LABELLING FOOD in FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS

In a previous blog, I criticized the Ontario provincial government for proposing that fast food restaurants post the caloric content of the items on their menus. I suggested that it would more meaningful if they were required to indicate the actual nutritional quality of the food.

We are facing a crisis. Increasingly, people are becoming obese leading to consequences such as diabetes and other maladies and this is a result of what they choose to eat. This was brought home to me and my wife a short while ago. We were drinking cappuccinos in a well known coffee shop when a young mother sat down next to us with her toddler who could not be much more than two years old. She gave the child a glass of orange juice and a bag from which he pulled a large donut covered in icing. The mother became busy on her cell phone and the child proceeded to devour the donut. We were horrified. The carbohydrate overload of the child must have been appalling with consequences for his long term health. This appeared to be a frequent routine for them.

The Ideal Food Label

It would be good to present the food value of each menu item i.e. the percentage of carbohydrate, protein, fat and fibre. However, I accept that trying to provide this type of labelling for all menu items would be a major imposition for these restaurants. The most important health impacting ingredients of these food items, however, are carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates should be no more than about one third of the total calories. However, the type of carbohydrate is also very important. Many vegetables such as potatoes contain starch which, during digestion, is rapidly broken down to glucose and absorbed into the blood stream. Many foods, however, are sweetened by substantial amounts of sugar (sucrose) which is made of equal amounts of two simpler sugars, glucose and fructose. Also used as a sweetener is high fructose corn syrup which is made up of 45% glucose and 55% fructose. It is the fructose in this sweeteners that worries me. It should not exceed about 5% of total calories.

For fast food restaurants, it would be very worthwhile to label the percentage of total calories that came from carbohydrate in menu items, along with the percentage that came from fructose.

The Importance of Glucose

Glucose is the energy currency for all the activities of our bodies. It is circulated in the blood and is our equivalent of the gasoline in a car. The level in blood must be carefully controlled to keep it constant.This is especially true for the brain that can only run on glucose, which provides the energy needed for mental activity both awake and sleeping.

Glucose is supplied to our blood through the breakdown of carbohydrates such as starch from foods like potatoes and grains. The more complex carbohydrates, such as those in cereals, take longer to break down to glucose and provide a longer term supply. If blood glucose levels are too low, we feel drowsy and cannot perform even the simplest of tasks well. If it is too high, we can also get into other serious problems. A very good review of the impact of blood glucose on brain activity is described in the reference below.

Blood Glucose Levels Must Be Controlled

The level of glucose in our blood is carefully controlled. If it becomes too high it is taken up into our muscles and liver and stored as an inert molecule called glycogen that is very similar to the storage carbohydrate, starch, in plants. This uptake in muscles and liver is controlled by hormones especially insulin. When blood glucose is low, the glycogen is broken down to glucose and exported from the muscles and liver back into the blood. The synthesis and breakdown of glycogen is also very tightly controlled by hormones.

Excessive intake of carbohydrates can overload the system with glucose above what can be accommodated by the synthesis of glycogen. This excess of glucose is converted to fat in our adipose tissue. The problem with fat is that is slow to be metabolized and cannot be converted to glucose and replenish blood glucose levels, although it can be used for energy.

One carbohydrate, however, that I believe has major problems for us is sugar and high fructose corn syrup.
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Sugar is Sweet, My Love (but not as sweet as fructose)

Glucose and fructose are two simple sugars that appear to be almost identical in structure and have exactly the same caloric content. They are usually treated the same in nutrition books as simply empty calories. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Fructose is almost twice as sweet as sucrose and so it is often used to make food more attractive especially to young consumers. This also explains the attractiveness of using high fructose corn syrup in many foods. Sucrose itself is a natural product, although it is highly purified so that it can be sold as a fine flowing crystalline product. It is present in juices like orange juice and vegetables like carrots. A small glass of orange juice is good for you, but often people drink very large glasses and the sucrose in them can be just as much a problem as it is in Coke. (I makes small glasses of fresh orange juice for my wife and me every morning at 5.30 am but is only about 100 ml not the 500 ml that some people,drink.)

Our Bodies Use Glucose and Fructose Very Differently

When dissolved in water glucose and fructose have different forms. Because of this, fructose cannot be used directly as an energy source by our cells. Nor can it be stored as glycogen. Fructose is absorbed by our liver where it is broken down as if it were a toxic compound. The initial stages of this requires energy rather than generating energy and this can destroy liver cells as was demonstrated many years ago at UCLA in Dr. Dan Atkinson’s lab. The fructose is converted into fats in the liver, which can be transported to our fat storing adipose cells so fructose can directly contribute to obesity. This fat can also accumulate in the liver and give us fatty liver that that disrupts the liver and is also very dangerous. The problem with fats is that they cannot be converted back into glucose. They can be broken down and used for energy but not by our brains which must use glucose.

Many other problems have been reported for fructose. It appears to interfere with the regulation of blood glucose levels through making cells less sensitive to insulin. It also appears to increase our appetite making us crave for more food.

The Fast Food Industry

As I have said previously, I have no problem with the fast food industry. They will supply what the public wants. However, I feel they could make a major contribution to the health of the population by pointing out what foods they believe to be healthy, especially for children. A good place to start would be by making the data on carbohydrates, and especially fructose, available to customers with perhaps an explanation pamphlet explaining why they are doing this.

I have no problem with people eating sugar or even fructose. It is the excessive quantities that are eaten now in many different food items.

http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/carbs.html.