There is a popular saying that goes something like: "You are what you eat".
However, for the sake of this article, we are going to take a look at this from the perspective that it is more likely that you are what you do with what you eat.
There is another major study released that is shining the light on the sweetener additive called fructose into the food chain.
More and more food production includes the addition of fructose in its varied forms, such as high fructose corn syrup, fructose corn syrup and plain old corn syrup or sugar derived from corn.
No matter how you phrase it, it boils down to one question formulated in laboratories around the world: does fructose in its many forms as a sweetener pose a serious threat to our health? It appears that the evidence is mounting that it indeed does.
Unlike the past mindset that consuming too much fat causes weight gain and other diseases, sugar is gaining the distinction of becoming the number one cause of obesity and chronic disease in the world today.
As the consumption of foods containing fat decreased, there has been a marked increase in the consumption of carbohydrates laden with fructose as a sweetener.
There are many scientific reasons why this is being considered.
However, we will try and attempt to simplify the facts and avoid many of the more technical terms used to describe the cause and effect of sugar consumption in the human body.
There is a hormone known as Ghrelin and this hormone is used by the body to let us 'know' that we are hungry.
However, in laboratory tests, it has been recently discovered that, when ingesting fructose in its many forms, it inhibits the body from suppressing the release of this hormone, thereby bypassing the body's ability to 'know' that it is no longer hungry.
The simple example of this process is seen when drinking a can of soda.
When drinking a can of soda that has been sweetened with fructose, the chemical reaction by the body when fructose enters the digestive system negates the ability to suppress the hormone Ghrelin.
The result of this reaction is for the stomach to 'fool' the brain into thinking that we are still hungry.
The obvious reaction to this is to overeat and, the obvious result of this scenario is weight gain.
Do this enough and the result goes from being overweight to becoming obese.
But wait, there's more! There is another chemical reaction that occurs when ingesting fructose.
If the individual consumes greater quantities of fructose, the result is that the body is unable to stimulate leptin, a chemical that 'shows' the brain that we ate something.
So now the brain not only does not 'know' that you are full and thus 'thinks' you are still hungry, it can't even 'see' that you ate anything! The simple fact is: between the continued release of Ghrelin, coupled with no increase of leptin, we eat more than we should; and the result from that is an ever-increasing waist line! As you can see, this is a one-two punch that single-handedly contributes to weight gain.
The real damage at this point from consuming foods containing fructose as a sweetener is a very real propensity to gain weight and not even know why!