This photo from Thursday, May 31, 2012, shows a display of various size cups and sugar cubes at a news conference at New York's City Hall.
Bad news sugar lovers: a diet high in fructose won’t just make you fat,
it may also make you stupid, according to research out of California. A steady
high-fructose diet disrupts the brain’s cognitive abilities, leading to poor
learning and memory retention, says a study by Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a
neurosurgery professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Rahul
Agrawal, a visiting UCLA postdoctoral fellow from India. “This type of diet. .
. (affects) the transmission of information across cells. . . learning and
memory and practically any type of brain function depends very much on how
transmission is transported across cells,” Gomez-Pinilla said in an interview
with the Star.
Health concerns
Their study, published in the May 15 edition of the Journal of
Physiology, looked at high sugar consumption, focusing less on naturally
occurring fructose in fruits and more on the fructose in high-fructose corn
syrup. Research has already proven a high-fructose diet leads to a slew of
health concerns, including obesity, diabetes and fatty liver.
The U.S. is the world’s largest consumer of sweeteners. High-fructose
corn syrup, which acts as a preservative and sweetener, is found in a variety
of processed foods, from soft drinks and baby food to salad dressings and
condiments. The average American consumes approximately 21 kilograms of cane
sugar and 16 kilograms of high-fructose corn syrup annually, according to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Role of fatty acids
Gomez-Pinilla and Agrawal studied two groups of rats, both of which
drank a fructose solution in their drinking water for six weeks. One of the
groups also consumed omega-3 fatty acids, from flaxseed oil and a DHA
(docosahexaenoic acid) capsule. Omega-3 fatty acids have been found to guard
against heat disease, high cholesterol and mental conditions such as bipolar
disorder and depression, according to the University of Maryland Medical
Center.
Both rat groups were trained on a maze for five days before starting
their new diet. After six weeks, Gomez-Pinilla and Agrawal retested the rats on
the maze to monitor brain function and memory retention, noting the rats that
consumed the fructose solution without the omega-3 fatty acids had problems with
how they were able to think and recall routes in the maze.
Those rats also showed a resistance to insulin, a hormone that regulates
sugar levels in the body. “Rats fed on a (omega-3 fatty acids) deficient diet
showed memory deficits in a Barnes maze, which were further exacerbated by
fructose take,” the authors write. They found that a rich diet of omega-3 fatty
acids counteracted the negative affects of fructose.
Implications for humans
In terms of humans, Gomez-Pinilla predicts such changes in the brain to
happen within six months to a year. “The implication(s) here (are) the high
consumption and the chronic consumption for man,” Gomez-Pinilla said, adding
research needs to be done on the specific affects on humans. “We don’t know yet
how long (the damage) can last.” The war on unhealthy food choices is a
growing. In September, New York City announced it would ban sugar-filled drinks
larger than 16-ounces from concession and fast-food stands, restaurants and
movie theatres.
In Canada, a push on healthy eating is on the rise as the country
grapples with the fact that 31.5 per cent of Canadian children aged 5 to 17 are
either overweight or obese, according to a Statistics Canada report released in
September. “Diabetes is very prevalent in western society. It’s known already
there is an (epidemic) of diabetes, which is highly related to a consumption of
foods high in sugar,” Gomez-Pinilla said.
Gomez-Pinilla advocates a nutrient-rich dietthat includes omega-3 fatty
acids and a proper mix of healthy choices to offset the dangers of fructose. Foods
that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids include flaxseed oil, some types of fish,
such as salmon, and nuts.
Metro News Canada
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