A pioneering
obesity and diabetes researcher has identified the rapid introduction in
the 1970s of high-fructose corn syrup into the food supply -- particularly
in soft drinks -- as an important factor contributing to the obesity epidemic
that has swept the world in the last 30 years.
At the same
time soft drink consumption has risen, consumption of calcium via milk
-- which is protective against obesity -- has fallen, said Dr. George Bray,
a principal investigator on the widely quoted Diabetes Prevention Program
study. He is the former executive director of one of the leading research
centers looking at metabolism, diabetes and obesity: Pennington Center
for Biomedical Research at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
At the 9th
International Congress on Obesity on Friday, Bray displayed four charts
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. The charts show from 1970 through 1990 a dramatic rise
in the consumption of high fructose corn syrup as the use of cane sugar
dropped. At the same time, from 1970, a chart shows a steady decline in
milk consumption as soft drinks grew in popularity to eclipse per capita
consumption of milk just before 1980.
High-fructose
corn syrups and related sweeteners manufactured from corn starch became
commercialized in the 1970s into major food additives. One food information
Web site, at Oregon State University, describes the development of these
sweeteners from corn starch as "one of the greatest changes in the sugar
and sweetener industry over several centuries."
In 1980, soon
after these substances became commercial products, Bray noted, the chart
from the CDC demonstrates the beginning of a sharp rise in obesity for
both men and women. From 1980 to 2000, the incidence of obesity at least
doubled for men and women in the United States, while obesity had remained
relatively flat for the preceding 20 years.
The changes
of food consumption involving fructose-sweetened soft drinks and the drop
in milk consumption "fits precisely on top of the inflexion point of the
rise of obesity," Bray told a small news briefing at the congress. He said
he could find no other single combination of environmental changes or food
consumption habits that could be as significant to obesity as the change
in drinking habits around the world.
He said fructose,
sweeter than either sucrose or glucose, sidesteps certain key regulatory
processes in the body. For example, it does not stimulate insulin, which
is believed to be part of an important feedback pathway involved with feelings
of fullness.
At the same
time, it stimulates formation of fat cells more than other sweeteners.
"Once inside
the cell, it forms the backbone for fat molecules," he said of a key breakdown
product of fructose.
Although Bray
acknowledged the epidemic of obesity is the result of many factors, he
added, "I believe (fructose) plays a role."
Philip James,
chairman of the International Obesity Taskforce in London, said Bray's
views are consistent with what is emerging from a report still being drafted
on diet, nutrition and chronic disease in by the United Nations' World
Health Organizaation and Food and Agriculture Organization.
Neville Rigby,
director of public policy and public affairs for the task force, told UPI
Bray is one of the founding fathers of the study of obesity. The statement
by Bray, he said, represents one of the strongest he has heard from an
elder statesmen in the field to identify fructose in soft drinks as a potentially
important cause of obesity.
Bray's comments
came one day after the board of the Los Angeles County school district
voted unanimously to extend the ban on carbonated soft drinks to all its
schools in an effort to combat childhood obesity.
News reports
quote Sean McBride, a spokesman for the National Soft Drink Association
as saying, "Physical education and physical activity are, by far, more
important in combating obesity than banning soft drinks from students'
diets. In the end, this is really about the couch and not the can."
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Copyright 2002 by United
Press International.
All rights reserved.
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