ALARCON

Hyperpalatable Foods Are Filled With Too Much Sugar and Fat

As indicated in Chap. 4 , if food addiction exists, hyperpalatable foods are to blame.

Although salt is implicated in high blood pressure and is present in fries, chips, pretzels,
etc., it is the combination of sugar and fat in processed junk food that many of us find too
tempting to resist. Sticky buns and oversize muffins are available at the free breakfasts
that accompany a stay in a hotel or motel. If the sugar and cream in a morning latte are
not enough to get us going, we can add a sweet pastry for just a few dollars more.
Doughnuts, cakes, and cookies make regular appearances in breakrooms at work. If the
free stuff is not enough, there is always the nearest vending machine with sugar-laden
sodas next to machines loaded with candy bars, chips, crackers, and other sweet or savory
treats. No staff or committee meeting is considered civil without snacks, usually of the
hyperpalatable variety.
Americans consume too much sugar in too many forms. Sugar is always in our face. It
helps overpower the bitterness of caffeine in coffee and cola beverages.
There are at least 49 ingredients added to foods that are primarily sugar. Rather than
getting lost in the maze of sugar ingredients appearing in the Ingredient Statement, the
easiest way to see how much sugar is present is in the Nutrition Facts. The US Dietary
Guidelines recommends no more than 10 % of our calories come from added sugar. For
a 2000 calorie a day diet, only 200 calories should be from added sugar or roughly 50 g
of sugar. That amount of sugar is a very small amount for a red-blooded American. For
some perspective, a glazed doughnut is 10 g, a package of two regular peanut butter cups
is 21 g, a 12-ounce can of soda is 39 g and most smoothies contain over 50 g. Although
added sugars are considered the enemy, dietitians question the difference between added
and natural sugars in fruits and their products. For comparison, a medium orange contains
14 g of sugar; a medium ripe banana, 19 g and a large apple, 25 g.

Americans also consume too much fat, often not visible to the naked eye. The biggest
problem with fat, however, is that an ounce of fat has roughly twice the amount of calories
as an ounce of protein or carbohydrate. The first foods that come to mind are fast foods
and fried foods. Seafood, chicken, and even some vegetables are battered, breaded, and
deep-fried, with the breading particularly effective at soaking up oils which count as pure
fat. Deep-fried vegetables tend to be even higher in fat per serving than deep-fried meats
as there is more breading around the surface of smaller veggies like okra soak up more
fat. Bacon and cheese, together or separate, are ingredients that add appeal and fat calories
to any product. Not so obvious fat-fi lled products are casseroles, salad dressings, and
sauces.

PAREDES
Food scientists have designed sugar-free, no-sugar-added, low-fat, and reduced fat
alternatives to gut-busting, hyperpalatable foods. Despite citing the dangers of sugar and
fat, many pundits indicate that the alternatives to be even worse than the products
mimicked. Molecules such as aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame K are found in many
artifi cially sweetened products including diet sodas. Diet sodas are consumed for many
reasons including part of an overall plan to lower calories in a diet, an excuse to consume
higher-calorie items or an inability to control blood sugar levels by diabetics. A report on
NPR highlighted a study that showed that diabetics consuming artificial sweeteners are
just as prone to have uncontrolled blood sugar levels as diabetics who consume sugars. It
turns out that this study has not been verified and that four of the seven participants
studied were affected.
A favorite technique of some food pundits is to indicate that “at least one study has shown
that…” to imply that the claim must be true. A single published study must be confirmed
in different contexts before it becomes generally accepted by scientists in the field. In
addition, as Mary Roach indicates, the public trusts “intuition more than they trust
studies.”
Likewise, reduced-fat or low-fat products are considered suspicious. The Dietary
Guidelines and many nutritionists recommend diets of less than 10 % of calories should
come from saturated fat. Some food pundits, however, recommend consumption of
saturated fat as long as it comes from natural sources such as meat, eggs, and milk. Foods
described as good or bad are largely based on reputation.
Granola bars, smoothies, and other so-called healthy foods contain large amounts of
sugar, and some also are high in fat. Chocolate products are also high in sugar and fat
with the darker the chocolate, the lower the amount of sugar, and the higher the amount
of fat.

URGILES
To call all hyperpalatable foods devoid of healthy ingredients is misleading.
Food scientists have become skilled at designing foods high in vitamins, minerals, sugar,
and fat. Depending on one’s point of view, these foods are either a ruse by Big
Food to hook people on unhealthy food or a way to deliver essential nutrients to a
population who would otherwise not consume these nutrients at all. Both points of view
probably have merit, depending on the person and the food. Imbalanced diets are unlikely
to do much damage in the short term, but the longer-term consequences of such habits
include diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome all of which are very difficult to
reverse. I’ve known some students and a few older adults who absolutely refuse to eat
any fruits or vegetables with the exception of potatoes, preferably as fries. Addition of
essential chemicals like vitamins to the diet in the form of fortified processed foods,
formulated foods, or one-a-day supplements can be beneficial if daily calorie
consumption is kept under control.
When foods containing fat enter the mouth, sensors in the mouth send signals to the brain
to get ready. Digestive juices in the stomach, containing enzymes that break down the fat,
are released. As the wad of partially digested food reaches the stomach, long chains of fat
molecules are broken down into smaller components.

Fat stays in the stomach longer than protein and carbs allowing us to feel full longer than
if we have a low-fat diet. As the smaller molecules of fat proceed to the small intestine,
fats break down into individual fatty acids with the amounts of saturated and unsaturated
fatty acids based on the types of fat consumed. These fatty acids are then absorbed across
the intestinal walls into the bloodstream and transported to the appropriate cells in the
body. Extra fatty acids are bound up by proteins and can end up as triglycerides in our
health records as an indicator of poor heart health. Cholesterol, a larger molecule found
in foods from animals, can also be transported across the intestinal wall and into the
bloodstream. Plant sterols found in vegetable oils, some formulated foods such as
margarines, and supplements help block our bodies from absorbing cholesterol. Not only
can processed foods harbor too much salt, sugar, and fat, but many of the vitamins present
are artificial and not natural.