Jonny Bowden, author, nutritionist and weight loss coach cuts through all the misconceptions about diet and fitness to help you transform your body, your health and your life.

Fructose-sweetened dessert Photo: dizznbonn, Flickr

Unless you've been away from television, newspapers and computers for the last couple of years, you've probably heard that high-fructose corn syrup is bad news. Well, it is.

But it's not just high-fructose corn syrup -- it's fructose as an added sweetener (in any form), and the problem is not just that it contributes to weight gain (which it does, by the way).

Back in 1977, average daily consumption of fructose was about 37 grams per person per day. Recent surveys show that it's up to 54.7 grams, or about 10 percent of total caloric intake. And for teenagers -- who consume a ton of soda -- fructose intake averages a whopping 72.8 grams, the equivalent of 18 spoonfuls of the stuff every single day.

Why should we care?

Recently, researchers in Switzerland decided to investigate the effect of a high-fructose diet on the children of diabetic patients. The researchers thought these kids might be more susceptible to disorders associated with insulin and fat metabolism, so there was reason to believe that the children of diabetic parents would be particularly vulnerable to the effects of a high-fructose diet. However, the fructose caused havoc not only in the children of diabetics, but in the children of non-diabetics as well. In other words, high fructose is bad for everyone -- the high-fructose diet decreased insulin sensitivity in both groups (by about 5 percent).

When the cells aren't sensitive to insulin, sugar (and insulin, the fat storage hormone) stay elevated in the bloodstream longer. Eventually, that sugar goes to the fat cells. And high levels of insulin keep your body from "burning" fat.

It gets worse. In both groups, deposits of fat in the liver increased by more than 75 percent.

To me, fructose is like fur. Fur looks great on its original owners -- it belongs on the backs of animals, where it looks just fine, thank you very much! Fructose belongs in fruit, where it is surrounded by fiber, phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals and other good stuff. I have no problem with consuming fructose in fruit (unless you are diabetic or very insulin resistant). I have a huge problem with extracting fructose from its normal sources, producing cheap fructose-based syrups made from corn and then sticking it in every food and food product in the supermarket.

That's a recipe for disaster.

For more information on nutrition and weight loss, visit www.jonnybowden.com.