Re: Interesting Article about Fructose and Metabolism

Alan S wrote:


I checked the WHO diabetes pages for diagnosed diabetes
numbers in 2000 and then used the CIA factbook to play with
some numbers. The percentages in this table are a little
rough because I've rounded the populations, but I think some
points can be made from the trends.

http://www.who.int/diabetes/facts/world_figures/en/index.html
Australia 20,000,000 941,000 4.7%
Japan 120,000,000 6,765,000 5.6%
USA 300,000,000 17,702,000 5.9%
Sudan 38,000,000 447,000 1.2%
Somalia 9,000,000 97,000 1.1%
UK 60,000,000 1,765,000 2.9%
Italy 58,000,000 4,252,000 7.3%
India 1,000,000,000 31,705,000 3.2%

The first point is that diagnosis and reporting differences
occur. For example, I have difficulty believing that
diabetes is significantly more prevalent in Italy than the
USA, UK, or Australia; similarly the figure for the UK looks
under-represented. Our UK readers may be able to comment on
that. I've noticed many comments in asd.uk and other UK
forums that NHS doctors seem reluctant to diagnose until
type 2 is well advanced. Possibly the reverse occurs in
Italy.

The only country in that selective group that uses HFCS as a
significant source of sweeteners is the USA. However,
Australia, Japan and Italy all have similar or worse
diabetes statistics. I haven't checked this time, but there
is quite a disparity for those countries on use of all
sweeteners, not just HFCS and granulated sugar.

I included Sudan and Somalia to show that type 2 diabetes
becomes less of a priority when finding your next meal takes
precedence. And no, that does not prove ABC's idiotic point
about hunger.

For India the problem is simply staggering. The numbers are
probably under-reported outside the large population centres
although there would also be a poverty factor outside those
areas too.

When looking for common food factors, it's hard to go past
the staples of wheat, rice and similar grains.


I did not know that high fructose corn syrup was so geographically limited in its usage. That kills the fructose idea. As to India, I know that figure for India must be wrong because I do recall that India has the highest rate of diabetes in the world and China has the second highest rate. If other western countries do not use fructose, then it is highly unlikely that it is the culprit in those two Asian countries.

I love Indian food and have cooked it for more than 35 years. In the recipe books I have purchased over the years, I have noticed a change, a shift from traditional cookery using ghee (clarified butter) and plenty of it, to the use of small quantities of oils. I think in India rape seed oil has generally been encouraged. For a culture that is 50% vegetarian, this would mean a substantial increase in calories from carbs.

I would not think that either India or China would be big users of sugar (sucrose), either...

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