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Last updated on Thursday, October 16, 2014
(UNDATED) - Those who have claimed that high fructose corn syrup has helped lead to an obesity epidemic may have some ammo on their side.
A study from Harvard Medical School shows that fructose may promote obesity and diabetes by stimulating a hormone that regulates body fat. The research showed the stimulation appears to be caused by artificial sugars only, specifically high fructose corn syrup.
"When you are consuming a lot of processed sugars or added sugars, that's when these increases were seen, and it wasn't noted when people consumed whole foods, like fresh fruit," said Anna Busenberg, a registered dietitian with St. Vincent Women's Hospital in Indianapolis.
The corn industry, including growers in Indiana, have gone out of their way to try to show that the body's reaction to high fructose corn syrup is the same as the reaction to cane or beet sugar.
Many companies began sweetening foods and drinks with high fructose corn syrup to save money, though some have reverted to regular sugar in recent years.
Busenberg says the study was small, with only about 20 participants, "half of whom were considered lean and healthy and half who were either obese or at risk of developing diabetes," she said, adding that more research was needed.
Still, Busenberg considered the findings significant.
"This is the first time that there is actually a way to measure what is happening with fructose in the body."
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