My contention with sports drinks isn’t that they don’t have a purpose, it’s that they’re generally overconsumed and overhyped.  I can’t help but think that sales figures are sports drink manufacturers’ biggest concern, but Kevin Garnett’s bellow seems to scream otherwise.  What’s the reasoning behind the typical sugar, water, and electrolyte composition of these drinks?  When, if at all, does it become important to rehydrate with something other than water?  What, beyond the commercial viability of selling sugar water, are the real benefits to professional athletes and amateurs alike?

The Formula

Sports drinks are generally made of water, various simple sugars like glucose and fructose, and electrolyte-containing ingredients like salt, citric acid, sodium citrate, and potassium sulfate.  The theories behind the inclusion of these ingredients are seemingly straightforward.  Water is necessary for hydration and proper temperature regulation.  Sugar is a carbohydrate and is a quick source of energy.  Electrolytes are lost when you sweat and are integral for many bodily processes including maintaining proper fluid balance and nerve and muscle functioning.

Every Athlete is an Individual

Sweating is an important process for body temperature regulation.  Unfortunately, my body sucks at temperature regulation.  Post-run you’ll find me with a bright red face and just a little dew about my temples and in the middle of my back.  My husband, however, sweats so much it drips off of his bandanna.  We both just ran the same trail, the same distance, and at the same pace, but our bodies’ reactions are not the same.  Evidence shows that we all lose fluids (and with them electrolytes) at different rates during exercise and beyond that, even the composition of sweat differs from person to person.^{1, 10} These differences are determined due to environmental conditions, clothing choices, fitness level, diet, age, gender, and use of certain medications, among many other factors.² It seems logical to replace these lost electrolytes, but evidence shows that the body is generally able to cope with and adjust to these losses by relying on dietary stores.⁸

Fluid and Electrolyte Balance

Dehydration stresses your body and decreases athletic performance, so before beginning exercise of any intensity level, make sure you are hydrated.  Those who are faster, heavier, and in warmer environments generally need additional fluids over their smaller, slower counterparts who are in cooler climates.  Preceding your athletic endeavor, it is typically sufficient to eat regularly and drink water throughout the day.⁸ While exercising, it is ideal to drink fluids at a rate to keep weight loss under 2% of total body weight (weigh yourself pre- and post-exercise to determine your water loss). ^3,8 The amount of liquid necessary to stay within this range will vary depending on your personal rate of sweating.

While the effects of dehydration are clear-cut, the effects of exercise-induced electrolyte loss are a bit more convoluted. If you pay close attention to the claims sports drink manufacturers make as a means to sell their products, they avoid specifically mentioning the idea that replacing electrolytes will improve performance or even rehydrate you more quickly.  They simply point out the following facts: you lose electrolytes when you sweat, electrolytes are important for various bodily functions, and electrolytes (sodium in particular) stimulate thirst.¹¹

These are accurate statements, but the marketing implication seems to be that because of these things, replacing electrolytes has an actual impact on athletic performance.  The Institute of Medicine states that, “Because substantial quantities of sodium, chloride, and to a lesser extent, potassium are lost in the sweat during prolonged exertion, especially in the heat, many are concerned that this electrolyte loss should be replenished during exercise to maintain the appropriate distribution of electrolytes in the various fluid compartments of the body.  However, there is little direct evidence of a beneficial effect of electrolyte replacement for any but a small proportion of endurance athletes.³“  In other words, replacing electrolytes during a four-mile run probably isn’t going to make me any faster, better, or stronger.⁹ Also, you don’t need to rely on specially-formulated drinks to replace electrolytes. Electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, are naturally found in many foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and sea salt.  In short-duration activities your body is able to draw on its own stores to balance itself.

Regardless of athletic impact, electrolyte inclusion has a definite positive aspect.  Research shows that small amounts of sodium chloride (salt), an electrolyte, increase the palatability of beverages.^{2, 3, 10} If enjoying drinking a beverage increases the amount a person drinks, then the inclusion of electrolytes might be an important factor for making sure you drink enough water to stay sufficiently hydrated during and after exercise.

While it’s highly important drink adequate fluids before and after exercise, you can actually drink too much water.  Normally the body adapts to increased water intake by increasing urine output.  This stabilizing effect is less efficient during exercise, however, so if you are sweating heavily for extended periods of time (such as marathons or ultra events) and drinking only water, it’s possible that you’ll end up with too much water in relationship to electrolytes, sodium in particular.  This is known as water intoxication or hyponatremia, and the result can be irregular heartbeat, swelling of tissues, and even coma or death.

Carbohydrate Content

It turns out that the part of sports drink I scoff at the most, the carbohydrate (sugar) content, has actually been shown to improve athletic performance and increase endurance when used after an extended duration of activity.^3,4 Specifically, research shows that using a carbohydrate-containing sports drink at least 30 minutes before you expect to be fatigued can delay the onset of fatigue.^3,8 It is important to note, however, that the body has adequate blood glucose and stored glucose (glycogen) to maintain energy for several hours of sustained athletic activity (generally believed to be about three hours).⁷ Ask yourself how often you exercise for several hours or more and what you’re trying to accomplish with exercise.  If you are of the camp that’s using physical activity to lose weight, you might want to reconsider adding calories that your body doesn’t really need.

Water vs. Electrolyte Drinks

Consider the following questions:  Are you hydrated before you start exercising?  How much do you sweat?  How long and at what intensity are you exercising?  Will you drink plain water or do you need to be enticed by something a little sweet and salty?

Short duration (less than 3 hours) and well hydrated?  Choose water.

Not much of a water drinker, exercising at high intensity (where you would benefit from an easily-digestible carbohydrate boost) or for three hours or more?  Try our sports drink recipes; they use antioxidant and nutrient-rich whole fruit, unprocessed sea salt (rich in electrolytes and trace minerals), and taste far less syrupy-sweet than commercially-available sports drinks.

Mango-Citrus Electrolyte Drink

• 32 oz water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar (try Bragg’s)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup mango, fresh or frozen

Mix all ingredients in blender.  Strain.  Chill until cool.

Nutrition breakdown:

calories: 110
carbohydrates: 29.4 g
sugar: 24.8 g
sodium: 608 mg
potassium: 286 mg
magnesium: 14 mg
calcium: 17 mg

Berry-Citrus Electrolyte Drink

• 32 oz water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar (try Bragg’s)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup mixed berries (any combination of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or raspberries), fresh or frozen
• 1 Tbsp honey

Mix all ingredients in blender.  Strain.  Chill until cool.

Nutrition breakdown:

calories: 151
carbohydrates: 40.2 g
sugar: 32.5 g
sodium: 606 mg
potassium: 153 mg
magnesium: 8 mg
calcium: 10 mg

^{1 Kilding, AE, et al. (2009). Sweat rate and sweat electrolyte composition in international female soccer players during game specific training. Int J Sports Med 30(6) 443-7.
2 Sawka, MN, et al. (2010). Exercise and fluid replacement, from Medscape http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/717055_5
3 Marriott, BM (1994). Fluid replacement and heat stress. Institute of Medicine, Food and Nutrition Board, Committee on Military Nutrition Research.
4 Gisolfi, CV (1993). Use of electrolytes in fluid replacement solutions: What have we learned from intestinal absorption studies? University of Iowa, Iowa City.
5 Irving, RA (1991). Evaluation of renal function and fluid homeostasis during recovery from exercise-induced hyponatremia. Journal of Applied Physiology 70(1) 342-348.
6 Greenleaf, JE, et al. (1996). Mechanisms controlling fluid ingestion: thirst and drinking from Body fluid balance: exercise and sport.
7 Armstrong, LE, et al. (1999). Fluid-electrolyte balance during labor and exercise: concepts and misconceptions. Int J Sports Nutrition 9(1) 1-12.
8 Latzka, WA, et al. (1999). Water and electrolyte requirements for exercise. Clinical Sports Med 18(3) 513-24.
9 Coombes, JS, et al. (2000). The effectiveness of commercially available sports drinks. Sports Med 29(3) 181-209.
10 Maughan, RJ, et al. (1997). Recovery from prolonged exercise: restoration of water and electrolyte balance. J Sports Science 15(3) 297-303.
11 (26 Aug 2010). Gatorade website, frequently asked questions, science and nutrition http://www.gatorade.com/frequently_asked_questions/default.aspx}

Making Hummus Artichoke Dip at Winter House

Origin represented Tribe Mediterranean Foods at the 2010 Winter House PR event held in Park City, where various media experts came to experience a variety of great products and participate in numerous fun events. Origin put on a cooking show, showcasing four mouth-watering hummus recipes created with Tribe’s all natural hummus. On the menu was Hummus Crostini, using Tribe’s Roasted Eggplant and Sundried Tomato Basil Hummus; Grilled Flatbread Hummus Pizza; Hummus Mozzarella Pesto Panini; and, my favorite, Hummus Artichoke Dip. The Hummus Artichoke Dip was so good we had to post it!

Tribe Hummus Artichoke Dip
It is hard not to love artichoke dip. This version uses hummus in place of mayonnaise (used in typical recipes) for a lower calorie/fat option, with equal the amount of flavor~ more to love! Serve it hot out of the oven with pita chips, tortilla chips, crackers, crostini toasts, or your favorite cut vegetables. Always a party pleaser.

Ingredients:
1- 8oz tub of Tribe Roasted Garlic Hummus
1-8oz cream cheese, softened
1-14oz can of artichoke hearts, or 2-6oz jars marinated artichoke hearts, drained & coarsely chopped
1-2 scallions, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, beat the hummus and cream cheese together with a hand mixer at med speed until well combined. Stir in the artichoke hearts, scallions, and parmesan cheese until combined. Add the worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.

Pour into a small casserole baking dish, 8×8 or 8×6. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until bubbly and browned. Serve immediately with pita chips, tortillas chips, crackers, crostini toasts, or cut vegetables. Enjoy!

Athletes require special support.  Overlooking the impact of your diet means injuries can occur more easily and will take longer to heal.  Using food to address tissue and joint wear and tear, vitamin and mineral loss, and free radical formation only adds to performance.  Rather than focusing solely on volume, get more out of food by choosing nutrient-dense options like eggs, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, bone broths, and coconut oil.  These choices alongside superfoods like nutritional yeast, spirulina, and goji berries, help meet your body’s higher needs for vitamins (for energy and to combat inflammation) and antioxidants (to repair the damage strenuous exercise can cause).  Healthy fats such as fish and flax oil are indispensable for lubricating joints and minimizing inflammation.  Magnesium-rich foods like almonds and avocados are necessary for their muscle contraction and relaxation properties, helping prevent distracting and painful charley horses.  Adequate amounts of B vitamins (removed when whole grains are processed into white bread, white flour, white rice, etc.) are imperative, as they are the first vitamins depleted when your body is under the physical and mental stress of training and racing.  Because athletes need many nutrients at higher-than-average levels, they simply may not be able to eat enough food to meet their body’s needs.  A B-vitamin complex, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and a mineral supplement can all be added to one’s routine- though they should not be used in place of a healthy diet.

Before and During a Race

Eating before and during an endurance competition is a challenge for many athletes.  A sandwich may be too heavy for one person and just right for another.  During training, find out what works for your body and stick with that on race day.  Miso soup or chicken broth will nourish your body with minerals and electrolytes.  A couple spoonfuls of coconut oil are easy to digest and provide a sustained energy source.  Berries, bananas, mangoes, or citrus fruits give you an energy spike without a subsequent energy crash.  During the race, a periodic snack on dried fruit may be just enough to boost you without making you feel heavy, or you may choose to rely on an energy gel like this one.

Post-Workout Recovery Food

Proper nutrition before, during, and after the race stocks your body with the nutrients it needs.  Immediately post-race an endurance athlete will need to replace lost fluids, minerals, vitamins, and sugars.  Water, an electrolyte drink (look for one that also contains B vitamins, vitamin C, and minerals, without excessive sugar or artificial colors), complex carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables), and healthy proteins and fats are nourishing choices to refuel and repair your body.

This article originally appeared in the Park Record’s Parent section on August 15, 2009, as written by Greg Marshall.

Homemade Snacks Are Better

The biggest challenge to making healthful meals for kids is a lack of time, says nutrition specialist Michelle Larson.  Busy parents often depend too much on pre-packaged goods for brown-bag lunches that are often loaded with sugar, artificial fats and other culprits.

“It’s an easy thing to fall into,” said Larson, who is the co-owner of Park City’s Origin Nutrition.  At the same time, Larson said letting kids overindulge in sweets and snacks can be detrimental, even if long-term consequences, such as diabetes and obesity, aren’t immediately apparent.

“In a way, kids can get away with eating junk food more than adults can,” Larson said.  But careless eating early in life leads to lasting habits.  “Kids may be able to eat Doritos without gaining weight, but it’s going to be harder to break those habits later on.”

Even when pressed for time, parents can prepare wholesome food without spending too much cash.  It’s a matter of thinking creatively and planning ahead.  Rather than a packaged snack that contains bread sticks, cheese and lunchmeat, fix the snack yourself.

“The components appear to be the same, but you’ll have control over the quality of the ingredients,” Larson said.

A quick homemade treat like sliced cheese on crackers won’t have any nasty surprises such as high-fructose corn syrup or monosodium glutamate, also known as MSG.*

The next challenge for parents is, of course, how to make children eat healthy foods.  The key is to be consistent.  Give kids healthful foods, the logic goes, and eventually they will seize them.  On the other hand, kids won’t ever choose oft-bemoaned “health food” if it is rarely presented as a possibility.

It is important to lead by example.  If parents eat well, kids will be more likely to follow suit.

Remember that heart-healthy food an be delicious.  Don’t be afraid to sweeten the deal with vegetable dips, hummus and nut butters to make fruits and vegetables more palatable to youngsters, Larson said.

At the same time, packaged snacks don’t need to be entirely eliminated from diets, but only given sparingly.  “You don’t want kids to think of sweets as ‘forbidden fruit,’” Larson explained.  Just as parents have been saying for generations, moderation is the best principle.  By including just one fresh item in daily lunches and using fewer bagged foods, parents can steward healthier habits.

Larson offers a simple health test for nutrition labels: the simpler, the better.  Ingredients that are hard to pronounce are usually created in a laboratory, and are not the healthiest options.

Keep in mind the consequences of eating poorly.  Sugar is a brain drain.  Consume it in excess and mood swings, energy crashes and restless nights ensue.

Afternoon sugar cravings should be red flags to parents.

Diagnosing and treating the problem early is important.  Often, parents wait for advanced symptoms such as gratuitous weight gain before intervening.

A child’s weight, experts say, is not always a dependable measure for how well they are eating.  Instead, parents should gauge a child’s energy.  Do they have enough energy to finish their homework?  Are they engaged or distracted and tired?  All of these can be symptoms of eating the wrong foods.  “Weight is part of a bigger picture,” Larson said.  “Weight is just a symptom.”

*You’ll only be able to avoid these ingredients by becoming an avid label reader. High-fructose corn syrup, especially, is in almost everything these days!

Pesticide use

As defined by the US Department of Agriculture, “Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides [and] fertilizers”.  It’s strange, given this definition, that the reviewers didn’t consider pesticide residue as worthy of examining.  “We didn’t look at that.  We looked at nutritional elements only.  Pesticides are fine, because they are monitored and we don’t believe they are dangerous to food.”  To be fair, they’ve since recognized that the question of pesticide use is indeed a valid question that would be better addressed in another review entirely.  The problem is that we’re likely to remember the headline “Organic Food No Better” without remembering the specifics about what the study actually evaluated.  Instead we have to wait for additional details to amend the story, and by then it could be too late, because we’ve already come to believe that organic food is not worth the cost.

This recent report, however, shows that pesticide residue isn’t monitored as well as some might assume it to be, resulting in pesticide levels far beyond the allowable limits.  This particular story also uncovers the presence of pesticides that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not approve for use.  As it turns out, the pesticide-monitoring system is not used to prevent farmers from applying excessive levels of pesticides, but to highlight violations after the fact- sort of a post-problem tracking system.

The reviewers evaluating the possible merits of organic food contend that pesticides aren’t dangerous to food.  They don’t believe that there is a connection between applying chemicals to our soil that are designed to kill insects and fungus and the deleterious health effects produced in a person then consuming these same chemicals.  Yet a recent study shows that a toxin we apply to our skin to kill mosquitoes (DEET) could damage our nervous systems, and we’re not even eating it.  And here’s information about a popular weed killer (used on everything from farms to golf courses) that is receiving attention due to recent research showing it is both more prevalent (in drinking water) and more dangerous (possible links to birth defects and menstrual problems) than previously thought.  As the reviewers pointed out, pesticides are monitored, but the agency in charge of doing so, the EPA, is not scheduled to review the new research on this weed killer until next year at the earliest.  Surmising that pesticides aren’t dangerous is not exactly accurate.

Healthy Foods Need Healthy Soil

Nutrient levels in real, whole foods are a reflection of the nutrient levels present in the soil in which those foods were grown.  If the soil is depleted of nutrients, the food will be depleted of nutrients.  But the picture is larger still.  Nutrient levels change according to when those foods were harvested- did you buy a local tomato that ripened on the vine, or was your tomato picked while it was still green (before the nutrient levels were allowed to reach their peak) and ripened due to chemical exposure (a practice used to artificially ripen prematurely-harvested produce)?  Allowing your food to ripen while still on the plant is integral to the optimization of nutrients, and that means buying foods that are locally-grown.

Sometimes these small-scale farmers cannot afford the certification process to be declared “organic”.  Developing a relationship with the person growing your food, however, gives you an opportunity to dialogue with them regarding their farming practices, including pesticide use.

Organic and Local

Releasing a study that ignores the crux of the issue, pesticides, is, at best, short-sighted and, at worst, deliberately misleading.  The tracking and evaluation systems in place to protect us from excessive chemical exposure are sadly lacking.  As a consumer you can choose to limit your exposure to these damaging chemicals by supporting organic products.  You can take it a step further and buy foods that are picked at the peak of nutrient development by purchasing form local farmers.

Origin’s Energy Gel Recipe

• 1 cup Brown Rice Syrup (try Lundberg’s Organic Sweet Dreams Brown Rice Syrup)
• 1/2 cup Barley Malt (try Eden’s Organic Barley Malt syrup)
• 1/4 cup Unrefined Coconut Oil
• 1/4 cup Organic Creamy Peanut Butter, all natural variety (without hydrogenated oils or sugar added)
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/4 cup hot water

1. Use a make-shift double boiler by placing a glass jar inside a saucepan. Fill the saucepan with water so that the jar is a little more than half immersed.
2. Combine all ingredients except for the hot water into the jar. Turn heat to med-low and warm mixture, stirring frequently, until it is runny and well combined, about 10 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, then remove the jar from inside the saucepan. Add the hot water to the mixture in the jar, stir and shake vigorously until well combined and no separation occurs.  Let cool.
4. Fill gel containers as needed for workouts. Store extra gel in the jar with a lid in a cool, dry place.

Yields 18 fluid ounces

The gel will stay liquid enough to easily squirt from your tube-like container during workouts or races. In cold weather, the gel may become quite thick. Test it out, you may need to add a little more water for a thinner consistency in cold weather, or try storing it close to your body for heat during a workout.

Low-down on the Nutrition

One ounce of this gel contains 150 calories, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 1.8 grams of protein, and 5 grams of fat-  ratio of approximately 64% carbohydrates, 5% protein, and 30% fat. Mostly carbohydrates, but enough protein and fat to balance your blood sugar and keep it from spiking or dropping during a workout or race- which is crucial to maintain your energy!

Brown Rice and Barley Malt Syrups

The brown rice syrup, the main ingredient in the gel, is 46% complex carbohydrates (polysaccharides), 29% maltose (a disaccharide), and 25% glucose (a simple sugar). Brown rice syrup also provides .46 g of protein in 2 TBSP. The barley malt syrup is 76% maltose, 16% glucose, 6 % sucrose (a disaccharide), and 2% fructose (a simple sugar). Barley malt syrup also provides nearly 3 g of protein in 2 TBSP. Both of these syrups are slow and easy to digest and provide the body with an immediate burst of necessary energy (due to the simple sugars), and then lasting carbohydrates (the poly and disaccharides) to refuel your cells. These syrups are about half as sweet as sugar to the taste.

Unrefined Coconut Oil

I used coconut oil to run a marathon. Great stuff. I have a sensitive stomach when I workout, my body turns off digestion more than most. The morning of my big race, I ate two spoonfuls of coconut oil, a banana and miso soup. It was the perfect fuel for my marathon. Coconut oil belongs to a special class of fats called medium-chain fatty acids. These fats are not normally stored in your body as fat, but are instead quickly converted to energy. They also boost your metabolism. This makes unrefined coconut oil an excellent oil for weight loss and athletic performance, as it helps produce lean body mass.

Organic Peanut Butter

The Peanut butter provides valuable monounsaturated fats, protein, and flavor to the energy gel. Make sure to choose an all natural variety that only contains organic peanuts and salt. Avoid peanut butter with added sugar and hydrogenated oils (trans fat).

Sea Salt

Sea salt provides valuable minerals for electrolyte balance. A high quality sea salt is rich in potassium, magnesium, sodium chloride, and trace minerals.

To Better Rides

A balanced, nutritionally sound gel to keep you feeling strong and charged when it matters. I have been using this gel on mountain bike rides and love it.  It beats eating an energy bar that tends to sit in my stomach.  The inspiration for this gel recipe goes out to my brother Jarrett and husband Bryan, thanks for asking for it.

You can probably guess that I’m going to disagree.  That’s my gut reaction anyway.  If I’m fair, though, high-fructose corn syrup is an outstanding example of the confusion at the heart of much of the nutrition world.  Depending on whom you ask, high-fructose corn syrup can be shown to be the root of all evil or just another delightful way to sweeten our foods.  So which is it?

It’s Made From Corn

It’s true what our lady told her man- high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is made from corn, but that’s a definite oversimplification.  Making HFCS isn’t in the realm of making, say, maple syrup, which involves little more than drilling a hole into a tree and waiting.  In fact, it’s exponentially more complicated, to the point of being industrial.

The short version of this process is still fairly long, so bear with me.  In order to minimize your boredom, I’m going to skip the processing of corn into cornstarch and use cornstarch as the starting material.  First, cornstarch is treated with an enzyme called alpha-amylase.  This enzyme breaks cornstarch down into shorter chemical chains, which happens to a further degree when the cornstarch is treated with yet another enzyme, glucoamylase.  These enzymes come from bacteria and fungus, respectively, making them making them relatively inexpensive.  The third enzyme, glucose-isomerase, is very expensive, and is used to convert the glucose in the cornstarch into a mixture of glucose and fructose (mixture A).

Next, the mixture is refined with carbon filters and ion exchange, and liquid chromatography is used to increase the percentage of fructose in the mixture.  Finally, this high-fructose mixture is blended with the aforementioned glucose/fructose mixture (mixture A) and viola, high-fructose corn syrup is born!

Simplifying HFCS to the point where “it’s made from corn” is akin to calling it “natural”, a word not used in the commercial, but frequently thrown around the rest of the pro-HFCS website (which is coincidentally sponsored by the Corn Refiners Association).  Technically, you could call this process and resulting mixture “natural”, especially considering that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no formal definition for the word “natural”, but do you even know what liquid chromatography is?  Do you know what a tree and bucket are?  Which of those scenarios seems more “natural” to you?

As for the moderation part, I’ll give them some credit.  Part of me immediately thinks this is an excuse, as the same argument could be made for any number of dietary and lifestyle practices.  But yes, sure, high-fructose corn syrup is fine in moderation.  The issue is that we don’t consume it at that level.

American Consumption Doesn’t Qualify as Moderation

As of 2005, soda, made with high-fructose corn syrup, was the number one source of calories in America.¹ According to the USDA, the availability per capita (how much was available to be consumed per person) of high-fructose corn syrup increased 10,673 percent from 1970-2005.⁹ Today, a majority of the sweeteners used by food and beverage manufacturers (55 percent) are made from corn.¹ That reliance means that HFCS is found in a vast number of products, including salad dressings, cookies, breads, juices, cereals, granola bars, candies, condiments, crackers, pastries and cakes, chocolate, yogurt, ice cream, jams and jellies, sauces, and chips.  Of the money Americans spend on food, 90 percent is spent on processed foods.¹ If we eat this many processed foods made by manufacturers that rely so heavily on high-fructose corn syrup, can we really call that moderation?

The Calories are the Same

Okay, so maybe the idea that high-fructose corn syrup and sugar have the same number of calories means something, but it’s only a fraction of the story.  If calories were all nutrition was about, you certainly wouldn’t need my help.  Let’s look beyond this distracting oversimplification and talk about how this compound differs from sugar and how those differences affect your body.

Here’s where I have to get technical again for a moment.  The differences between HFCS and regular table sugar are twofold.  There is a small percentage difference in fructose concentration, with table sugar being fifty percent each glucose and fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup at either forty-two percent fructose or fifty-five percent fructose (the remainder in either case being glucose).   There is also a difference in whether the glucose and fructose are bound together.  In table sugar, they are bound to one another, and in high-fructose corn syrup, they aren’t.   Again, depending on whom you ask, either of these differences can be made into a major issue or dismissed as a minor detail.  It appears that the answer lies somewhere in between.

To illustrate what I mean let’s look at soda, since Americans drink a ridiculous amount of it.  Most sodas have HFCS in them, and studies show that it is the free (unbound) fructose within HFCS that causes the metabolic differences between HFCS and sugar.^{5, 6, 7} Sugar stimulates a hormone called insulin to be released, which goes into your blood, picks up the sugar from the things you eat and drink, and stores it tidily away in your cells (after fulfilling the body’s energy needs).  Free, unbound fructose in HFCS doesn’t stimulate insulin to be released.  Thus, rather than being digested into blood sugar, HFCS seems to end up being converted to trigylcerides (a form of fat in your blood) and fat tissue.

Aside from direct conversion to fat, this bypassing of insulin stimulation causes other problems.  Because insulin isn’t released, it can’t enhance the production of another hormone, leptin.  Leptin regulates appetite control and metabolism.  Because fructose fails to stimulate leptin, your brain doesn’t receive the signal that you’re full.  If you are not receiving the signal that you are full, you are more likely to overeat.  Therefore, despite the fact that sugar and high-fructose corn syrup match calorically, they certainly are not the same thing.

In the United States, soda is predominantly sweetened with HFCS, whereas many other countries are still using sugar.  Does that mean you should start importing your soda?  It’s not that easy, as unfortunately there also are downfalls to consuming excess table sugar.  Regardless of the intricacies in their chemical structures, too much of any sweetener means too many calories consumed.  But remember that it’s not just about calories.  Too much sugar leads to weight gain (especially around your middle, as the belly is the first place excess sugars are stored), increases in total cholesterol and LDL or “bad” cholesterol, and a condition called insulin resistance.  Long-term insulin resistance may lead to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, insomnia, carbohydrate craving, depression and mood swings, migraine headaches, heartburn, and irritable bowel syndrome.

What’s a Person to Do?

The easy answer is to limit your intake of all sweeteners, including high-fructose corn syrup.  Many of those against HFCS point to the mirrored increased consumption of HFCS alongside increased rates of obesity and diabetes as proof that HFCS is detrimental to your health.  It would be nice if it were that simple, but it seems that HFCS is only a part of the overall picture of the changes that have taken place in the Standard American Diet (SAD), including increased portion sizes and increased intake of processed foods.

Ideally, your diet would consist of whole foods and your sweet tooth would be satisfied by small amounts of fruit and natural, unrefined sweeteners like honey, stevia, maple syrup, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, date sugar, Sucanat, vegetable glycerin, and xylitol.

The big question: Was our lady correct to brush aside the unarticulated concerns of her man?  I ultimately return to the principle that guides me whenever science doesn’t offer a simple and easy answer; the less a food is processed, the better.  Given that you can’t drill into a kernel of corn and wait for high-fructose corn syrup to come spilling out, I’d say she say she shouldn’t be so quick to bite into that popsicle.

¹ Mercola, Dr. J. (2009) Don’t Believe the Hype — Fructose Truly is Much Worse Than Glucose, from Natural Health Information Articles and Health Newsletter by Dr. Joseph Mercola Web Site: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/05/16/Dont-Believe-the-Hype-Fructose-Truly-is-Much-Worse-Than-Glucose.aspx
² Forristal, LJ. (2003) The Murky World of High-Fructose Corn Syrup from The Weston A. Price Foundation Web Site: http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html
³ High-Fructose Corn Syrup from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_fructose_corn_syrup
⁴ U.S. Consumption of Caloric Sweeteners. (2008), from USDA Economic Research Service Web Site: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Sugar/data.htm
⁵ Bray, GA, et al. (2004). Consumption of high-fructose corn syrup in beverages may play a role in the epidemic of obesity. American Society for Clinical Nutrition, 79(4), 537-543.
⁶ Elliott, SS, et al. (2002). Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome. American Society for Clinical Nutrition, 76(5), 911-922.
⁷ Schwarz, J-M, et al. (1989). Thermogenesis in men and women induced by fructose vs glucose added to a meal. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 49(4), 667-674.
⁸ Two Bites TV Spot. (2008), from SweetSurprise.com Web Site: http://sweetsurprise.com/videos/two-bites
⁹ Wells, HF & Buzby, JC. Dietary Assessment of Major Trends in U.S. Food Consumption, 1970-2005 (2008), from USDA Economic Research Web Site: http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/EIB33/

Acid reflux, also known as GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), occurs when the muscle that connects the esophagus to the upper portion of the stomach does not close properly. This muscle acts as a gate, opening and closing at just the right moments.  When it malfunctions, stomach contents can leak back, or reflux, into the esophagus.   Hydrochloric acid (HCl), enters the esophagus and damages its delicate lining causing much discomfort.

Causes of Acid Reflux

Poor lifestyle and nutritional habits are a major cause of acid reflux.  Overeating and not chewing our food properly stresses our digestive track by distending our stomach and forcing food back up the esophagus. Sugary, fatty, fried, and spicy foods, as well as caffeinated, carbonated, and alcoholic beverages, all make reflux worse.  Other foods to avoid when trying to control reflux are chocolate, peppermint, tomato-based foods, citrus, raw onions, garlic, and vinegar.  In addition, taking anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin or ibuprofen, as well as other medications that relax the muscles or irritate the gut, contribute to reflux.

Reflux is more often caused by a deficiency or lack of HCl than by too much of it.  Virtually all drugs that treat acid reflux neutralize or suppress HCl.  This is cause for concern in more ways than one.  HCL is one of our greatest natural antibiotics.  It not only digests and allows us to properly metabolize our food; its acidic nature acts to protect us from bacteria and viruses that enter our bodies through food, making it a major player for our immune system.

Pharmaceutical and OTC drugs

For those with reflux, pharmaceuticals and OTC drugs are both a blessing and a concern. They can often bring rapid recovery to uncomfortable symptoms, but act only as a band-aid, ultimately making symptoms worse.  When you take antacids like Prilosec, Zantac, or Tums, your body thinks it is lacking acid, and then produces large amounts of a hormone called gastrin, which stimulates stomach acid.  When you try to stop taking antacids, your stomach continues to make large amounts of acid.  Many people become addicted to these drugs that were originally intended to only be taken short term.

Supportive Natural Alternatives

Several lifestyle practices can put your reflux at ease and help you feel more comfortable.  Eat smaller meals several times throughout the day, and avoid lying down for 3-4 hours after eating to prevent gravity from forcing food back up.  Drink as little as possible during a meal, no more than half of a cup at room temperature; liquids dilute digestive juices.

Eat whole foods.  An alkalizing diet of vegetables and fruits keeps our pH in check, preventing us from becoming overly acidic.  Licensed nutritionist Darlene Kvist, founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness in St Paul, says that many people are sensitive to grain type carbohydrates, and that eating them can make reflux worse.  She recommends eating lots of vegetables and adding bifido bacteria, good intestinal flora for the digestive tract, to your regime.  “Try choosing vegetables for your carbohydrate source in place of grains for three weeks and see if it makes a difference.  Also, many people lack good bacteria, making them more susceptible to reflux.  Taking bifido bacteria helps the body get rid of reflux by supporting digestion on many levels,” claims Darlene.  Eat food rich in probiotics, such as yogurt, kefir, miso, natto, and raw sauerkraut.    

For low levels of stomach acid, take one or two capsules of betaine HCl before meals.  If you feel a burning sensation, you are probably not deficient in acid, and should discontinue taking HCl. 

Take a probiotic, such as acidophilus or bifidus, a half an hour before meals to support digestion.  In addition, supplement with one or two enzyme capsules, containing protease, amylase, and lipase, before and after meals.

L-glutamine is an amino acid that plays a very important role in eliminating excess acid from the body.  It also helps the body heal and regenerate cells in gastrointestinal tract.  Recommended dosages are 5,000 to 10,000 mg of L-glutamine on an empty stomach. 

If your gut is irritated, try chewing deglycyrrhizinated licorce (DGL), or drinking about 5 ounces of aloe vera juice diluted with water between meals.  To reduce inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, take essential fatty acids like Omega-3. 

Natural alternatives can help reduce your need for medications and control the discomfort of acid reflux.  Making changes in diet and eating routines, along with the support of supplements, can make a big difference in how you feel. 

Resources:

Gut Solutions, by Brenda Watson and Leonard Smith, Renew Life Press, 2003.

“The Importance of Nutrition in Fatigue and Pain:  Part 4-Enzymes and how to get off Prescription Antacids Naturally”, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, by Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., June, 2003.

Darlene Kvist, M.S., C.N.S., L.N., founder of Nutritional Weight and Wellness
708 South Cleveland Ave
St Paul, MN, 55116
www.weightandwellness.com
651-699-3438

Korean kimchi pots

“The science and art of fermentation is…the basis of human culture: without culturing, there is no culture.”¹

This point is illustrated when one recognizes that consumption of beneficial bacteria through food and drink has been part of humans’ diet for as long as humans have existed.  A traditional diet used fermentation to preserve vegetables and milk and to make wine, naturally infusing these foods with beneficial bacteria.  However, as manufactured and preservative laden foods take over many Westerner’s diets, the ingestion of friendly bacteria falls by the wayside.  Not only are we ingesting less beneficial bacteria, but also the growth of harmful bacteria and yeasts are increasing due to diets high in refined carbohydrates and sugars.

Beneficial bacteria are known as probiotic bacteria, and billions of them live in our mouths and small intestines with hundreds of trillions more in our large intestines.  Think of probiotics as the opposite of antibiotics.  The word probiotic breaks down to “pro” meaning “for” and “biotic” meaning “life” as compared to “anti” or “against” life.  If antibiotics kill life (which they do, wiping out all bacteria- harmful and beneficial alike), then probiotics promote it.  We can recognize that there are times when antibiotics are significantly helpful, but we need also to recognize the true importance of health-promoting probiotics.

We have ten times the amount of bacteria in our intestinal tract than cells in our body, and the balance between good and bad bacteria is delicate and of essential importance.  Beneficial bacteria help stop the growth of harmful bacteria, acting as natural antibiotics.  They do this by lowering the pH of the gastrointestinal tract through the production of lactic acid.  Probiotics increase immune function by preventing harmful microbes from leaving the intestinal tract and entering into the bloodstream.  They improve overall digestion, and are often used to treat digestive maladies such as diarrhea, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.  They also manufacture some B vitamins (which help the body cope with stress), short chain fatty acids, antioxidants, amino acids, and vitamin K.  Probiotic bacteria produce enzymes that help us digest our food and better absorb its nutrients.  In fact, nutrients in foods fermented with bacterial cultures (such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso and tempeh) are more readily absorbed than the nutrients in their non-fermented counterparts: milk, cabbage and soy.

Only living bacteria can provide these proven health benefits.  However, they have a short life span, so eating fermented foods or ingesting supplemental probiotics on regular basis is necessary to maintain their existence.  Additionally, a diet high in whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables will provide the probiotics with their favorite food: fructooligosaccharides (FOS).  Antibiotics, antacids, synthetic estrogens (in birth control pills and hormone replacement therapies), stress and disease have a negative impact on beneficial intestinal bacteria, discouraging their growth or killing them altogether.

Whether you choose to incorporate fermented foods into your diet or to use probiotic supplements, it is important to consider some factors regarding quality.  Fermented foods or supplements should state that they are live, active, unpasteurized, raw or cultured, a necessity if you want those bacteria alive and active in your intestinal tract.  Pasteurization kills beneficial bacteria, so read labels carefully and call the company directly if you are unsure if the bacteria are still active.  One must also consider bacterial species.  There are 400-500 species of bacteria in the human intestinal tract, with different species more commonly found in the small versus the large intestine.  Lactobacillus acidophilus are bacteria that live in the upper intestinal tract or small intestine.  Bifidobacteria are those in your large intestine, and Lactobacillus bulgaricus are traveling or transient bacteria.  These species, along with Streptococcus thermophilus, have been used to make yogurt for thousands of years.  The beneficial effects of these species have been well established through scientific study and longstanding traditional use.  The quality of probiotics in the supplemental form versus the whole food form is exponentially more complicated.  Each supplement company uses different bacterial species, strains and quantities and uses different delivery systems and manufacturing processes.

As our culture becomes more aware of the benefits probiotics have imparted on other cultures for thousands of years, the food industry is recognizing the potential for increased revenue with probiotic products.  Some companies have gone so far as to put a trademark on specific species.  One company is using a celebrity to market that their yogurt “can help regulate your digestive system by helping reduce long intestinal transit time”².  The bacteria in true natural yogurts, most notably L. acidophilus, have decades worth of scientific studies, not to mention thousands of years of traditional use, showing this same effect- relief from constipation and improved digestion with regular consumption.  The tricky part of the marketing of this new yogurt is that it uses research that compares their yogurt’s benefits to those of yogurt with dead or absent bacteria.  The studies do not compare the trademarked bacterial strain to consumption of “traditional” yogurt.  Unlike this new yogurt, most natural yogurt companies don’t feel the need to trademark a species and sell it as a new food.

With much of today’s society overly dependent on antibiotics and strong preservative systems in our foods, let us consider reincorporating beneficial bacteria through whole, fermented foods and probiotics.  “How ironic that the road to culture in our germophobic technological society requires, first and foremost, that we enter into an alchemical relationship with bacteria and fungi, and that we bring to our tables foods and beverages prepared by the magicians, not machines.”¹

¹ Katz, SE., Wild Fermentation. Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2003.
² Scientific Summary for Health Care Professionals.” Activia® by Dannon™. 2008. Dannon™. 26 May 2008.
http://www.activia.us.com/pdf/Act_scientific_summary.pdf