High fructose corn syrup - odd weightloss

[Ichinisan]

Don't feel bad - HFCS does indeed have health side effects that normal sugar doesn't. You should try dealing with my son for the next day or two after he's had something with HFCS in it.

But it's all in my head.

Link?

If you were really interested, you could do it half way scientifically, and see if it's repeatable. Document everything, and see what you come up with. I take the general stance that the farther you get from a natural unprocessed state, the worse it is. That doesn't always apply, but I think it's a good guideline.

HFCS is a corn extract. I don't think it's any more "processed" than the pure, white, sugar we get from sugar beets.

Better yet, it's being labeled as "All Natural". Look at Oscar Meyer touting their deli meats and hot dogs now with a nice green leaf saying "All Natural - No Artificial Preservatives". Flip to the ingredients and what do you see? "Cultured Corn Sugar* (Used as a preservative)"

...and what's "un-natural" about that?

 

[lxskllr]

HFCS is a corn extract. I don't think it's any more "processed" than the pure, white, sugar we get from sugar beets.

Right, but it's more processed than ground sugarcane, or honey. I don't necessarily have a problem with HFCS outside the fact that it's propped up with socialism, and needlessly gets added to products which makes Americans fat.

Less processing in food is a general guideline I follow, but not religiously. I think it makes a good default starting point, and any adjustments made to the diet can start from that level. It's had the most empirical review, and testing. That's better than starting from the other end, and saying "Whoops. We fucked up" when an unintended consequence turns up.

 

[Ichinisan]

BTW, HFCS is also bullshit (but for different reasons):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tw29lv8-V0

I can't get the video to play in Google Chrome. Spins forever. Works fine in IE, though.

 

[slackerinabox]

Congrats man. Wait, am i the only decent human being in this thread that's happy the OP quit smoking? 😛

Ha - thanks, much appreciated.. 3rd or 4th time trying, fingers crossed!

 

[MrChad]

Link?

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/index.xml?section=topstories

 

[slackerinabox]

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/index.xml?section=topstories

Wow- good read. HFCS being addictive makes sense - now that I've been off of it for a week I don't crave it. I used to drink 4 cans of soda a day, today I had a cane sugar ice tea - one 12 oz bottle was more than enough for the day and had no desire for more. God, I used to eat 4 bowls of cereal in a sitting too and I'm stuffed after a bowl of organic, raw sugar sweetened cereal (amazon=great way to save on hippy food) .. Personal responsibility all the way - I'm a fat ass because I eat too much and never work out, but it's nice to know I may also be addicted to food beyond the obvious psychological addiction.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Wow- good read. HFCS being addictive makes sense - now that I've been off of it for a week I don't crave it. I used to drink 4 cans of soda a day, today I had a cane sugar ice tea - one 12 oz bottle was more than enough for the day and had no desire for more. God, I used to eat 4 bowls of cereal in a sitting too and I'm stuffed after a bowl of organic, raw sugar sweetened cereal (amazon=great way to save on hippy food) .. Personal responsibility all the way - I'm a fat ass because I eat too much and never work out, but it's nice to know I may also be addicted to food beyond the obvious psychological addiction.

Agreed; enlightening read.. can't seem to find the actual article though to look for replication studies.

 

[OverVolt]

Sugar is bad for you, HCFS is extra bad for you.

Its the fructose, derp. Hits your liver and causes fatty liver stress just like alcohol calories hit the liver and cause fatty liver stress. And everything else that comes with it like high cholesterol, then, high blood pressure, etc.

Saw some presentation that basically summed it up as a can of beer and a can of mtn dew both have the same number of calories needing to hit your liver for processing. You wouldn't drink 4 cans of beer a day and think you will have good cholesterol/blood sugar, well, same for soda.

Its not like HFCS will kill you dead, 4 cans of beer a day wouldn't really kill you dead either, but it wears on you.

 

[Crono]

Even if HFCS were worse for your health, it wouldn't be significantly worse because sugars aren't healthy at the levels we consume them as modern average Americans.

The consistency and taste of corn syrup isn't as good as table sugar, though. None of the large food or beverage companies would be using corn syrup of it were the same price as sugar, either.

Caffeine content is more likely the source of the weight loss difference for equivalent amounts of calories between sodas, all else being equal.

 

[slackerinabox]

Even if HFCS were worse for your health, it wouldn't be significantly worse because sugars aren't healthy at the levels we consume them as modern average Americans.

The consistency and taste of corn syrup isn't as good as table sugar, though. None of the large food or beverage companies would be using corn syrup of it were the same price as sugar, either.

Caffeine content is more likely the source of the weight loss difference for equivalent amounts of calories between sodas, all else being equal.

What's interesting and what I've noticed (anecdotal evidence be damned) is that HFCS (for the same calories) doesn't seem to satiate as effectively as regular sugar (well, I use raw whenever possible, i.e. cereal, coffee, etc.). In just a short week and change I've gone from a 3 to 4 cans of soda a day addiction to no soda in 2 days by switching from regular to cane sugar soda. That "I need a can of soda NOW!" drive is gone now, though I'm sure grabbing a 6 pack of pepsi will bring that addiction back. Of course extra calories through sweeteners of any kind's a bad idea..Lost another 1.2 pounds since I posted this too, and I haven't started my resistance band based sissy workout regimen yet 🙂 I'm eating much less without actively controlling portions or caloric intake and I'm guessing there's a connection (because I'm usually ravenous after quitting smoking).

 

[SunnyD]

Link?

Apparently you still haven't learned how to read.

...and what's "un-natural" about that?

Because it's a chemical process that's used to make HFCS, as opposed to unrefined sugar which is simply boiled and evaporated sugar cane. But I guess you're going to argue that the latter is a "chemical process" as well, aren't you.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Apparently you still haven't learned how to read.



Because it's a chemical process that's used to make HFCS, as opposed to unrefined sugar which is simply boiled and evaporated sugar cane. But I guess you're going to argue that the latter is a "chemical process" as well, aren't you.

More aptly, what about the process is unhealthy? Is there some substantively harmful chemical left behind?

the word chemical-process is not some evil boggy-many waiting to harsh my buzz; so I need a little more info to back up the point.

 

[NikolaeVarius]

Apparently you still haven't learned how to read.



Because it's a chemical process that's used to make HFCS, as opposed to unrefined sugar which is simply boiled and evaporated sugar cane. But I guess you're going to argue that the latter is a "chemical process" as well, aren't you.

Holy crap, its a CHEMICAL PROCESS. Much like

a) What happens in food when you boil something
b) Frying Food
c) Grilling a steak

Are you going to stop cooking food because it involves chemical processes?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Ah, Penn and Teller. The world's great resource for peer reviewed science. Between them and Jersey Shore for knowledge of human interaction, there isn't much more needed in life :^D

I'll give you a little hint about Penn and Teller, they only take on battles they can win. It's all their game, and they pick the terms of engagement. They also have unlimited editing power ;^)

Funny show, I like it. And they give nutters a venue to show all of us just how whacked they are. But, you are right on about them. The Martial Arts episode was terrible.

They only pursue the bullshido serious martial artists already lament and deride. Mystical kung fu powers, some idiot doing crappy Tamashiwari, some kook with his teh deadly street fighting system. And their "experts" were laughable. It certainly was not done with any journalistic integrity or attempt to be even handed. They just did their typical hit job.

 

[SunnyD]

More aptly, what about the process is unhealthy? Is there some substantively harmful chemical left behind?

the word chemical-process is not some evil boggy-many waiting to harsh my buzz; so I need a little more info to back up the point.

Primarily produced via enzymatic reactions.

Holy crap, its a CHEMICAL PROCESS. Much like

a) What happens in food when you boil something
b) Frying Food
c) Grilling a steak

Are you going to stop cooking food because it involves chemical processes?

I knew SOMEONE would be an idiot and go there. 🙄

 

[preslove]

Agreed; enlightening read.. can't seem to find the actual article though to look for replication studies.

M.E. Bocarsly, E.S. Powell, N.M. Avena, B.G. Hoebel
High-fructosecornsyrup causes characteristics of obesity in rats: Increased body weight, body fat and triglyceride levels
Pharmacol Biochem Behav, 97 (2010), pp. 101–106

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305710000614

Do you have access to science direct full text?

Edit: Here's a citation report for the article. http://apps.webofknowledge.com/Cita...5fiH63hF88d&page=1&cr_pqid=3&viewType=summary

 

[slackerinabox]

More aptly, what about the process is unhealthy? Is there some substantively harmful chemical left behind?

the word chemical-process is not some evil boggy-many waiting to harsh my buzz; so I need a little more info to back up the point.

You could just, you know, give it a try. Read packages for a week and cut out HFCS and see what happens. Though I must say this concern should only apply to fat fat fatties like myself. the now 6.2 pounds I've lost is a small percentage of my body weight (I'm 269 pounds now, should be 180 based on my doc's recommendation). If your not as fat as I am then you're probably already doing the right thing 🙂 I don't think HFCS in moderation's a terrible thing, I just used to down the stuff.

 

[Gibsons]

Here's full text and figures - I think this link should work for everyone.
http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/HFCS_Rats_10.pdf

This paper's been beaten up a good bit around here in a previous thread.
forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2105525&page=5

Cliffs - there 3 principle data sets in the paper. One showed a difference between hfcs and sucrose, two did not. If you look at the data, take time to be sure you're comparing apples to apples, i.e. 12h hfcs vs 12h sucrose, instead of ad libitum hfcs vs 12h sucrose.

 

[slackerinabox]

Here's full text and figures - I think this link should work for everyone.
http://www.foodpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/HFCS_Rats_10.pdf

This paper's been beaten up a good bit around here in a previous thread.
forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2105525&page=5

Cliffs - there 3 principle data sets in the paper. One showed a difference between hfcs and sucrose, two did not. If you look at the data, take time to be sure you're comparing apples to apples, i.e. 12h hfcs vs 12h sucrose, instead of ad libitum hfcs vs 12h sucrose.

anandtech pimply teens vs. princeton researchers .. sigh ..

 

[Gibsons]

anandtech pimply teens vs. princeton researchers .. sigh ..

When I say "beat up," I mean the data was discussed at some length. If you're looking for conflict, it was more like chiropractor vs. molecular biologist.

 

[uclaLabrat]

anandtech pimply teens vs. princeton researchers .. sigh ..

Some of us pimply teens are actually Ph D research scientists quite able to read and analyze a paper for flaws in methodology

 

[SillyOReilly]

Some of us pimply teens are actually Ph D research scientists quite able to read and analyze a paper for flaws in methodology

Things like this is why he gets flamed. You have no basis to call anyone anything since you have no idea how knowledgeable they are.

 

[slackerinabox]

Some of us pimply teens are actually Ph D research scientists quite able to read and analyze a paper for flaws in methodology

Come on, the PhD research scientists are definitely the minority here, though of course I appreciate whatever wisdom they have.

 

[Ichinisan]

Because it's a chemical process that's used to make HFCS, as opposed to unrefined sugar which is simply boiled and evaporated sugar cane.

"Chemical process" is about as vague as it gets. Anyway, I understand what you're saying.

Also, unless I'm misinformed, the white sugar we typically use overwhelmingly comes from sugar beets; not "sugar cane."

 

[SillyOReilly]

Things like this is why he gets flamed. You have no basis to call anyone anything since you have no idea how knowledgeable they are.

But really, some 270 lb worthless fat piece of shit sloth with some type of superiority complex. LOL