The last bite

Sugar pops

Who would have thought that sugars, like football teams, politicians and pop songs would have a good and bad chart of their own? In times past it was sucrose that was the villain of the piece being labelled as responsible for caries while the rather more humble fructose (fruit sugar to you and me) was a mild-mannered relative in comparison.

Well, no longer. Researchers in California (of course) have discovered that feeding rats on high-fructose corn syrup affects their brain function. The animals became slower and their ability to recall a route out of a maze declined. A similar batch of rats fed the same diet but with the addition of omega-3 fatty acids had no such problems.

I suppose the lesson to be learned is that if you find yourself in a maze (dentistry perhaps?) don't overdose on fructose corn syrup but if you do, try and find some omega-3 to compensate. Or just stick to sucrose!