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"The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolis

"The rats in the Princeton study became obese by drinking high-fructose corn syrup, but not by drinking sucrose. The critical differences in appetite, metabolism and gene expression that underlie this phenomenon are yet to be discovered" The whole thing is one big correlation confirmation. I was hoping to find something substantial that would explain the underlying cause.

tomphoolery 13y ago
I'm no expert on this, but it seems like they were studying the problem in the wrong way. Instead of considering HFCS as a food, and measuring how it works on your body, why not consider HFCS as a drug, and measure how it works on your brain? I think the HFCS->obesity issue has a lot more to do with the way sugar affects our brains. I think HFCS is detrimental to human survival because it has encouraged us to get all of our happiness from food, leading to overeating and eating to "feel better" (it never happens) in some portions of the population. Thus, we are at this obesity issue, which is really a happiness issue. From my own personal experience: When you believe in yourself and you want to change, obesity becomes less and less of a problem because you are motivated to work out, eat better and generally take care of yourself. But the fact remains that you once ingested a drug to feel happy which also made you fat. Now you are eating food the way you're supposed to and not really getting that happiness that was once supplied by the sugary foods you were eating. You must use other drugs, like meditation or even alcohol/marijuana, to supplant this "completeness" feeling that you are missing from the lack of sugary foods. Eventually, your body will give up the tolerance to sugary foods and you'll find yourself drinking sodas and eating dessert much less than you used to. Now, the general level of HFCS in all of our foods is no longer affecting your body weight and the way you feel about yourself. I don't want to sound like a commercial here, but in the last 2-3 years I've been very much aware of my sugar-rich diet and began to slowly wean myself off of the addiction, and I can happily say that I've gone from a size 40 to a size 36 waist and lost over 20 pounds in the last year alone by simply being aware of how sugar affects your mind AND body, getting more exercise, and eating smaller portions of healthier food.
- matwood 13y ago
  Excellent point. Looking at HFCS as a drug that may cause some people to eat is more likely to yield the causation people are looking for.
- grannyg00se 13y ago
  But the caloric intake of both groups was the same. So even if the HFCS animals wanted to eat more, they weren't overeating or eating to "feel better" because they weren't permitted.
- greenyoda 13y ago
  "Instead of considering HFCS as a food, and measuring how it works on your body, why not consider HFCS as a drug, and measure how it works on your brain?" That does seem to be the major focus of this lab: Bart Hoebel is a psychology professor "who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction".
  - tomphoolery 13y ago
    You're right, this was just research and wasn't attempting to explain the "why", just the "what happens".

tomphoolery 13y ago

I'm no expert on this, but it seems like they were studying the problem in the wrong way. Instead of considering HFCS as a food, and measuring how it works on your body, why not consider HFCS as a drug, and measure how it works on your brain? I think the HFCS->obesity issue has a lot more to do with the way sugar affects our brains. I think HFCS is detrimental to human survival because it has encouraged us to get all of our happiness from food, leading to overeating and eating to "feel better" (it never happens) in some portions of the population. Thus, we are at this obesity issue, which is really a happiness issue. From my own personal experience: When you believe in yourself and you want to change, obesity becomes less and less of a problem because you are motivated to work out, eat better and generally take care of yourself. But the fact remains that you once ingested a drug to feel happy which also made you fat. Now you are eating food the way you're supposed to and not really getting that happiness that was once supplied by the sugary foods you were eating. You must use other drugs, like meditation or even alcohol/marijuana, to supplant this "completeness" feeling that you are missing from the lack of sugary foods. Eventually, your body will give up the tolerance to sugary foods and you'll find yourself drinking sodas and eating dessert much less than you used to. Now, the general level of HFCS in all of our foods is no longer affecting your body weight and the way you feel about yourself. I don't want to sound like a commercial here, but in the last 2-3 years I've been very much aware of my sugar-rich diet and began to slowly wean myself off of the addiction, and I can happily say that I've gone from a size 40 to a size 36 waist and lost over 20 pounds in the last year alone by simply being aware of how sugar affects your mind AND body, getting more exercise, and eating smaller portions of healthier food.

matwood 13y ago
Excellent point. Looking at HFCS as a drug that may cause some people to eat is more likely to yield the causation people are looking for.
grannyg00se 13y ago
But the caloric intake of both groups was the same. So even if the HFCS animals wanted to eat more, they weren't overeating or eating to "feel better" because they weren't permitted.
greenyoda 13y ago
"Instead of considering HFCS as a food, and measuring how it works on your body, why not consider HFCS as a drug, and measure how it works on your brain?" That does seem to be the major focus of this lab: Bart Hoebel is a psychology professor "who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction".
- tomphoolery 13y ago
  You're right, this was just research and wasn't attempting to explain the "why", just the "what happens".