…and my dislike for this “food” invention continues.
A study, published in the February 2015 issue of
Hippocampus, demonstrated yet another reason not to consume High Fructose Corn Syrup
(HFCS). I will say that when I first went
digging for some research, I was more looking for something showing the
relationship between consumption of HFCS and inflammation when I came across
this one. This study showed that when
adolescent rats were given a HFCS beverage, it created inflammation in the
hippocampal region of the brain which impaired their spatial learning and
memory.
There were 3 groups of rats, each group was given ad lib access
to the same type of food. One group, the
control group, had extra water to drink.
The second group had an 11% sucrose (table sugar) drink. The third group had an 11% HFCS drink. Now the reason they had a sucrose and a HFCS
drink, I believe, is to show the resulting differences between consuming these
two very similar, yet remarkably different types of
sugar-sweetened-beverages. The makers of
HFCS would like you to believe that HFCS and Sucrose are the same simply
because they are chemically similar.
However, they vary significantly in that the Sucrose has a bond where
the HFCS does not… and unfortunately for the HFCS promoters, this “tiny”
difference is what makes HFCS more detrimental than Sucrose to our health.
So the rats were allowed to eat and drink as they pleased
and then were placed in a particular maze (Barnes maze) to test their learning
and memory processes. The time it took
the HFCS group to progress through the maze was slower than that for the
Sucrose group, with the fastest group being the control group. They also documented metabolic changes in the
adolescent rats, showing increased insulin levels, impaired glucose tolerance, increased levels of pro-inflammatory proteins in
the liver (interleukin-1B), and pro-inflammatory proteins in the hippocampus
(interleukin-6 and interleukin-1B).
Similar impairment was seen in those drinking the Sucrose beverage
(plasma insulin as interestingly the highest in this group), but were typically
less severe than in the HFCS group.
It is important to remember that the study was performed on
rats, as opposed to humans, and thus not always directly transferable. But, even if it is only partially applicable
to humans, I’m sold.
The hippocampal region of the brain is where spatial
learning and memory occurs. So while
this is incredibly important information when we are choosing what to feed, or
not feed, to adolescents, it is also of the utmost importance when we start
thinking about the health of aging adults as well. Inflammation in the hippocampus typically
comes before dysfunction of this region, and failing of this region can be the
precursor to Alzheimer’s.
So what’s the take home message? High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sucrose
sweetened beverages may impair learning ability in adolescents and create an
environment that encourages Alzheimer’s in adults.
Is that bottle of soda or bag of candy really worth it?
Hsu TM, Konanur VR, Taing L, Usui R, Kayser BD, Goran MI, et
al. Effects of sucrose and high fructose corn syrup consumption on spatial
memory function and hippocampal neuroinflammation in adolescent rats.
Hippocampus. 2015:25(2);227-239.
