Fructose may trick you into thinking you are hungrier than you should be

This is a very interesting piece of research. Anyone who has been paying the slightest bit of attention for the past several years knows that there is an increasing obesity problem in the United States–as well as in other countries.

There are a variety of possible causes put out, some more reasonable than others: yo-yo dieting, lack of exercise, too much meat, too many carbohydrates.

Although most people are looking for a magic bullet, reasonable people know that there is no single solution to the problem. There are, however, things that exacerbate the problem, and fructose looks to be one of those things.

UF research implicates a rise in uric acid in the bloodstream that occurs after fructose is consumed, Johnson said. That temporary spike blocks the action of insulin, which typically regulates how body cells use and store sugar and other food nutrients for energy. If uric acid levels are frequently elevated, over time features of metabolic syndrome may develop, including high blood pressure, obesity and elevated blood cholesterol levels.

I like the way that the researcher puts it:
“We cannot definitively state that fructose is driving the obesity epidemic,” said Johnson. “But we can say that there is evidence supporting the possibility that it could have a contributory role – if not a major role.”