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Q&A: ‘Toxic’ effects of sugar: should we be afraid of fructose?

June 6, 2012 Comments off

Q&A: ‘Toxic’ effects of sugar: should we be afraid of fructose?
Source: BMC Biology
Fructose is a hexose with the same chemical formula, C6H12O6, as glucose. These two sweet-tasting molecules differ structurally, however, as fructose has a keto-group on the second carbon while glucose presents an aldehyde group on the first carbon. Free fructose, together with free glucose, is present in small amounts in fruits and honey. The main part of today’s dietary fructose intake comes from sucrose, a disaccharide composed of one molecule of glucose linked to a molecule of fructose through an alpha 1-4 glycoside bond.

The link with metabolic disease is partly circumstantial. Fructose consumption has been low throughout most of human history, but started to increase after the crusades, when Europeans became acquainted with sucrose produced from sugar cane in Asia. It was at first a luxury product, but consumption rapidly increased in the 16th and 17th centuries when sugar became more widely available as a consequence of colonial trading. Its consumption was boosted, first by the introduction of new beverages – tea, coffee, and cocoa in the 17th to 18th centuries; and second with the production of chocolate bars, ice-creams, and sodas at the beginning of the 20th century. Total sugar consumption thus increased from less than 5 kg/person/year in the 1800s to about 40 kg at the turn of the 19th century, and about 70 kg/person/year in 2006. In short, a rapid and continuous increase in consumption has been observed from 1750 until the present day.

In the 1960s, a novel food technology allowed the large-scale, industrial conversion of glucose into fructose. As a result, the US corn industry started preparing what is now known as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), that is, a concentrated solution of corn-derived glucose and fructose mixed in various relative proportions. Mainly because of its low cost, HFCS consumption replaced approximately one-third of the total sugar consumption in the USA between 1970 and 2000, paralleling to some extent the increasing prevalence of obesity during this period. Consequently, HFCS has been a particular focus of possible blame for the obesity epidemic. However, HFCS consumption has remained very low in other parts of the world where obesity has also increased, and the most commonly used form of HFCS contains about 55% fructose, 42% glucose, and 3% other sugars, and hence is associated with similar total fructose and glucose intakes as with sugar. Furthermore, sucrose is hydrolyzed in the gut and absorbed into the blood as free glucose and fructose, so one would expect HFCS and sucrose to have the same metabolic consequences. In short, there is currently no evidence to support the hypothesis that HFCS makes a significant contribution to metabolic disease independently of the rise in total fructose consumption.

Categories: consumer issues, food and agriculture, health and health care, obesity, Simon Fraser University

CA — Does misinformation demobilize the electorate? Measuring the impact of alleged “robocalls” in the 2011 Canadian election

March 19, 2012 Comments off
Source: Simon Fraser University (Anke Kessler)
The paper presents evidence on the effect of voter demobilization in the context of the Canadian 2011 federal election. Voters in 27 ridings (as of February 26, 2012) allegedly received automated phone calls (‘robocalls’) that either contained misleading information about the location of their polling station, or were harassing in nature, claiming to originate from a particular candidate in the contest for local Member of Parliament. I use withinriding variation in turnout and vote–share for each party to study how turnout changed from the 2008 to the 2011 election as a function of the predominant party affiliation of voters at a particular polling station. I show that those polling stations with predominantly nonconservative voters experienced a decline in voter turnout from 2008 to 2011, and that this effect was larger in ridings that were allegedly targeted by the fraudulent phone calls. The results thus indicate a statistically significant effect of the alleged demobilization efforts: in those ridings where allegations of robocalls emerged, turnout was an estimated 3 percentage points lower on average. This reduction in turnout translates into roughly 2,500 eligible (registered) voters that did not go to the polls. The 95%-confidence interval gives a lower bound estimate of 1,000 fewer votes cast in robocall ridings, which is still a sizable effect.
Categories: Canada, elections, political process, Simon Fraser University
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