Fructose has been accused of all sorts of health-related sins, from high blood pressure to diabetes to obesity. “Classical biochemistry teaching” that shows fructose is metabolized differently than glucose as well as rodent studies showing that a high-fructose diet can spur obesity and other cardiac and metabolic problems have led some to hypothesize that the same thing holds true for humans, says John Sievenpiper, a research fellow at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. But Sievenpiper and other researchers wanted to investigate whether boosting fructose consumption actually leads to weight gain in humans, as opposed to rats or hamsters. So they reviewed and analyzed the results of 41 previously published feeding trials, where subjects’ intake is very strictly controlled in a laboratory setting. In most of the trials, calories were held steady while pure fructose was substituted for another form of carbohydrate. (It was sprinkled into drinks or processed into foods.) An analysis of those results showed no effect on body weight, according to the review , published earlier this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine. When researchers crunched the data behind the 10 trials that added fructose on top of the usual diet to provide additional calories, there was weight gain. It looks like that was due to the extra calories alone, says Sievenpiper. He says there are limitations to the underlying studies. They didn’t directly simulate real-world consumption: Fructose consumption in the controlled trials was between 1.5 and six times higher than the U.S. average, says Sievenpiper. And the studies were small and fairly short, he says. “We need larger, longer and higher-quality studies,” he says. That said, “this still represents the best estimate of the impact of fructose on body weight with the best study design that we have,” he says. The review was primarily funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, with an additional grant from the Calorie Control Council , which represents the low-cal food and beverage industry. Some investigators on the study, including Sievenpiper, have unrestricted grants from Coca-Cola for other research, but that company had no role in this study, he says. Sievenpiper was an author of a similar review — published online last week by Hypertension –  of previously published feeding studies looking at fructose and high blood pressure. It found “no evidence” to support that swapping in fructose for other carbs increases blood pressure, he says. Again, longer and larger studies need to be done on this point, he says. And researchers need to figure out what effects the fructose that naturally occurs in fruit may have on the body. (Criticism usually focuses on the added fructose that goes into processed foods.) Earlier this month, researchers from UCSF cited links to hypertension and diabetes when they argued in a Nature commentary that fructose-containing sweeteners added to processed foods deserve special scrutiny and even regulation. Last month, as the WSJ reported , a study suggested that the mix of carbs, protein and fat doesn’t influence body fat gain — it’s the calories that matter. Image: iStockphoto

By Julie Week 8 of the Feel Great Weight program has turned out to be the easiest week thus far. The food portioning was effortless and, aside from one day in which I pushed lunch too late due to a meeting, I rarely felt super-hungry. This surprised me because the intensity of my workouts has been turned up. Admittedly I went over my allotted pasta servings this week, but mainly because I made a huge batch of ratatouille (yum!) and pasta complements that dish best. One night I prepared a tofu stir-fry for dinner and it was delicious. My husband isn’t keen on tofu but he happily returned for seconds. My toddler is still the hard-sell but I am becoming more adept at getting him to try things. Of course the real test will be my weigh-in this coming week. And as I mentioned, Justo turned up the intensity of my workouts with a lot more interval training. I’m surprised by the level of coordination needed on a few of the exercises, and by how I can be sore the next day even though we didn’t use any weights. Where I am struggling is with my outside cardio sessions. I’ve tried to focus on increasing my running endurance, but I am not making much progress. I realize that as time goes on, I’ll need to add both time and distance, so Justo is helping me put together a running program. I would love to eventually be able to run a 10k and not be completely winded before I hit the finish line. This will take dedication and time on my part, though. I keep reminding myself to think about the tortoise and not worry about the hare. The greatest motivation of all have been the comments I’ve been getting on my physical transformation—and this week I received several of them. Justo said that I was looking smaller, and at my son’s playgroup several friends commented how great I was looking. And even though he sees me every day, my husband remarked on my svelter self. My clothes are beginning to be too big, which is great, but even more important to me is how much stronger I am feeling. I am more conscious of my muscles, my form and posture are better. and I can easily do 10 push-ups. I am beginning to feel glimmers of my former fit self, and with several months of the FGW program to go, I am happily looking forward to conquering many more physical milestones in the future.

I’ll admit, I went a bit overboard during the holidays. Faced with table after table of homemade treats, it was hard to say no. So January has been a welcome reprieve from all the sugar I consumed during all of the festivities. Now, it’s all about less refined sugars, lots of salads, and plenty of water. For many of you, a new year may mean detoxing as well. That can be anything from making sure you are eating foods that help get your body back on track (if you’re curious, here are 10 detoxing foods to introduce into your diet ) to making sure you make this cleansing green drink recipe once a day. Whatever your healthy eating plan of choice, have you decided to detox this month? What ways are you using to cleanse?

Holiday indulgences got you down? FitSugar reader JuicyNoelle has a detox smoothie for you. She posted the recipe in our Healthy Recipe group . Are you looking for ways to embrace a little holiday detox? If so, don’t forget to incorporate a piece of ginger. Ginger is believed to fire up your body’s natural detoxification work. It also helps your body better absorb nutrients, and eliminate waste (cleansing divas believe excess waste equals excess weight). Toss a piece of fresh ginger into a stir-fry, a great salad dressing, or even a delicious smoothie. Detox Orange Ginger Smoothie Serving size: 1 (200 calories) Ingredients 1 banana, peeled and frozen 1/4 inch ginger, peeled and minced 1/2 cup mango slices, frozen 1/4 cup orange juice 1/4 cup water 4–5 ice cubes For more on this recipe, visit JuicyNoelle’s blog, Green Lemonade . Upload your own recipes to our Healthy Recipe group , and we may feature yours on our homepage!

Skin, nails, and hair can be outward signals of your overall health and can indicate where you may be lacking in the nutrition department. Having a whole, well-balanced diet contributes to shiny, silky hair with minimal breakage and split ends. In addition, eating lots of antioxidant rich fruits and healthy fats can help clear skin and protect you from skin cancer. Lastly, loading up on nutrient-rich foods enables your body to grow strong, healthy nails without the dints, white spots, or hang nails. Here are the five foods you should eat regularly to start radiating health and natural beauty . Salmon: Omega-3s contributes to a healthy scalp and keeps the skin lubricated. The protein helps fight against a protein deficiency, which can change your hair color, make your nails brittle, and your skin dull. Whip up some poached salmon with curried yogurt sauce to get your fix. Cashews: High in zinc, eating cashews in trail mix or as a quick snack will keep your hair shiny, prevent white spots in your nails, and aid in healing acne or scabs on your skin. You could also opt to sprinkle them on top of your favorite veggie dish like this Indian spiced chard recipe. Beans: Legumes and lentils have lots of biotin, a fatty acid complex that strengthens nails and hair. Dark leafy greens: Kale, collard greens, and chard are just a few sources high in vitamin A and C, which your body needs in order to produce sebum, the oil that’s secreted in your hair follicles. In addition, eating greens at every meal helps your body store more iron, which is essential for healthy hair and giving your skin a healthy glow. Here are seven ways to prepare kale – our fave green of the season. Whole wheat: Start eating sprouted grain bread, buckwheat, and other variants of the West’s favorite grain, because it contains selenium, a key mineral needed for healthy, cancer-free skin. Plus, studies have also shown eating whole wheat leads to clearer skin .

Don’t let the size of butternut squash intimidate you. This favorite Fall ingredient is easy to prep and can be used in a variety of dishes. From soups to risotto, see what healthy butternut squash recipes we’ll be cooking up this season. View Slideshow ›

Autumn may not officially begin for another couple of weeks, but Fall allergy season kicked off back in mid-August. The bummer is that this season lasts until the first frost. Spring sneezes are usually set off by pollen in trees, plants, and weeds, but the main Fall culprit is ragweed, although mold and dust mites may be tickling your nose too. And thanks to climate change , ragweed season is longer than it was 30 years ago – as much as 27 more days a year. If, as Summer blends into Fall, you find yourself wiping an endlessly runny nose and rubbing irritated eyes, you might just be battling a ragweed allergy. One plant produces upwards of one billion far-traveling pollen grains . Most common in rural areas, pollen levels of this plant peak between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. in urban areas. The King of Pollen Allergies , as ragweed is sometimes called, also flourishes in vacant lots, roadsides, ditches, riverbanks, and construction sites. More prolific on the East Coast and in the Midwest, your best bet for relief is to avoid the pollen by staying indoors and keeping windows closed (running A/C with a HEPA filter) especially when sleeping. Try over-the-counter antihistamine or prescription nasal spray to relieve the troublesome symptoms. Does ragweed make you suffer? How do you deal with the symptoms? Flickr User Ian Muttoo

One of the best parts about Summer is the amount of amazingly fresh, juicy produce that’s available, but sometimes that can mean we’re left with a fridge of fruits that are just on the verge of going bad. But don’t throw them away overripe fruits contain high levels of antioxidants and other healthy nutrients. So go ahead, cut away any gross parts of your aging Summer fruit and check out these delicious recipes that use up your overripe fruit! View Slideshow ›

By Matthew Quinn, deputy editor of CFO Journal, WSJ’s forthcoming website for corporate finance executives. When A mgen announced Thursday its first ever dividend payment — and the first ever for the biotech sector as a whole — the move underscored the growing confidence among corporates that the recovery has taken firmer hold and they can make steady commitments to distribute cash to shareholders. But it also marked a significant step in the maturation of Amgen. Of course, admitting that you may be the old man in a young man’s world like biotech can be a painful process. Larger biotech companies have typically produced higher growth and used their cash to invest in their expansion, but Amgen’s stock has stagnated in recent years, Dow Jones Newswires explains . In the past 12 months it is down 4%. Amgen, with several major drugs already to market, is more like a big pharma company at this point than your classic biotech firm burning through cash while working toward a breakthrough. As a result, investors have been pushing harder for Amgen to issue a dividend and it has been evaluating the move for several months. (Instrumental in that evaluation was surely CFO Jonathan Peacock, who was hired in July from Novartis. From his time there, he brings not only experience minding the finances of a big pharma company, but also in significantly growing a dividend: While Peacock was CFO from 2005 to 2010, Novartis nearly doubled its per share dividend payment .) Initiating a dividend payment, as Reuters points out , is often seen as a signal that a company’s high-growth days are behind it. CEO Kevin Sharer, in announcing the dividend, tried to refute that, insisting that Amgen is determined to “remain an innovation-focused biotechnology company.” Some investors, however, aren’t so much interested in innovation as they are fixated on Amgen’s swelling coffers. Cash and equivalents hit $17.4 billion at the end of last year, up 30% from a year earlier and 82% from the end of 2008. (Cash fell to $15.4 billion at the end of the first quarter after Amgen paid repaid $2.5 billion in convertible debt.) Amgen has tried to placate investors with buybacks, spending $9.3 billion on share repurchases between 2008 and 2010. And today’s announcement also included a fresh authorization to repurchase another $5 billion in common stock. But analysts and investors don’t necessarily want Amgen to get much more daring than that. In fact, they started clamoring for the dividend out of fear that Amgen might use its large cash balance for a major acquisition rather than returning money to shareholders, according to Reuters. And RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee told Bloomberg what would really make growth investors happy would be “an aggressive move to cut research and development spending.” Not exactly a high-growth strategy. Unfortunately, that’s the reality Amgen faces now that it’s committed to a dividend. As Yee says, “The announcement of a dividend with a yield around 2% will get value and income investors interested in the stock.” You can’t get much more grown-up than appealing to orphans and widows. Image: iStockphoto

As soon as Spring arrives, I can hardly wait to dust off my rollerblades and skate around town. I’ve been skating ever since I learned how to walk, so strapping in my blades not only helps to keep me in shape (did you know you can burn up to 371 calories in 30 minutes rollerblading ?), but it also brings back fond memories of my youth. Whether you are just learning how to rollerblade or are a Tony Hawk on blades, here are some in-line skate suggestions for beginners to pros. View Slideshow ›