A Surprising Reason Why Soft Drinks Make You Fat
Connoisseurs who remember the great taste of old-time sodas try to find Kosher Coke and Coca-Cola bottled in Mexico, where it's still made with sugar. But these sodas may not just taste better; the cost-cutting measures of major manufacturers may be the leading cause of obesity in America. Obesity researcher Dr. George A. Bray says the rise in corn sweeteners is "coincidental with the epidemic of obesity. Body weights rose slowly for most of the 20th century until the late 1980s. At that time, many countries showed a sudden increase in the rate at which obesity has been galloping forward."
Unlike glucose (sugar), fructose doesn't trigger responses in the hormones that regulate your appetite and energy output, meaning it's much more likely to be converted into fat.
"Fake foods" have been a major cause of disease in the past few years. Margarine, which replaced butter when it was scarce during World War II, was once touted by the American Heart Association as a miracle food that lowered cholesterol levels. It's now been shown to do just the opposite and we're warned not to eat it.
High-fructose corn syrup made soft drinks cheap, especially after we could no longer import sugar from Cuba. Like all the other "fake foods" of recent years, it was created so manufacturers could cut costs and make more profit. And like the other fakes, it has ended up costing the public large amounts of money for treating heart disease, obesity
What will they try to sell us next?
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