High Fructose Corn Syrup and Enriched Flour

[Tim C]

In a search for low cal, high nutrition foods, I have found a bread that is very low cal but contains HFCS and enriched flour. Why are these two items frowned upon when trying to burn fat? Thanks Tim C

[Rob Devlin]

Tim read this article on T-Nation.com

Here is part of it:

Are you looking for that nutritional edge to get your body composition to the next level?

Have you been eating your "five-a-day" like a good boy should, but just can't shake that last bit of icing off your jelly belly?


Well, take close note: if you reduce the fructose in your diet, you will lose that stubborn body fat!


Fructose Metabolism 101, the simplified version

Fructose is a type of simple sugar (a carbohydrate in its simplest form) that is much different than its sister sugar, namely glucose. When you eat fructose, it's absorbed more slowly in the intestine, and its absorption is slightly limited.

Some people—like those with diabetes, see fructose as a superior simple sugar because it doesn't get used as quickly or as efficiently. What they don't realize, is that fructose is normally consumed at the same time as glucose, which speeds up the absorptive process.

Once fructose passes through the intestine, it's quickly taken to the liver for processing. Here, it has two fates: it's either turned into glucose and then stored as liver glycogen; or it's used for energy by liver cells.

Unlike glucose, fructose can only be metabolized in the liver, whereas glucose can be passed to other body tissues, like your muscles.


Why fructose is a problem for dieters:

If you have a lot of fructose in your diet, it only has one place to go: your liver. If your liver glycogen levels are full, which is the case all times of the day except before you eat breakfast, then that fructose is turned into fat!

Since your liver doesn't want to store this new fat, it ships it to other parts of your body; places you don't want it, like your abdomen or lower back.

Do you now see why too much fructose in your diet can be one of the biggest reasons you can't shrink those last few fat cells?"

[Tim C]

Greta info Rob, thanks. I do have a ? though. When they refer to "5 A Day" what are they referring to? And also, do you have any input regarding "enriched flour?"

[Angie]

Five a day is 'five servings of fruit/veg a day' - this is the recommended minimum in the UK. In the states, they tell you to aim for five to nine servings. Most people in the UK (and probably the US) don't even manage five.

Enriched flour: the issue is to do with the GI - glycemic index. To really appreciate what is going on here, I am afraid I am going to give you a chemistry lesson.

A 'saccharide' is a sugar. A monosaccharide is a molecule made up of only one type of sugar. Examples of monosaccharides are glucose, fructose and galactose. A disaccharide has two sugar molecules linked together with a chemical bond. They can be two the same, like a glucose plus another glucose, which gives maltose. Or they can be made up of two different monosaccharides. Sucrose (table sugar) is a disachharide made up of one glucose bound to one fructose; and lactose (milk sugar) is a glucose plus a galactose. Anything with more than two sugar molecules bound together is a polysaccharide. All starches are polysachharides, and can contain hundreds, or even thousands of glucose monosacs joined together with chemical bonds.

Why this is important is that when you eat carbs, they need to be broken down by enzymes in your digestive system into their component monosaccharides before being absorbed. Only monosaccharides can be absorbed and thus released into your blood stream. Obviously, if you were to eat pure glucose (or fructose) which are already monosaccharides, they do not need to be broken down further before being absorbed. Thus they are absorbed very quickly resulting in a rapid spike in your blood sugar levels. Your pancreas senses this sudden large surge in blood glucose and responds with a massive release of insulin which floods the blood stream and starts mopping up the glucose. Glucose is absorbed into your liver and muscles, where it is converted to and stored as glycogen (lots of glucose molecules joined together). This is why if you are going to eat simple sugars, the time to do it is post exercise or first thing in the morning when your glycogen stores have been depleted. However your glycogen storage capacity is limited. Any excess above what you need to replenish these stores is converted to fat. Also, the big insulin release reduces fat oxidation (using fat as fuel, ie. fat burning) and increases fat storage. Plus, because of the spike, and the overresponse of insulin, you tend to go too far in the opposite direction, causing too big a drop in blood glucose. This results in tiredness (mid-afternoon crash after a big carb lunch, for example), hunger and cravings, moodiness, etc. And do it too often, and the pancreas gets fed up, stops responding and/or your target organs become insensitive to the insulin in your system, failing to take up the glucose in your system and you develop type 2 diabetes.

SO, large surges in blood glucose are BAD. Right?

OK, the glycemic index is a measure of how quickly food is released into the blood stream, basically. It was originally developed for diabetics to help them keep their blood sugar on a more even keel and avoid peaks and troughs. Generally speaking, simple sugars (monosaccharides) have a high GI, ie. they are absorbed and released into your bloodstream very quickly. The more complex a carbohydrate, the more chemical bonds it has and the longer it takes to break down into component glucose molecules for absorption, and thus you get a slower, steady stream of glucose released into the blood over a longer period. This results in a more sustained energy release, without the peak and crash you get after eating simple sugars, and also insulin is released in a more appropriate, steady stream to deal with it. Therefore low GI is better than high GI. With me so far?

However, one thing to note about GI, is that it is measured for foods in isolation. Adding fibre to a carb slows down the digestion and absorption process, as does adding fat. This gives some odd results, like ice cream having a relatively low GI, so GI alone is not the whole story, from a health point of view. This is also the reason some diets tell you to avoid fruit - because the fructose is a simple carb (monosaccharide) and thus easily absorbed. Personally, I would avoid any diet that tells you to avoid fruit, unless there is a medical reason for it. There are so many good things in fruit - loads of vitamins, phytonutrients, fibre etc. Although this is one reason that whole fruit is better than fruit juice - losing all the pulp removes much of the insoluble fibre.

Obviously, a banana is better than an icecream, put add some (unsweetened natural) peanut butter, or a handful of almonds to slow down the glucose release and provide more sustained energy and prevent blood sugar swings and cravings.

Getting back to wholegrains, these contain, unsurprisingly, the whole grain - including the germ and bran. Processing of whole grains takes off the outer coating with all the fibre and most of the vitamins and begins the process of breaking down the carbs that would otherwise have had to be done in your gut. Thus, refined flour/white pasta/white rice etc, are more like simple sugars than complex ones - they result in a much more rapid release of glucose into the bloodstream (not to mention the reduced health benefits from the loss of fibre and vitamins). Enriched flour has had (some of) the vitamins put back. But other than that, it is still a processed carb and will react just like unenriched flour in terms of blood glucose. Thus enriched versions of refined carbs do not provide a better GI profile, although they do provide a few more vitamins and in that sense are better than the unenriched version.

Ideally, you should go for all wholegrains, preferably organic where possible, for maximum health benefits and best GI profile. I find that in many cases, the wholegrain tastes nicer and has a better texture than the refined version. But in situations where you simply cannot stomach the wholegrain version of the food (for example, I simply prefer white bread to wholemeal no matter how hard I try to eat the good stuff), improve (slow down) its transit time in your gut by getting one enriched with added back fibre and eating it with a healthy fat.

Hope that answers your question.

[Tim C]

Thanks Angie, but I'm a little dizzy now. Just kidding. In your opinion, is a whole grain bread better for fat burning than the benefits of a low calorie bread?

[Angie]

To be honest, the difference in calories between a regular and a low-cal bread is not likely to be huge, and unless you eat a lot of bread, which I probably wouldn't recommend anyway, is not likely to make a big difference in the long run. A whole grain bread, particularly if you get a seeded one (good for essential fats and additional protein) is likely to be a little higher in cals but provide slower release energy (i.e. keep you full for longer). Generally speaking, the calories you really need to worry about are the ones you put ON the bread.

So to answer your question, yes, whole grain is better. The slower release prevents the insulin surge which inhibits fat burning. It also is less likely to cause you to have a hypoglycemic binge on chocolate bars. Plus, the fibre is good for bowel health, heart health etc. Whole grains rule. However, if you can't stomach the stuff, don't force yourself to eat it. I usually go for a 'best of both' product which is a white bread with added fibre. I just prefer the taste. But I wouldn't just put a sugar on it (like jam or honey). I use it for sandwiches with good quality protein as the filling. And I don't eat much anyway. If I have one sandwich a week... On the other hand, I much prefer brown rice to white and only eat wholegrain pasta.

At the end of the day, once you understand the science and what different foods are doing to your body, then the choice is up to you but you can weigh up the pros and cons.

[Tim C]

Thanks for the help Angie.

[alityson]

I avoid anything with enriched flour and hfcs. you can buy 100% whole wheat bread at places like Whole Foods Market or make yourself. I have a breadmaker and i make a loaf that tastes delcious with no enriched flour, hfcs, or sugar. You can also make by hand if you have no breadmaker.