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Laboratory animals gain more weight when they eat foods sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup rather than table sugar, even when the calories are the same, according to a new study from Princeton University.

Scientists have suspected that high-fructose corn syrup, now a common ingredient in sodas and many other processed foods, may be contributing to the obesity epidemic, but this is the first study to demonstrate cause-and-effect in mammals.

• Professor Bart Hoebel and his colleagues gave laboratory rats drinks sweetened with either corn syrup or table sugar (sucrose).
• The researchers found that that corn syrup group gained more weight, especially belly fat.
  
• In a second experiment, rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight and developed metabolic syndrome, although those on a normal diet did not.

"These rats aren't just getting fat -- they are demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides," said Miriam Bocarsly, an assistant on the project. "In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer, and diabetes."

This study appeared in the journal Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior.

Labels: diet, causes of childhood obesity, high fructose corn syrup

Posted By: Aspen/CRC