The fine art of avoidance I applaud the effort made recently by a team of researchers from Rutgers University, but the conclusion they reached in their study of high fructose corn syrup and diabetes has me baffled (if not speechless). The researchers, led by Chi-Tang Ho, Ph.D., tested 11 different sodas containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and found them to have extremely high levels of compounds called carbonyls, which have also been found in the blood of people with diabetes. Carbonyls are thought to cause tissue damage and to play a role in the complications associated with diabetes. According to Ho, a single can of soda contains five times as many of these potentially dangerous compounds as the levels found in the blood of patients with diabetes. The researchers assert that their finding solidly links HCFS to diabetes, although they stopped short at determining which is the chicken and which is the egg. Instead, Ho and his team switched gears entirely and announced that they'd also discovered a potential solution to this problem. They found that adding epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) to these drinks significantly reduced their carbonyl levels. If EGCG sounds familiar, you've probably heard of it in regard to green tea. This compound is one of the things that gives this beverage its health-promoting edge. While I appreciate that the researchers even thought to explore a natural compound, let alone publicly endorse it, I can't help but think they've missed the forest for the trees here. Ho himself admitted that "People consume too much high-fructose corn syrup in this country. It's in way too many food and drink products and there's growing evidence that it's bad for you." So why on earth would you add something to it to try to ward off those effects -- even something natural -- when you could save yourself the time and just avoid the stuff entirely? Buried about three-quarters of the way down the page of the article I read I found this sentence: "Eliminating or reducing consumption of HFCS is preferable, the researchers note." But if they really believed that I doubt that the very next sentence would say this: "They are currently exploring the chemical mechanisms by which tea appears to neutralize the reactivity of the syrup." I'm certainly not trying to downplay the benefits of EGCG. This compound has been found time and again to have a significant positive impact on health and longevity. All I'm saying is why not get it right from the source -- a nice glass of iced green tea -- rather than as an additive in a sickly (and I mean that in every sense of the word) sweet soda. Source:
"Soda warning? High-fructose corn syrup linked to diabetes, new study suggests," Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com), 8/23/07 | 
