You're a half-mile away from stopping and searching for your tried-and-true stash of candy to replenish your energy stores. But are you increasing your potential long-term health risks in the process? A new study in the journal Metabolism suggests that if your candy has high fructose corn syrup, the answer may be yes.
The researchers observed 145 people, ages 18 to 40, over a two-week study period. They provided beverages sweetened with aspartame, glucose, fructose, or high fructose corn syrup. Blood samples were collected before and after consumption of the drink.
they expected to see elevations in triglycerides, one of the markers of poor heart health, with fructose, as it has been shown in previous studies to be a problem. Excess fructose ends up in the liver, which increases the production of uric acid and triglycerides to compensate, increasing the risk of heart disease and fatty liver disease.
On the contrary, the glucose it does not overload the liver and is instead used by the entire body. The enzyme responsible for the amount of glucose that the liver removes from the blood is only activated when the body needs energy.
That's why the researchers were surprised to see that the combination of fructose and glucose, which is found in high fructose corn syrup, it seemed to be worse than fructose alone.
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The most important conclusion is that certain blood risk factors increased more when the subjects consumed the corn syrup compared to the same amount of pure fructose.
Also, it doesn't seem like a lot is needed to raise triglyceride levels. Even a 10 percent dose caused increases in risk factors compared to the pre-study level.
While these findings may mean it's helpful to check your favorite candy for corn syrup, the results shouldn't distract you from what's already well established: excessive amounts of sugar added to processed foods are not good for you for you, whatever the type.
Although very active people were not included in the study, more research will be needed to determine if exercise protects against the effects of sugar. But in the meantime, don't count on putting in the extra miles to offset the potentially negative impacts on blood lipids.
That doesn't mean giving up your favorite fuel candy forever, though, but you can choose options that contain natural sugars, like dried fruit.