. Instead of being used
immediately for energy, the fructose is readily converted into
triglycerides by the liver. According to the National Institute of
Health (USA), the growing incidence of gout, due to high uric acid
levels also coincides with a substantial increase in the consumption
of soft drinks and fructose.
Studies done as early as
1950s, have reported that diets high in sugar, specially fructose can
rapidly induce features of metabolic syndrome. Researchers found that
when overweight individuals were fed equal calories from glucose and
fructose, both sugars caused about the same degree of weight gain, but
an important difference in the nature of these gains was evident. The
fructose group gained more fat in their abdominal area which is known
to elevate the risk of diabetes and heart disease to a greater degree
than fat stored elsewhere in the body.
Conversely, those with
metabolic syndrome, fatty liver and high uric acid have been found to
have a history of significantly greater fructose intake. The ability
of fructose to induce insulin resistance can be shown with diets as
low as 15-25 per cent fructose.
Most of us don't know
that fructose can be listed in the ingredients under a variety of
names — the most common being HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). It is
a combination of 50 per cent fructose and 50 per cent glucose, which
is a sweetener used commercially by the food industry and is a major
ingredient in soft drinks, desserts, fruit yogurts, cereals, health
bars, ice-creams, biscuits, pastries and processed foods.
Fructose is a major ingredient in fruit yogurts |
Food manufacturers
prefer to use HFCS in place of sugar for several reasons. It is cheap,
increases shelf life, improves texture, easy to use and more stable
than simple sugar. It is used in cereal bars and biscuits to make them
chewy, thicken ice creams and yoghurt drinks, reduce crystallisation
in frozen products and improving colour of baked products.
Introduction of HFCS in the 1970s has resulted in a 30 per cent
increase in total fructose intake in the past 20 years soft drinks,
fruit drinks and juices and processed foods and has been associated
with a remarkable increase in the rates of obesity and diabetes.
Adding a HFCS single sweetened soft drink at each meal for 10 weeks
significantly increases blood fat levels, which eventually can lead to
fatty liver, pre-diabetes or metabolic syndrome.
Even health bars can contain fructose |
There is an urgent need
for increased public awareness of the risks associated with high
fructose consumption and greater efforts should be made to curb the
addition of packaged foods with high fructose additives.
So, next time when you
go on that 'fruit diet', watch your portions. A prudent approach to
fruit intake must be maintained. In general, enjoy the pleasures of
sweets within limits. Empty calories from soft drinks, sweetened
drinks, punches, cocktails and fruit juices will do well to be
replaced by water, plain soda, coconut water, low fat milk and
vegetable juices.
— The
writer is a Clinical Nutritionist & Founder, theweightmonitor.com,
Founder, WholeFoodsIndia and Founder President Celiac Society for
Delhi
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Health Capsules |
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 Timing of babies' first solid food may prevent diabetes
An early and late
first exposure to solid food for infants might be associated
with the development of type-1 diabetes, claims a new study. The
research by University of Colorado has found that both early
(less than 4 months of age) and late (greater than or equal to 6
months of age) first exposure to any solid food was associated
with development of type-1 diabetes. The results also indicated
that early exposure to fruit and late exposure to rice or oat
was associated with an increased risk of type-1 diabetes,
whereas breastfeeding when wheat or barley were introduced
appeared to be associated with a decreased risk. There appears
to be a safe window in which to introduce solid foods between 4
and 5 months of age; solid foods should be introduced while
continuing to breastfeed to minimise diabetes risk in
genetically susceptible children. The study was published in a JAMA
Network publication.
Maternal
smoking may lower sperm quality
A new study based
on a 20-year follow-up suggests that exposure to several factors
in utero and in early life may lead to reduced semen parameters
in adulthood - and potentially to a decline in male fertility.
The study found that adverse foetal growth, exposure to maternal
smoking, and a lower childhood growth trajectory were all
associated with a subsequent decline in testicular function. The
study was based on follow-up of the Western Australian Pregnancy
(Raine) Cohort, which began in 1989-91 with the enrolment of
2900 mothers during pregnancy; their babies had regular
assessment from birth, which included foetal growth
measurements. Results showed that around one in six of the men
tested had sperm parameters below the "normal"
threshold recently defined by the WHO. Men with good
intrauterine growth were less likely to be in this lowest
quartile of sperm production in adulthood. Being exposed to
their mothers' smoking (18.6 per cent of men) was also
associated with lower sperm production.
 Irregular
bedtime may lower kids' IQ
Irregular bedtime
routines can blunt children's minds and lower their
intelligence, says a new research. Irregular bedtimes could
disrupt natural body rhythms and cause sleep deprivation, so
undermining the plasticity of the brain and the ability to
acquire and retain information, researchers said. Reduced or
disrupted sleep, if it occurs at key times in development, could
have impacts on health throughout life. Researchers looked at
whether bedtimes in early childhood were related to brain power
in more than 11,000 seven year olds, all of whom were part of
the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). Irregular bedtimes were
most common at the age of 3. This was associated with lower
scores in reading, maths, and spatial awareness in both boys and
girls, suggesting that around the age of 3 could be a sensitive
period for cognitive development. Girls who had never had
regular bedtimes at ages 3, 5, and 7 had significantly lower
reading, maths and spatial awareness scores, British Medical
Journal (BMJ) reported.
Simple
blood test can 'predict' longevity
Scientists have
discovered a new blood test that can predict not only your
long-term health but also the rate at which you will age. The
study led by King's College, London, could lead to powerful new
treatments and drug therapies to tackle conditions linked to
getting older, the Daily Express reported. Key
metabolites in blood, which are chemical
"fingerprints" left behind after molecular changes
before birth or in infancy, can provide vital clues, which could
point to a person's long-term overall health and rate of ageing
in later life. The study analysed blood samples of more than
6,000 persons and identified 22 metabolites directly linked to
chronological age. The concentrations of the metabolites were
higher in older than in younger people. It was found that one of
them, linked to ageing traits such as lung function and bone
mineral density, is also strongly associated with birth weight
and could lead to accelerated ageing in later adult life.
Scientists say it is possible that these markers of ageing can
be identified with simple blood tests in the future. The study
was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
 Neem
protein to fight cancer
The medicinal
power of neem, widely used in India as an insecticide and
germicide, is now being channelised by a group of Kolkata
scientists to cure cancer. The team of researchers at the
Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) here has shown how
a purified protein from neem leaves inhibits growth of tumour
cells in mice. Instead of targeting the cancer cells directly,
the protein — Neem Leaf Glycoprotein or NLGP — modulates the
immune cells (cells that are responsible for providing immunity
to the body against harmful agents) present within the tumour
environment and also in the peripheral system like blood. Immune
cells are normally hostile to cells that are dangerous to the
body including cancer cells. However, in a unique role-reversal
during tumour development, these crucial defence elements are
enslaved by the cancerous cells to promote their growth and
proliferation. Therefore, instead of destroying the lethal
cells, the guard cells actually favour their growth. The neem
extract modifies the milieu of cells surrounding the tumour
(called tumour microenvironment or TME) and spurs these cells
towards a normal state that is debilitating for toxic cells like
cancer cells, said," Rathindranath Baral, head of the
department of immunoregulation and immunodiagnostics, CNCI. The
study published in peer-reviewed PLOS ONE states that the killer
T cells (produced in NLGP treated tumour-bearing mice) exhibited
a greater number of molecules with the power to destroy the
cancer cells, compared to the T-cells from mice that were not
treated with NLGP.1 — Agencies |
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