American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,
Vol. 79, No. 4, 537-543, April 2004
� 2004 American
Society for Clinical Nutrition
Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may
play a role in the epidemic of obesity1,2
George A Bray,
Samara Joy Nielsen and Barry M Popkin
1 From the
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge, LA (GAB), and the Department of
Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (SJN and
BMP).
2 Reprints not available. Address
correspondence to GA Bray, Pennington Biomedical
Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, LA
70808. E-mail: brayga@pbrc.edu
 |
ABSTRACT |
Obesity is a major epidemic, but its causes are still unclear.
In this article, we investigate the relation between the
intake of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and the
development of obesity. We analyzed food
consumption patterns by using US Department of
Agriculture food consumption tables from 1967 to 2000. The
consumption of HFCS increased > 1000% between 1970
and 1990, far exceeding the changes in intake of
any other food or food group. HFCS now represents
> 40% of caloric sweeteners added to foods and
beverages and is the sole caloric sweetener in soft
drinks in the United States. Our most conservative estimate
of the consumption of HFCS indicates a daily average of
132 kcal for all Americans aged
2 y, and the top 20% of consumers of caloric
sweeteners ingest 316 kcal from HFCS/d. The
increased use of HFCS in the United States mirrors the
rapid increase in obesity. The digestion, absorption, and
metabolism of fructose differ from those of glucose.
Hepatic metabolism of fructose favors de novo
lipogenesis. In addition, unlike glucose, fructose
does not stimulate insulin secretion or enhance
leptin production. Because insulin and leptin act as
key afferent signals in the regulation of food intake and
body weight, this suggests that dietary fructose may
contribute to increased energy intake and weight
gain. Furthermore, calorically sweetened beverages
may enhance caloric overconsumption. Thus, the
increase in consumption of HFCS has a temporal relation to
the epidemic of obesity, and the overconsumption of HFCS in
calorically sweetened beverages may play a role in the
epidemic of obesity.
Key Words:
Epidemiology � food intake � obesity � artificial
sweeteners � fructose
 |
INTRODUCTION |
As obesity has escalated to epidemic proportions around the
world, many causes, including dietary components, have
been suggested. Excessive caloric intake has been
related to high-fat foods, increased portion sizes,
and diets high both in simple sugars such as
sucrose and in high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a
source of fructose (1�3).
In this article, we discuss the evidence that a
marked increase in the use of HFCS, and therefore
in total fructose consumption, preceded the obesity epidemic
and may be an important contributor to this epidemic in
the United States.
To provide a common frame of
reference for the terms used in this paper, the
following definitions should be understood. Sugar
is any free monosaccharide or disaccharide present in a
food. Sugars includes at least one sugar; composite
sugars refers to the aggregate of all forms of
sugars in a food and is thus distinguishable from
specific types of sugar, such as fructose, glucose,
or sucrose. Added sugar is sugar added to a
food and includes sweeteners such as sucrose, HFCS, honey,
molasses, and other syrups. Naturally occurring sugar
is sugar occurring in food and not added in
processing, preparation, or at the table. Total
sugars represents the total amount of sugars
present in a food and includes both naturally occurring and
added sugars. Free fructose is fructose that exists in
food as the monosaccharide. Fructose refers
to both the free and bound forms of fructose (4).
Added sweeteners are important
components of our diet, representing 318 kcal of
dietary intake for the average American aged
2 y, or 16% of all caloric intake as measured by a
nationally representative survey in 1994�1996 (5).
Sweet corn-based syrups were developed during the
past 3 decades and now represent close to one-half
of the caloric sweeteners consumed by Americans (6,
7). HFCS made by enzymatic isomerization of
glucose to fructose was introduced as HFCS-42 (42%
fructose) and HFCS-55 (55% fructose) in 1967 and
1977, respectively, and opened a new frontier for
the sweetener and soft drink industries. Using a
glucose isomerase, the starch in corn can be efficiently converted
to glucose and then to various amounts of fructose. The
hydrolysis of sucrose produces a 50:50 molar mixture of fructose
and glucose. The development of these inexpensive, sweet
corn-based syrups made it profitable to replace sucrose (sugar)
and simple sugars with HFCS in our diet, and they now represent
40% of all added caloric sweeteners (8).
Fructose is sweeter than sucrose. In comparative
studies of sweetness, in which the sweetness of
sucrose was set at 100, fructose had a sweetness of
173 and glucose had a sweetness of 74 (9).
If the values noted above are applied, HFCS-42
would be 1.16 times as sweet as sucrose, and
HFCS-55 would be 1.28 times as sweet as sucrose.
This contrasts with the estimates reported by Hanover and
White (10). In their study, the sweetness
of sucrose was set at 100 as in reference 8.
Fructose, however, had a sweetness of only 117,
whereas a 50:50 mixture of fructose and sucrose had
a sweetness of 128. It is difficult to see why fructose and
sucrose combined would be sweeter than either one alone and
as sweet as HFCS-55. On the basis of data in Agriculture Handbook
no. 8 from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) (11),
a cola beverage in 1963 had 39 kcal/100 g, whereas a cola
beverage in 2003 had 41 kcal/100 g. Because the number
of calories per 100 g has not changed substantially
over the past 40 y, current beverages are probably
sweeter, depending on the temperature at which they
are served.
HFCS has become a favorite
substitute for sucrose in carbonated beverages,
baked goods, canned fruits, jams and jellies, and dairy
products (10). The major user of HFCS in
the world is the United States; however, HFCS is
now manufactured and used in many countries
throughout the world (7). In the United
States, HFCS is the major source of caloric
sweeteners in soft drinks and many other sweetened
beverages and is also included in numerous other
foods; therefore, HFCS constitutes a major source of dietary
fructose. Few data are available on foods containing
HFCS in countries other than the United States (7).
 |
THE BIOLOGY |
Absorption of fructose
The digestive and absorptive
processes for glucose and fructose are different.
When disaccharides such as sucrose or maltose enter
the intestine, they are cleaved by disaccharidases. A sodium-glucose
cotransporter absorbs the glucose that is formed from
cleavage of sucrose. Fructose, in contrast, is absorbed further
down in the duodenum and jejunum by a non-sodium-dependent
process. After absorption, glucose and fructose enter
the portal circulation and either are transported
to the liver, where the fructose can be taken up
and converted to glucose, or pass into the general
circulation. The addition of small, catalytic amounts of
fructose to orally ingested glucose increases hepatic glycogen
synthesis in human subjects and reduces glycemic
responses in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus
(12), which suggests the
importance of fructose in modulating metabolism in the liver.
However, when large amounts of fructose are ingested,
they provide a relatively unregulated source of
carbon precursors for hepatic lipogenesis.
Fructose and insulin release
Along with 2 peptides,
glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and
glucagon-like peptide-1 released from the gastrointestinal
tract, circulating glucose increases insulin release
from the pancreas (13, 14).
Fructose does not stimulate insulin secretion in
vitro, probably because the � cells of the pancreas lack
the fructose transporter Glut-5 (15, 16).
Thus, when fructose is given in vivo as part of a
mixed meal, the increase in glucose and insulin is
much smaller than when a similar amount of glucose is
given. However, fructose produces a much larger increase in
lactate and a small (1.7%) increase in diet-induced
thermogenesis (17), which again
suggests that glucose and fructose have different metabolic
effects.
Insulin and leptin
Insulin release can modulate food
intake by at least 2 mechanisms. First, Schwartz et
al (18) have argued that insulin
concentrations in the central nervous system have a
direct inhibitory effect on food intake. In
addition, insulin may modify food intake by its
effect on leptin secretion, which is mainly regulated by
insulin-induced changes in glucose metabolism in fat cells
(19, 20). Insulin
increases leptin release (21) with a time
delay of several hours. Thus, a low insulin
concentration after ingestion of fructose would be
associated with lower average leptin concentrations
than would be seen after ingestion of glucose.
Because leptin inhibits food intake, the lower leptin concentrations
induced by fructose would tend to enhance food intake.
This is most dramatically illustrated in humans who lack
leptin (22, 23). Persons
lacking leptin (homozygotes) are massively obese (22),
and heterozygotes with low but detectable serum
leptin concentrations have increased adiposity (23),
which indicates that low leptin concentrations are
associated with increased hunger and gains in body
fat. Administration of leptin to persons who lack
it produces a dramatic decrease in food intake, as
expected. Leptin also increases energy expenditure, and
during reduced calorie intake, leptin attenuates the decreases
in thyroid hormones and 24-h energy expenditure (24).
To the extent that fructose increases in the diet,
one might expect less insulin secretion and thus
less leptin release and a reduction in the
inhibitory effect of leptin on food intake, ie, an increase
in food intake. This was found in the preliminary
studies reported by Teff et al (25).
Consumption of high-fructose meals reduced 24-h
plasma insulin and leptin concentrations and increased postprandial
fasting triacylglycerol concentrations in women but
did not suppress circulating ghrelin concentrations.
Fructose and metabolism
The metabolism of fructose differs
from that of glucose in several other ways as well
(3). Glucose enters cells by a transport
mechanism (Glut-4) that is insulin dependent in most
tissues. Insulin activates the insulin receptor,
which in turn increases the density of glucose
transporters on the cell surface and thus
facilitates the entry of glucose. Once inside the cell, glucose
is phosphorylated by glucokinase to become
glucose-6-phosphate, from which the intracellular
metabolism of glucose begins. Intracellular enzymes
can tightly control conversion of glucose-6-phosphate to
the glycerol backbone of triacylglycerols through modulation
by phosphofructokinase. In contrast with glucose,
fructose enters cells via a Glut-5 transporter that
does not depend on insulin. This transporter is
absent from pancreatic � cells and the brain,
which indicates limited entry of fructose into these
tissues. Glucose provides "satiety" signals to the
brain that fructose cannot provide because it is
not transported into the brain. Once inside the
cell, fructose is phosphorylated to form
fructose-1-phosphate (26). In this
configuration, fructose is readily cleaved by
aldolase to form trioses that are the backbone for
phospholipid and triacyglycerol synthesis. Fructose also
provides carbon atoms for synthesis of long-chain fatty acids,
although in humans, the quantity of these carbon atoms is
small. Thus, fructose facilitates the biochemical formation
of triacylglycerols more efficiently than does glucose (3).
For example, when a diet containing 17% fructose was
provided to healthy men and women, the men, but not
the women, showed a highly significant increase of
32% in plasma triacylglycerol concentrations (27).
Overconsumption of sweetened beverages
One model for producing obesity in
rodents is to provide sweetened (sucrose, maltose,
etc) beverages for them to drink (28). In
this setting, the desire for the calorically sweetened
solution reduces the intake of solid food, but not
by enough to prevent a positive caloric balance and
the slow development of obesity. Adding the same
amount of sucrose or maltose as of a solid in the
diet does not produce the same response. Thus, in experimental
animals, sweetened beverages appear to enhance caloric
consumption.
Fructose and soft drinks
A similar argument about the role
of overconsumption of calorically sweetened
beverages may apply to humans (29�32).
Mattes (29) reported that when
humans ingest energy-containing beverages, energy
compensation is less precise than when solid foods are ingested.
In another study in humans, DiMeglio and Mattes (30)
found that when 15 healthy men and women were given a
carbohydrate load of 1880 kJ/d (450 kcal/d) as a
calorically sweetened soda for 4 wk, they gained
significantly more weight than when the same
carbohydrate load was given in a solid form as jelly beans.
Additional support for our hypothesis that calorically
sweetened beverages may contribute to the epidemic
of obesity comes from a longitudinal study in
adolescents. Ludwig et al (31) showed that
in adolescents participating in the Planet Health project,
the quantity of sugar-sweetened beverages ingested
predicted initial body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2)
and gain in BMI during the follow-up period. Raben
et al (32) designed a randomized, double-blind
study to compare the effect of calorically sweetened beverages
with that of diet drinks on weight gain in moderately overweight
men and women. This European study found that drinking calorically
sweetened beverages resulted in greater weight gain over
the 10-wk study than did drinking diet drinks. Compared with
the subjects who consumed diet drinks, those who consumed
calorically sweetened beverages did not compensate for
this consumption by reducing the intake of other
beverages and foods and thus gained weight. The
beverages in this study were sweetened with
sucrose, whereas in the United States almost all calorically
sweetened beverages are sweetened with HFCS. Thus, we
need a second randomized controlled study that
compares sucrose- and HFCS-sweetened beverages.
This could establish whether the form of the
caloric sweetener played a role in the weight gain observed
in the study by Raben et al (32).
The results of the studies by
Raben et al (32) and Ludwig et al
(31) suggest that the rapid increase in the
intake of calorically sweetened soft drinks could
be a contributing factor to the epidemic of weight
gain. Between 1970, when HFCS was introduced into
the marketplace, and 2000, the per capita consumption of HFCS
in the United States increased from 0.292 kg � person-1 �
y-1 (0.6 lb � person-1 � y-1)
to 33.4 kg � person-1 � y-1
(73.5 lb � person-1 � y-1), an
increase of > 100-fold (8) (Table 1 ).
The total consumption of fructose increased nearly
30%. The consumption of free fructose showed a
greater increase, which reflected the increasing
use of HFCS (Figure 1 ).
During the same interval, the consumption of
sucrose decreased nearly 50%, and the intakes of
sucrose and HFCS are now nearly identical. Although this shift
has clearly led to a major increase in free-fructose
consumption, it is unclear how much of the increase
in consumption of calorically sweetened soft drinks
is a result of the shift to beverages in which
one-half of the fructose is free rather than bound with
glucose as in sucrose. A recent review described many facets
of this issue (3).
 |
HFCS USE AND
INTAKE |
Availability of HFCS in the food supply
In 1970 HFCS represented < 1% of all caloric sweeteners
available for consumption in the United States, but
the HFCS portion of the caloric sweetener market
jumped rapidly in the 1980s and by 2000 represented
42.0% of all caloric sweeteners (Table 1 )
(8). HFCS-42 was initially the only
HFCS component, but by the early 1980s, HFCS-55 had
become the major source and constituted 61.2% of
all HFCS in 2000. These data are based on per capita food
disappearance data. In the absence of direct measures of HFCS
intake, these data provide the best indirect measure of the
HFCS available for consumption in the United States. The data
are useful for studying trends but probably overestimate intake
patterns. Although it is useful to understand that HFCS intake
represents more than two-fifths of the total intake of caloric
sweeteners in the United States, it is also important to
recognize that the proportion of HFCS in some foods is much
higher than that in other foods.
Foods containing HFCS
In the United States, HFCS is found in almost all foods
containing caloric sweeteners. These include most
soft drinks and fruit drinks, candied fruits and
canned fruits, dairy desserts and flavored yogurts,
most baked goods, many cereals, and jellies. Over
60% of the calories in apple juice, which is used as the base
for many of the fruit drinks, come from fructose, and thus
apple juice is another source of fructose in the diet.
Lists of HFCS-containing foods can be obtained from
organizations concerned with HFCS-related allergies
(33). It is clear that almost
all caloric sweeteners used by manufacturers of soft drinks
and fruit drinks are HFCS (4, 34).
In fact, about two-thirds of all HFCS consumed in
the United States are in beverages. Aside from
beverages, there is no definitive literature on the proportion
of caloric sweeteners that is HFCS in other processed foods.
HFCS is found in most processed foods; however, the exact
compositions are not available from either the
manufacturer or any publicly available
food-composition table.
Trends in obesity and
HFCS availability
There are important similarities between the trend in HFCS
availability and the trends in the prevalence of
obesity in the United States (Figure 1 ).
Using age-standardized, nationally representative measures
of obesity at 5 time points from 1960 to 1999 (35)
and data on the availability of HFCS collected annually
over this same period, we graphed both patterns.
The data on obesity are from the National Center
for Health Statistics for the following periods:
1960�1962 (National Health Examination Survey I),
1971�1975 [National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES)], 1976�1980 (NHANES II), 1988�1994 (NHANES
III), and 1999 (NHANES 1999�2000) (35).
The HFCS data are those from Table 1 .
The prevalence of overweight (BMI of 25�29.9) and
the prevalence of obesity (BMI > 30) were fit
with fourth-order polynomial curves so that the limited number
of data points could be fitted into a curve to capture the
US trends. We also included estimates of free-fructose intake
and total fructose intake. Total fructose is the sum of
free fructose and fructose that is part of the
disaccharide sucrose. Free fructose is the
monosaccharide in HFCS and is also obtained in
small amounts from other sources. Free-fructose intake closely
follows the intake of HFCS. Total fructose intake
increased nearly 30% between 1970 and 2000.
Estimated HFCS
consumption
The intake of caloric sweeteners in the United States has
increased rapidly, and nationally representative
data from 1994 to 1998 from the USDA allow us to
estimate an intake of 318 kcal/d for the average US
resident aged
2 y. This value is one-sixth of the intake of all
calories and close to one-third of the intake of
all carbohydrates and represents a significant increase
over the past 2 decades (Table 2 ).
As the intake of caloric sweeteners increased, so
did the fructose load, which increased from 158.5
to 228 kcal � person-1 � d-1
between 1977�1978 (36) and 1994�1998 (38,
39).
Furthermore, as shown in Table 2 ,
the major increase in the intake of caloric
sweeteners from 1977 to 1998 came from the intake
of soft drinks and fruit drinks, and these intake values were
105 and 31 kcal � person-1 � d-1,
respectively, of the total added sugar intake of
318 kcal � person-1 � d-1 in
1994�1998. Moreover, more than one-half of the
increased caloric sweetener intake during this time period
came from the intake of these beverages. The intakes of
these 2 types of beverages and of desserts total
about two-thirds of all caloric sweetener intake in
the United States today (Table 2 ).
We have no way to directly
measure total HFCS use. However, one Food and Drug
Administration study used very conservative methods
to estimate HFCS use for the nationally representative dietary
intake sample from 1977 to 1978 from the USDA (35).
Using measures of the proportion of HFCS in each food,
Glinsmann et al (40) created
food category�wide estimates of the proportion of
caloric sweeteners that is HFCS. We applied those same
proportions to a set of food groups to estimate the use of
caloric sweeteners not only during 1977�1978 but also during
later periods. Using our conversion technique applied to
the initial 1977�1978 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey
data, we obtained results that were only 4 kcal higher
than the estimates of Glinsmann et al (39).
This approach is based on HFCS composition in the
early 1980s. With the use of the USDA value of 4.2
g HFCS/tsp (0.84 g/mL), the availability of HFCS in
the food supply in the early 1980s was only one-half of
the current availability on a gram per capita basis (as shown
in Table 1 ).
Thus, we feel confident that we can use this approach to
provide a conservative lower limit of HFCS intake.
In Table 2 ,
the 2 columns at the right contain our estimates of
HFCS intake and total fructose intake. On the basis of the
trend in intakes, our estimate of HFCS intake for the
most recent period of measurement from 1994�1998
is 132 kcal � person-1 � d-1
(37). This represents a shift between 1977�1978
and 1994�1998 from 4.5% of total calories to 6.7%
of total calories, or from 10.1% of carbohydrates to 13.1%
of carbohydrates (41). The estimate of
total fructose intake, which was obtained from the
intakes of sucrose and HFCS, would be somewhat
higher if we knew the fructose content of the fruit
drinks.
Distribution of HFCS
intake matters!
We also explored the distribution of HFCS consumption by
examining quintiles of caloric sweetener intake
among Americans aged
2 y (Table 3 ).
Most of the increase in caloric sweetener intake
from the middle quintile to the upper quintile came from increases
in the intake of calorically sweetened beverages, particularly
soft drinks. Consumers in the top quintile, which represents
20% of all Americans, consume > 11% of their calories from
HFCS. Again, remember that this is a very conservative estimate.
This same group obtains almost one-half of its carbohydrates
from caloric sweeteners and one-fifth of its
carbohydrates from HFCS.
View
this table:
[in
this window]
[in
a new window]
|
TABLE
3 Distribution of consumption of added
caloric sweeteners and high-fructose corn
syrup (HFCS) by quintile (Q) of added sugar
intake in persons aged 2
y (1994�1996, 1998)1
|
|
 |
DISCUSSION |
Genetic factors play an important role in the development of
obesity (42). However, the rapidity
with which the current epidemic of obesity has
descended on the United States (35) and
many other countries (43) makes
environmental factors the more likely explanation.
From a public health perspective, the key question is
whether there are modifiable environmental agents that could
have triggered this epidemic and that might be altered.
Several environmental agents, including reduced
levels of physical activity (44),
a decrease in smoking, increased portion size (2),
eating outside the home and at fast-food
restaurants, and changes in the types of food that
are ingested (45), have been suggested.
In this article, we propose that the introduction of
HFCS and the increased intakes of soft drinks and
other sweetened beverages have led to increases in
total caloric and fructose consumption that are
important contributors to the current epidemic of obesity.
In this article, we address an
important potential hypothesis by which HFCS may
have an environmental link with the epidemic of
obesity. When total calorie intake is fixed, ie, if a person
eats the same amount of fructose, glucose, or sucrose in
a metabolically controlled setting, the response
should be the same, and this was shown by McDevitt
et al (46). This situation is not one in
which differences in taste and portion size are allowed to
operate. However, many biological factors that we noted
in this article suggest that calorically sweetened
beverages are associated with overconsumption when
the sweetener is in a liquid form (29�32).
The collective data suggest that overconsumption of
beverages sweetened with HFCS and containing > 50% free
fructose and the increased intake of total fructose may
play a role in the epidemic of obesity. Whether
HFCS used in solid food produces the same
overconsumption as it does in beverages is unknown,
but we suspect that if the HFCS was entirely in the
solid form, it would not pose the same problem (30).
Total fructose, both free fructose and fructose
combined in sucrose, in both beverages and solid
food may be viewed as a precursor to fat because of
the ease with which the carbon skeleton of fructose
can form the backbone for triacylglycerols and be used for
the synthesis of long-chain fatty acids (25).
Additional clinical trials are clearly needed to
buttress the conclusions of Raben et al (32)
that beverages containing sugar caused more weight
gain over 10 wk than did diet beverages.
There is a distinct likelihood
that the increased consumption of HFCS in beverages
may be linked to the increase in obesity. One US
study showed that beverages sweetened with HFCS are linked
with increased energy intake and weight gain (31).
Furthermore, we showed that the increase in the use
of HFCS was concurrent with the increase in obesity
rates in the United States. HFCS was introduced
into the food supply just before 1970 and increased rapidly
to constitute > 40% of the sweeteners used by 2000 (8).
The increase in HFCS consumption just preceded the rapid increase
in the prevalence of obesity that occurred between the
National Center for Health Statistics survey in 1976�1980
and the next survey in 1988�1994 (35)
(Figure 1 ).
HFCS is used in soft drinks,
and HFCS and apple juice, which has 65% fructose,
are used as the principal sweeteners for fruit drinks.
The increasing consumption of calorically sweetened soft
drinks has been associated with a decrease in the intake of
milk (5, 8, 47,
48). This relation adds another mechanism
by which HFCS consumption in beverages may be related to
the epidemic of obesity. Per capita calcium intake
decreased from 890 to 860 mg/d between 1970 and
1981 but has increased slowly since then (8).
This was a mean 3% decrease that probably reflected a
much larger decrease in calcium intake at the upper ends of
the skewed distribution for intake. In US teenagers,
total calcium intake decreased by > 50 mg/d
(> 10%) between 1977 and 1996 (49).
A convincing set of epidemiologic and clinical studies suggests
that dairy products may have a favorable effect on body
weight and insulin resistance in both children and adults
(50�52). During
the interval from 1970 to 1990, the intake of whole
milk decreased 58%. However, the intake of cheese, which
is high in fat, increased and partially offset the decrease
in calcium intake from milk (8).
Because milk is a major source of dietary calcium
for most humans, this decrease in milk intake may
play an important role in the decrease in calcium in the diet.
One possible public health
option is to address the sweet taste preference of
humans by reducing HFCS and, if sweetness is needed, relying
on artificial sweeteners to make up any difference in sweetness.
It is becoming increasingly clear that soft drink consumption
may be an important contributor to the epidemic of
obesity, in part through the larger portion sizes of these
beverages and through the increased intake of fructose
from HFCS and sucrose (53). If
HFCS acts as an agent in the disease, then reducing
exposure to this agent may help to reduce the epidemic
(54).
Some will question our measures
of HFCS intake and availability. Our very
conservative estimate of HFCS use and the Food and Drug
Administration data showed high HFCS intakes for a large segment
of the US population (39).
In conclusion, we believe that
an argument can now be made that the use of HFCS in
beverages should be reduced and that HFCS should be
replaced with alternative noncaloric sweeteners. Sweetness
is a preferred taste as well as an acquired one that may
be enhanced by exposure to sweet foods. The
hypothesis that providing sodas and juice drinks in
which caloric sweeteners are partially or
completely replaced with noncaloric sweeteners will help reduce
the prevalence of obesity is worth testing. If the intake
of calorically sweetened beverages is contributing to
the current epidemic, then reducing the
availability of these beverages by removing soda
machines from schools would be a strategy worth considering,
as would reducing the portion sizes of sodas that are
commercially available (55).
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank Dan Blanchette for programming assistance, Tom Swasey
for graphics support, and Frances Dancy for support in
administrative matters. We also thank Linda Adair
for thoughtful comments on an early version of this
article.
 |
REFERENCES |
- Bray GA, Popkin
BM. Dietary fat intake does affect obesity! Am J Clin
Nutr1998;68:1157�73.
[Abstract]
- Young LR, Nestle
M. The contribution of expanding portion sizes to the US
obesity epidemic. Am J Public Health2002;92:246�9.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Elliott SS, Keim
NL, Stern JS, Teff K, Havel PJ. Fructose, weight gain, and
the insulin resistance syndrome. Am J Clin
Nutr2002;76:911�22.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Smith SM. High
fructose corn syrup replaces sugar in processed food.
Environ Nutr1998;11:7�8.
- Nielsen SJ,
Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. Trends in energy intake in U.S.
between 1977 and 1996: similar shifts seen across age
groups. Obes Res2002;10:370�8.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Higley NA, White
JS. Trends in fructose availability and consumption in the
United States. Food Technol1991;45:118�22.
- Vuilleumier S.
Worldwide production of high-fructose syrup and
crystalline fructose. Am J Clin
Nutr1993;58(suppl):733S�6S.
[Abstract]
- Putnam JJ,
Allshouse JE. Food consumption, prices and expenditures,
1970�97. US Department of Agriculture Economic Research
Service statistical bulletin no. 965, April 1999.
Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1999.
- Krause MV, Mahan
LK. Food, nutrition and diet therapy. 7th ed.
Philadelphia: WB Saunders Company, 1984.
- Hanover LM, White
JS. Manufacturing, composition, and applications of
fructose. Am J Clin Nutr1993;58(suppl):724S�32S.
[Abstract]
- Watt BK, Merrill
AL. Composition of foods: raw, processed, prepared.
Agriculture handbook no. 8. Washington, DC: US Government
Printing Office, 1963.
- Petersen KF,
Laurent D, Yu C, Cline GW, Shulman GI. Stimulating effects
of low-dose fructose on insulin-stimulated hepatic
glycogen synthesis in humans. Diabetes2001;50:1263�8.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Edwards DM, Todd
JF, Mahmoudi M, et al. Glucagon-like peptide 1 has a
physiological role in the control of postprandial glucose
in humans: studies with the antagonist exendin 9�39.
Diabetes1999;48:86�93.
[Abstract]
- Vilsboll T,
Krarup T, Madsbad S, Holst JJ. Both GLP-1 and GIP are
insulinotropic at basal and postprandial glucose levels
and contribute nearly equally to the incretin effect of a
meal in healthy subjects. Regul Pept2003;114:115�21.
[Medline]
- Curry DL. Effects
of mannose and fructose on the synthesis and secretion of
insulin. Pancreas1989;4:2�9.
[Medline]
- Sato Y, Ito T,
Udaka U, et al. Immunohistochemical localization of
facilitated-diffusion glucose transporters in rat
pancreatic islets. Tissue Cell1996;28:637�43.
[Medline]
- Schwarz J-M,
Schutz Y, Froidevaux F, et al. Thermogenesis in men and
women induced by fructose vs glucose added to a meal. Am J
Clin Nutr1989;49:667�74.
[Abstract]
- Schwartz MW,
Woods SC, Porte D Jr, Seeley RJ, Baskin DG. Central
nervous system control of food intake.
Nature2000;404:661�71.
[Medline]
- Muller WM,
Gregoire FM, Stanhope KL, et al. Evidence that glucose
metabolism regulated leptin secretion from cultured rat
adipocytes. Endocrinology1998;39:551�8.
- Havel PJ. Control
of energy homeostasis and insulin action by adipocyte
hormones: leptin, acylation stimulating protein, and
adiponectin. Curr Opin Lipidol2002;13:51�9.
[Medline]
- Saad MF, Khan A,
Sharma A, et al. Physiological insulinemia acutely
modulated plasma leptin. Diabetes1998;47:544�9.
[Abstract]
- Farooqi IS,
Matarese G, Lord GM, et al. Beneficial effects of leptin
on obesity, T cell hyporesponsiveness, and neuroendocrine/metabolic
dysfunction of human congenital leptin deficiency. J Clin
Invest2002;110:1093�1103.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Farooqi IS, Keogh
JM, Kamath S, et al. Partial leptin deficiency and human
adiposity. Nature2001;414:34�5.
[Medline]
- Rosenbaum M,
Murphy EM, Heymsfield SB, Matthews DE, Leibel RL. Low dose
leptin administration reverses effects of sustained
weight-reduction on energy expenditure and circulating
concentrations of thyroid hormones. J Clin Endocrinol
Metab2002;87:2391�4.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Teff K, Elliot S,
Tschoep MR, et al. Consuming high fructose meals reduces
24 hour plasma insulin and leptin concentrations, does not
suppress circulating ghrelin, and increases postprandial
and fasting triglycerides in women.
Diabetes2002;52(suppl):A408(abstr).
- Mayes PA.
Intermediary metabolism of fructose. Am J Clin
Nutr1993;58(suppl):754S�65S.
[Abstract]
- Bantle JP, Raatz
SK, Thomas W, Georgopoulos A. Effects of dietary fructose
on plasma lipids in healthy subjects. Am J Clin
Nutr2000;72:1128�34.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Sclafani A.
Starch and sugar tastes in rodents: an update. Brain Res
Bull1991;27:383�6.
[Medline]
- Mattes RD.
Dietary compensation by humans for supplemental energy
provided as ethanol or carbohydrate in fluids. Physiol
Behav1996;59:179�87.
[Medline]
- DiMeglio DP,
Mattes RD. Liquid versus solid carbohydrate: effects on
food intake and body weight. Int J Obes Relat Metab
Disord2000;24:794�800.
[Medline]
- Ludwig DS,
Peterson KE, Gortmaker SL. Relation between consumption of
sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a
prospective, observational analysis.
Lancet2001;357:505�8.
[Medline]
- Raben A,
Vasilaras TH, Moller AC, Astrup A. Sucrose compared with
artifical sweeteners: different effects on ad libitum food
intake and body weight after 10 wk of supplementation in
overweight subjects. Am J Clin Nutr2002;76:721�9.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Hurt-Jones M. The
allergy self-help cookbook: over 350 natural food recipes,
free of all common food allergens. Emmaus, PA: Rodale
Press, 2002.
- Park YK, Yetley
E. Intakes and food sources of fructose in the United
States. Am J Clin Nutr1993;58(suppl):737S�47S.
[Abstract]
- Flegal KM,
Carroll MD, Ogden CL, Johnson CL. Prevalence and trends in
obesity among US adults, 1999�2000.
JAMA2002;288:1723�7.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Rizek RL. The
1977�78 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. Fam Econ
Rev1978;2001;4:3�7.
- Tippett KS,
Mickle SJ, Goldman JD, Sykes KE, Cook DA, Sebastian RS.
Food and nutrient intakes by individuals in the United
States, 1 day, 1989�91. Continuing Survey of Food
Intakes by Individuals 1989�91, Nationwide Food Surveys
report no. 91-2. Beltsville, MD: US Department of
Agriculture, Agriculture Research Service, 1995.
- Tippett KS, Cypel
YS. Design and operation: the Continuing Survey of Food
Intakes by Individuals and the Diet and Health Knowledge
Survey 1994�96. Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by
Individuals 1994�96, Nationwide Food Surveys report no.
96-1. Beltsville, MD: US Department of Agriculture,
Agriculture Research Service, 1998.
- United States
Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.
Design and operation: the Continuing Survey of Food
Intakes by Individuals and the Diet and Health Knowledge
Survey, 1994�96 and 1998. Beltsville, MD: US Department
of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 2000.
- Glinsmann WH,
Irausquin H, Park YK. Evaluation of health aspects of
sugars contained in carbohydrate sweeteners. Report of
Sugars Task Force, 1986. J Nutr 1986;116:S1�216.
- Popkin BM,
Nielsen SJ. The sweetening of the world�s diet. Obes
Res2003;11:1325�32.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Rankinen T,
Perusse L, Weisnagel SJ, Snyder EE, Chagnon YC, Bouchard
C. The human obesity gene map: the 2001 update. Obes
Res2002;10:196�243.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- World Health
Organization. Obesity: preventing and managing the global
epidemic. Report of a WHO consultation. World Health Organ
Tech Rep Ser2000;894:i�xii, 1�253.
- Prentice AM, Jebb
SA. Obesity in Britain: gluttony or sloth? Br Med
J1995;311:437�9.
[Free Full Text]
- Troiano RP,
Flegal KM. Overweight children and adolescents:
description, epidemiology, and demographics.
Pediatrics1998;101:497�504.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- McDevitt RM,
Poppitt SD, Murgatroyd PR, Prentice AM. Macronutrient
disposal during controlled overfeeding with glucose,
fructose, sucrose, or fat in lean and obese women. Am J
Clin Nutr2000;72:369�77.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Cavadini C,
Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. US adolescent food intake trends
from 1965 to 1996. Arch Dis Child2000;83:18�24.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Harnack L, Stang
J, Story M. Soft drink consumption among US children and
adolescents: nutritional consequences. J Am Diet
Assoc1999;99:436�41.
[Medline]
- Carruth BR,
Skinner JD. The role of dietary calcium and other
nutrients in moderating body fat in preschool children.
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord2001;25:559�66.
[Medline]
- Davies KM, Heaney
RP, Recker RR, et al. Calcium intake and body weight. J
Clin Endocrinol Metab2000;85:4635�8.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Pereira MA,
Jacobs DR Jr, Van Horn L, et al. Dairy consumption,
obesity, and the insulin resistance syndrome in young
adults: the CARDIA study. JAMA2002;287:2081�9.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Zemel MB, Shi H,
Greer B, Dirienzo D, Zemel PC. Regulation of adiposity by
dietary calcium. FASEB J2000;14:1132�8.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Barr SI, McCarron
DA, Heaney RP, et al. Effects of increased consumption of
fluid milk on energy and nutrient intake, body weight, and
cardiovascular risk factors in healthy older adults. J Am
Diet Assoc2000;100:810�7.
[Medline]
- Nielsen SJ,
Popkin BM. Patterns and trends in portion sizes,
1977�1998. JAMA2003;289:450�3.
[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Bray GA. The
fluoride hypothesis and diobesity. How to prevent diabetes
by preventing obesity. In: Mederios-Neto G, Halpern A,
Bouchard C, eds. Progress in obesity research: 9.
Proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Obesity.
Surrey, United Kingdom: John Libbey Eurotext, 2003:26�8.
Received for publication October
3, 2003. Accepted for publication December 15, 2003.
Link: http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/79/4/537
|