We are indeed what we eat because everything that goes into our mouth has a form of depiction in our physical or outer appearance. In our society where everything we ingest has been carefully scrutinized by governmental regulations and policies, it is imperative that the general public gets the correct and true constituents/reflection of various foods. A diet high in fructose increases body fat and weight. “Part of what makes High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) such an unhealthy product is that it is metabolized to fat in your body far more rapidly than any other sugar” [1]. Sugars are carbohydrates and have a great impact on body fat/weight; substituting sugar with HFCS is even worse because it is “free (unbound) fructose and glucose in liquid (syrup) and produced from corn” [1]. Additionally, HFCS is “highly processed, unnatural form of fructose” [1]. Processed foods are a lot unhealthier compared to natural foods since most of the nutrients are replaced with artificial flavors and preservatives which consequently increase obesity, cancer, diabetes and several other chronic diseases. Also, “fructose turns directly into fat” rather than being stored or burned [1]. This makes individuals and/or the general population who consume foods high in fructose such as orange juice, apple juice, grape juice, mango juice, and guava juices as well as soda very much prone to ingesting high amounts of calories on a daily basis. In addition to this, a high percentage of individuals nationally, do not get the needed amount of exercise or energy expenditure to compensate for their energy intake. Hence, with high caloric ingestion and minimal exercise, there is bound to be several overweight/obese individuals. Of course the concept, components, and attributes of obesity is a very complicated topic which involves several parameters such as genetics, socio economic status, education, medication and several others. However, high caloric intake coupled with a minimal amount to none of exercise/energy expenditure contributes immensely to increase body fat and weight. It is especially disturbing that facts about processed foods which have a high fructose content and contribute to various forms of diseases such as “obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, hypertension, high triglycerides and liver disease” [1], are hidden from the average consumer who does know any better and basically eats anything deemed “safe” by the U.S Food and Drug Administration. It is our apathy as a society both nationally and globally that has increased the burden of disease related to chronic diseases and we owe the general public and taxpayers an iota of truth about the harmful effects of high fructose food which have flooded our food markets and grocery stores. With better scrutiny of the amount of fructose in our soft drinks and snacks, the prevalence of overweight/obesity and chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypercholesterolemia will decrease in the next couple of decades.
Jeffrey ES, III*
School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, 24951 North Circle Drive, Loma Linda, California, USA*Corresponding Author:Jeffrey ES, III
School of Public Health, Loma Linda University
24951 North Circle Drive, Loma Linda, California, USA
Tel: (240).899.7618
E-mail: [email protected]
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Copyright: © 2018 Jeffrey ES, III. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
References
- Colson JM (2004) Does a diet high in fructose increase body fat? Taking Sides-Second Edition. McGraw-Hill Companies.