WARNing WEDnesday: Foods that make you FAT…AND stupid?!

They may look innocent and taste great but they’ll bloat your belly and ultimately, cause more bad than good to your health-here is what you need to know to avoid them!

In October 2004, researchers at the Society for Neuroscience’s conference in San Diego announced something amazing: they performed several studies demonstrating that trans fats attacked brain tissue, muddying thought and destroying memory. The tests were done on rats (but most experts are grimly confident that the findings apply to humans) for a span of 6 weeks. The rodents ate a diet that mimicked the typical American diet, except one group’s meals used vegetable oil while the other contained trans fatty acids. A series of progressively more difficult mazes were set up and the rats eating trans fats made many more mistakes than the vegetable oil group; the more complex the challenge, the worse the trans fat eaters did. And unlike the vegetable oil group, they didn’t seem to learn from previous trips through the maze. It is suspected that the trans fats were choking off a key neurological protein, possibly by inflaming the brain’s tissues.

A few months before that was presented, Lee S. Gross, MD, director of nutrition and diabetes education at Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte, FL, was also making a connection between American diet’s and their health. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was first introduced in the late 1960’s, and just a few years later, rates of obesity and diabetes began to skyrocket. As he collected more data, he eventually published his results in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. “We kept seeing the same thing,” says Gross. “As the consumption of corn syrup goes up, the number of diabetics goes up too.”

These two ingredients-trans fat and high fructose corn syrup-are in 40% of the foods Americans eat everyday! Experts believe that both are significant culprits to the epidemic levels of obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases in North America. Research shows trans fat can drive “bad” LDL cholesterol levels up and heart-protective HDL cholesterol levels down.

Manufacturers use trans fat in nearly everything, from margarine and shortening in cookies, granola bars, bean dip, and frozen french fries. Look for the words: hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil-code for trans fats-on labels. If it appears among the top three or four ingredients, you’re better off with something else. (Beware of this common trick: If a food, such as pie, has 2 or more components, the maker may list the low-fat or fat-free on first-e.g.the filling-followed by the fat-dense component-the crust-so read carefully!)

One possible link between HFCS, obesity, and diabetes is the way our bodies process fructose. Our body naturally produces insulin when we eat sweet foods, a hormone that converts sugar to glucose (the form of sugar that cells burn for energy). When energy needs are met, insulin triggers cells to produce leptin, a hormone that tells your brain that you are now full. Unfortunately, fructose doesn’t stimulate insulin like other sugars do, which means that the body doesn’t release leptin. (that’s why you just keep eating all that gross sugary treats without ever feeling full) When sugar bypasses insulin, it’s converted straight to fat. Fructose also seems to drive up the levels of blood fats called triglycerides, a risk factor for heart disease.

Avoid foods with HFCS to avoid other added sugars, check for these other identities they hide under: fruit juice concentrate, evaporated cane juice, malt, molasses, and caramel. No matter what you want to call it, sugar is sugar=calories with no nutritional value. (there’s too little natural sugar in whole foods-fructose in fruit, for example-to affect insulin response) You’ll find HFCS in foods such as: ketchup, pasta sauce, English muffins, cereal, and yogurt. But we get about two-thirds of it from lemonade, and fruit drinks!

Until next time team, after checking the labels, you may feel sad to say goodbye to many processed foods, but don’t despair-there are many GOOD alternatives on store shelves these days!

Health respect & happiness,
Beki