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To clarify: The increased nutrient absorption they observed wasn’t actually a good thing. Our stomachs evolved to very efficiently extract as many nutrients as
by PragmaticPulp 5y ago
To clarify: The increased nutrient absorption they observed wasn’t actually a good thing. Our stomachs evolved to very efficiently extract as many nutrients as possible from the food we eat, so these nutrients weren’t being wasted. Rather, the excess fructose overwhelmed the normal nutrient breakdown process and resulted in an abnormal nutrient absorption pattern:
> Moderate amounts of fructose — for example, those ingested when consuming fruits — are taken up and broken down by intestinal cells. Excess amounts, such as those that might be ingested after drinking a sugary beverage, overwhelm the intestine’s absorptive capacity and the fructose either ‘leaks’ into the bloodstream to reach the liver intact, or it spills over from the small intestine and reaches the colon
Basically: Too much fructose at once, especially without all of the fiber and structure of fruit to slow it down, ends up in places it shouldn’t because the normal digestive processes can’t keep up. Spilling bursts of fructose into your bloodstream and your liver isn’t great for your body.
Excess Fructose spilling into the colon creates another set of problems as this can do weird things to the microbiome. Ideally the small intestine would be able to handle the fructose and leave the colonic bacteria to feed on the leftover complex carbohydrates, but if you eat too much fructose some of it spills into the colon.
- fiddlerwoaroof 5y agoWhat I don’t understand about these articles is the focus on HFCS: as I understand it, honey contains the same or more fructose per unit as HFCS, but these articles never seem to address whether we observe the same effects with it.
- gumby 5y agoHFCS is common in the American diet; honey much less so.
- fiddlerwoaroof 5y agoThe reason I find this sort of study annoying is that it can make it seem that sourcing food that replaces HFCS with honey or table sugar (e.g. Mexican Coke instead of American Coke) will make us healthier. But, in fact, it would be better to just reduce the amount of HFCS in the recipes and get used to food not being as sweet.
- chapium 5y agoI just settle on Cola being a dessert and should be consumed as infrequently as ice cream, and not as a daily vice.
- TylerE 5y agoPer capita consumption of HFCS = 38lbs. ..... of honey = ~1lb (and that seems high to me, personally)
- fiddlerwoaroof 5y agoMy point is this: if our takeaway from this is “replace the HFCS in our food with honey/agave nectar/table sugar”, we won’t actually solve the problem of reducing fructose consumption. What has to happen is a general reduction of the total amount of added sugars. Whether this means just using less HFCS or using less of an alternate sugar source is relatively unimportant.
- hack-news 5y agoUnrefined foods have qualities that make you slow down on eating. Fiber is one of these, which honey doesn't have, but I'd imagine there might be something else in there... all I know is that moderately-active people can eat as much fruit as they want alongside whatever their protein source is.
- caeril 5y agoMarket forces would solve that problem very quickly, considering that HFCS costs $0.26 per pound, versus cheap clover honey at ~$5.00 per pound. A corn syrup free world would drive the price of nearly every fructose-laden food at least 5x higher, if not much more.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- maxerickson 5y agoCane sugar is similar in price to HFCS.
- draw_down 5y agoThey used it in the experiment. Not everybody is an evil henchman out to stick it to the Coca Cola corporation.
- beowulfey 5y agoI would say honey vs HFCS is similar. A big reason why HFCS is no good is the raw fructose is easily absorbed (as mentioned) whereas sucrose is a dissacharide that must be broken down (which does not happen as quickly). The big difference in HFCS vs honey is the quantity that we are exposed to in processed foods. If they replaced all HFCS with honey, I can't imagine it would be very different. HFCS: 55% fructose, 45% glucose Sucrose: 50% fructose, 50% glucose Honey: 50% fructose, 40% glucose, 10% maltose (dissacharide of two glucose molecules).
- richcollins 5y agoThere are hunter gatherers (hadza, ache, pygmies) that eat substantial amounts of honey without becoming overweight.
- basilgohar 5y agoIf you don't get it, it's in their names – they spend their time hunting and gathering, not sitting around watching TV or on a computer. The extra nutrient absorption may benefit them in that case, as opposed to in a more sedentary/modern lifestyle.
- crazygringo 5y agoThat's not even remotely proven, so please don't present it as fact when it's not. And your snark of "if you don't get it" is absolutely uncalled for here on HN. It's not appropriate.
- meragrin_ 5y ago> That's not even remotely proven What is not proven? That people gain weight when they consume more calories than they burn? That hunter/gatherers burn more calories than people sitting at a desk most of the day? That extra nutrient absorption might help active people?
- floatingatoll 5y ago> burn more calories than https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040503 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... “average daily energy expenditure of traditional Hadza foragers was no different than that of Westerners after controlling for body size”
- olau 5y agoThat's an interesting study, thanks!
- maxerickson 5y agoSucrose is rapidly converted into glucose+fructose also.
- floatingatoll 5y agoThe general health limit for sugar for a person is approximately one small can of Coke per day or less, with no other added sugar anywhere your diet at all. That’s two or three tablespoons of honey or HFCS. Replacing HFCS with honey is probably technically better for you, but chances are, if you’re an American, your consumption is probably way beyond that limit, and changing out HFCS for honey or sugar won’t make anywhere near enough of a difference to matter. Avoiding HFCS is good practice for avoiding sugar, but ultimately you should just focus on limiting added sugar at this point and not worry so much about what kind it is. (Especially if you live in America, where the bread on a Subway footlong sandwich has a third of your daily sugar limit in it.) ps. Fruit juice should be considered water with added sugar, for the purposes of avoiding sugar. Whole fruit is fine enough, since your body knows how to handle overeating fruit.
- rubicon33 5y ago> The general health limit for sugar for a person is approximately one small can of Coke per day or less What about if you are, like most people are, also eating carbohydrates? How does the quantity of carbs being consumed affect this limit of sugar?
- floatingatoll 5y agoIf you’re asking “can I have more sugar if I eat less bread?”, no, that’s not really how this works. Eat more whole fruit instead. ed: If you're asking "do I have to stop eating carbs", they're releasing these guidelines for normal people on a normal diet that includes carbs. If, instead, you eat an American diet, solve the sugar problem first and worry about the rest once you're past the withdrawal symptoms. You'll have to change your diet enough to avoid the sugar anyways and no point in making that extra-difficult.
- sfblah 5y agoWhat are the withdrawal symptoms?
- 5y ago
- suyash 5y agoThis is why juicing is bad, specially if you consume it too quickly. Smoothies are better but eating whole fruit and vegetables is the best.
- another_story 5y agoIs there a difference if you're blending whole pieces of fruit and veg, so you get pulp and all?
- jshmrsn 5y agoThat’s probably what he means by smoothie. Though I’m sure some “smoothies” are fruit juice with blended ice.
- jiggawatts 5y agoYes, somewhat counter-intuitively, because chewing essentially turns fruit into a smoothie! The difference is the chewing effort and the time taken. Eating more than two apples makes me tired even thinking about it. I never eat more than one at a time in practice. Similarly with carrots, I'll happily crunch through maybe half of a large carrot, but never a whole one. Meanwhile, most people can just gulp down four to six apples or carrots worth of juice -- pulp and all -- without feeling immediately satiated. That's the difference: in juice form we can happily ingest far more food than we would prefer to eat via normal chewing. Note that it's entirely possible to eat the same amount of apples! It's just exhausting and even unpleasant.
- seanwilson 5y ago> Meanwhile, most people can just gulp down four to six apples or carrots worth of juice -- pulp and all -- without feeling immediately satiated. > That's the difference: in juice form we can happily ingest far more food than we would prefer to eat via normal chewing. I wish people would apply this logic to things like olive oil where a tablespoon contains about 20 pressed olives and about 120 calories. It's one of the easiest way to eat hundreds of extra calories more than you should and lots of recipes suggest using a lot of it for frying and dressings. I think the common encouragement of "but you need fat, it's healthy fat and it's part of the Mediterranean Diet!" is a weird dietary blindspot when the goal is calorie reduction and fat deficiencies aren't the problem. It feel like it's only quite recently that fruit juices are being discouraged and that was a blindspot too. I don't advocate that there's some magic to a "whole food" diet except that not eating pressed, blended etc. stuff is a decent rule of thumb to slowing down much you can eat in one sitting.
- dghughes 5y ago>Our stomachs evolved to very efficiently extract as many nutrients as possible from the food we eat, I'm pretty sure the stomach just breaks down food with acid it's then passed along to the intestines which absorb the nutrients.
- slumdev 5y agoIt's even more complicated than that. Some nutrients are absorbed in the stomach. Most are absorbed in the small intestine. Some are absorbed in the large intestine. Heck, some are even absorbed through the mouth and gums!
- senectus1 5y agoThis is pretty important information for those finding themselves in the FODMAP division of intestinal issues.
- dazag 5y agoFoods with highest levels of fructose are mostly ready-to-eat cereals.. Always promoted as healthy, is probably one of the worst things you can do in the morning... It will set a roller coaster for the rest of the day