“There’s a fair amount of evidence that starch-based foods don’t cause weight gain like sugar-based foods and don’t cause the metabolic syndrome like sugar-based foods,” said Dr. Richard Johnson, the senior author of the report, which reviewed several recent studies on fructose and obesity. “Potatoes, pasta, rice may be relatively safe compared to table sugar. A fructose index may be a better way to assess the risk of carbohydrates related to obesity.”

Ok, so this is not the answer to your holiday munchies given that most cakes, pies and cookies are loaded full of fructose, but it does offer up the idea that a slice of bread or baked potato here and there might not be the worst thing ever. Yee-ha! I do hope, yes I said hope, that there is more research and funding put into this. Just think of how many people, maybe even including you, live on a very low carb, no “white stuff” type diet. This does include me for the most part.

Why is fructose more dangerous then glucose, which on a very elementary level is what most carbs turn in to?

Eating too much fructose causes uric acid levels to spike, which can block the ability of insulin to regulate how body cells use and store sugar and other nutrients for energy, leading to obesity, metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, said Johnson, the division chief of nephrology and the J. Robert Cade professor of nephrology in the UF College of Medicine. UF researchers first detailed the role of uric acid on insulin resistance and obesity in a 2005 study in rats.

Hmm… so what do you think? Will this prove to ring true through and through or is it just new fluff? Hey- it’s an honest question considering this could change diet and nutrition teaching across the board.

via Science Daily

Post from: Blisstree

What Did They Just Say? Bread Isn’t A Great Big No-No???

Glucose and fructose are metabolized in the liver. When there’s too much sugar in the diet, the liver converts it to lipid. Using a mouse model and human liver cell cultures, the scientists discovered that the increased production of lipid shut down a gene called SHBG (sex hormone binding globulin), reducing the amount of SHBG protein in the blood. SHBG protein plays a key role in controlling the amount of testosterone and estrogen that’s available throughout the body.

This would indicate that the bodies liver metabolism is all “out of whack” before there are even disease symptoms and we could in turn use SHGB as a bio-marker for liver function. Pretty good idea, huh?

Less SHGB protein means more testosterone and estrogen released in the body and an increased risk for infertility, uterine cancer and heart disease, especially in women. This discovery also debunks the earlier assumption that too much insulin reduces SHBG, a view which arose from the observation that overweight, pre-diabetic individuals have high levels of insulin and low levels of SHBG. Quite the opposite indeed. This would make insulin not to blame and suggest that it is actually the liver’s metabolism of sugar that counts.

Post from: Blisstree

Increased Amount Of Sugar Leads To A Decrease In Sex Steroids