An overweight America may be fixated on fat and obsessed with carbs, but nutritionists say the real problem is much sweeter -- we're awash in sugar.
Not just any sugar, but high fructose corn syrup.
The country eats more sweetener made from corn than from sugarcane or beets, gulping it down in drinks as well as in frozen food and baked goods. Even ketchup is laced with it.
Almost all nutritionists finger high fructose corn syrup consumption as a major culprit in the nation's obesity crisis. The inexpensive sweetener flooded the American food supply in the early 1980s, just about the time the nation's obesity rate started its unprecedented climb.
Never before have people eaten so many refined carbohydrates.
Reseach shows that corn syrup and other highly refined carbohydrates such as white flour, white rice and sugar put
people at risk of obesity and diabetes.
Statistics show that 65 percent of Americans are overweight and 27 percent are considered clinically obese. One of the
reasons behind this growing epidemic is our addiction to starches and sugars. It's not just the fat in the food that's
making people obese; it's the excess carbohydrates from grains and sugars.
If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms, chances are very good that the excess carbohydrates in your body
are, in part or whole, to blame:
- Excess weight
- Fatigue and frequent sleepiness
- Depression
- Brain fogginess
- Bloating
- Low blood sugar
- High blood pressure
- High triglycerides
A new study attributed the significant rise of diabetes cases to the growing consumption of refined carbohydrates.
The study also supported evidence that the advice from public health regarding limiting their intake of sugary foods
and lowering their fat intake might have backfired. Over the past 40 years, the number of obese people and those diagnosed
with diabetes has risen dramatically.
Experts blamed these rising health problems on the high numbers of sedentary lifestyles and poor diets.
A study gathered information on food composition and consumption over the years 1909 to 1997. Data from these findings
were compared to the rates of disease from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When researchers evaluated
the results they found that the drop in fiber consumption and heavy consumption of corn syrup found in most processed
foods were at the root of the problem, not the number of proteins, fats or carbohydrates.
Other studies have shown that people who consumed a great deal of carbohydrates over a long period of time were in the
higher risk brackets of developing diabetes.
The study also revealed that the amount of corn syrup people ate really escalated around the time the low-fat craze began
to take off. Many nutritionists have recommended whole grain alternatives over refined carbohydrates, which they warned
to keep away from.
