Not All Sugar is the Same

High fructose corn syrup is listed as an ingredient on many food labels. Manufacturers like it because it is cheaper than other sweeteners.

But high fructose corn syrup may be more damaging to your health than other sugars. According to a recent study, your body can tell the difference between types of sugars: fructose (makes fruit sweet), sucrose (table sugar) and glucose (formed when your body digests starches or carbohydrates).

Study participants drank a glass of sugar water with portion control meals. While they all gained weight due to the extra calories, the people who drank fructose showed more unhealthy body affects. They had changes in their liver function, more visceral fat (the fat around your gut or stomach, which is linked to heart disease), and decreased insulin sensitivity (a precursor to diabetes).

According to Matthias Tschoep, an obesity researcher at the Obesity Research Center in the University of Cincinnati, "This study provides the best argument yet that we should either decide to consume less sugar-sweetened beverages in general, or that we should conduct more research into the possibility of using other sweeteners that may be more glucose-based." This is an important point, because a government survey recently reported that the average American gets 16% of their daily calories from sugary drinks. And that does not even take into account all the other sources of sugar in our diets.