[PHNUTR-L] Claim that fructose may have triggered the obesity epidemic

[Forbes-Ewan, Chris]

Earlier this year I sent an article from Intelihealth that claimed a link between high-fructose corn syrup and obesity in the United States (see message below and first attachment).

I also commented that the purported link was unlikely, because the timing and extent of the obesity epidemic is very similar in developed nations that retained sucrose as the major sweetener in the food supply.

Intelihealth has now published an article which comes to the same conclusion (see second attachment).

Chris Forbes-Ewan

Defence Scientist (Nutrition) S&T 5
Defence Nutrition
DSTO-Scottsdale
PO Box 147
SCOTTSDALE  Tas  7260
AUSTRALIA

Phone: Int + 61 3 6352 6607 (03 6352 6607 within Australia)
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-----Original Message-----
From: Forbes-Ewan, Chris [mailto:Chris.Forbes-Ewan at dsto.defence.gov.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 30 March 2004 2:55 PM
To: Public Health Nutrition Discussion and Information Group;
fnspec at purdue.edu
Subject: [PHNUTR-L] Claim that fructose may have triggered the obesity
epidemi c


The attachment to this message is an article from Intelihealth about a possible cause of the obesity epidemic. 

The claim is made that the switch in the 1970s from sucrose to high-fructose corn syrup as the major sweetener used by the US food industry may have been a significant contributor to the onset of the epidemic.

I believe that this is unlikely to be correct--the food industries of many other developed nations, including Australia, did not change from sucrose to fructose, yet the obesity epidemic in those nations closely matches that in the US in terms of timing, extent and rate of progression.


 <<Claim that fructose is linked to obesity epidemic.doc>> 


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