- Fructose, the sugar found in the corn-syrup sweeteners
[High Fructose Corn Syrup is what is shown on food labels] used in many
processed foods, may trick the body into thinking it's hungrier than it
really is, causing people to eat more and risk becoming obese.
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- That's the disturbing finding of a group of University
of Florida researchers who believe it may help explain why there is a growing
obesity epidemic in America Today.
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- Dr. Richard Johnson and his colleagues identified fructose
as part of a biochemical process that leads to weight gain and other precursors
of Type 2 diabetes. They also found that fructose causes an increase in
blood uric acid that can block the action of insulin, the hormone that
regulates how body cells use and store the sugar they need for energy.
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- If increased uric acid levels occur frequently enough,
features of metabolic syndrome--obesity, elevated blood cholesterol levels
and high blood pressure - may develop.
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- [Uric acid also causes gout (gouty arthritis, joint
pain). High acidity also causes deterioration of bones (osteoarthritis,
osteoporosis).]
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- The Florida researchers fed rats a high-fructose diet
for 10 weeks. All the rats experienced an increase in uric acid in the
bloodstream and also went on to develop insulin resistance.
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- "When we blocked or lowered uric acid, we were
able to largely prevent or reverse features of the metabolic syndrome,"
said Dr. Johnson, professor of nephrology and chief of nephrology, hypertension
and transplantation at the university's College of Medicine.
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- "We were able to significantly reduce weight gain,
we were able to significantly reduce the rise in the triglycerides in the
blood, the insulin resistance was less and the blood pressure fell."
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- The research appears in the December issue of the journal
Nature Clinical Practice Nephrology and in the online edition of the American
Journal of Physiology-Renal Physiology.
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- c. 2005 All Rights Reserved.
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