You have probably heard of high fructose corn syrup. It is an extremely popular, part-processed sweetener that manufacturers use for almost every kind of food that they can sweeten. High fructose corn syrup, or HFCS, starts out as simply cornstarch. Through a chemical process, the glucose in the corn starch is changed over to fructose, a different kind of sugar compound. The result? A sugar made mostly of fructose with some glucose leftover. And why do food makers prefer it so much? Well, mostly becase its cheap: It doesn’t cost as much to use the fructose mixture as it does to use real glucose products, and fructose tends to last a lot longer on the shelf.
But HFCS isn’t nearly so good for us or our children. Basically, there are no healthy sweeteners, and although fructose is no aspartame it can still cause problems. Studies have linked the sweetener to obesity, and over time it can cause insulin problems, elevated blood pressure, and several different liver diseases. Fructose is not absorbed or used quite as readily by the digestive system as glucose, which means it falls on the liver to do almost all of the work. While fructose can be processed by our bodies, the end result is not as good as more natural sugars.
One of the primary problems is that HFCS is in everything. We ingest massive quantities of it, usually without realizing it. High fructose corn syrup isn’t just in juice boxes, sodas, syrups, and fast food pies–it’s also hiding in most fast food sauces and salad dressings, all kinds of rolls and bread, potato salads, and most types of processed ice creams.
Since we eat HFCS in such high quantities, the problems it causes are compounded, and it can even make it more difficult for our bodies to absorb necessary vitamins. Youth can eat as many as 73 grams of HFCS a day from common drinks and foods! When you consider that other studies have shown the presence of toxic metals like mercury in some processed corn syrup, the fructose levels become even more worrying.
With so much high fructose corn syrup included in foods, the key is moderation. Find out which foods include a lot of HFCS, and avoid them or consume them in smaller qualities. Kicking a soft drink habit can make a huge difference in HFCS levels in the body. Limiting fast food stops is a good idea, too. You can replace juice drinks and soda for your family with natural and fresh juices instead. Visit Stophfcs.com for a long list of products and ingredients that are low in HFCS or do not use it all.
5 Comments On This Post
We would like people to see the facts on high fructose corn syrup, which has been the subject of a lot of attention and misinformation in the past few years. Most of the problem stems from confusion about what high fructose corn syrup really is. Most people have heard of high fructose corn syrup, but aren’t aware of how similar it is to common table sugar. For example, the type of high fructose corn syrup used in soft drinks has about the same amount of fructose as sugar, and is essentially the same as sugar; the high fructose corn syrup used in breads, jams and yogurt is 42% fructose – actually less fructose than what’s found in sugar. High fructose corn syrup performs numerous functions besides sweetening that make it useful in many food preparations. But it does so in most cases using very small amounts. How small? See here http://bit.ly/sxTdU
Scientists continue to confirm that high fructose corn syrup is no different from other sweeteners. It is essentially the same as table sugar and honey, and has the same number of calories.
Many confuse pure “fructose” with “high fructose corn syrup,” a sweetener that never contains fructose alone, but always in combination with a roughly equivalent amount of a second sugar (glucose). Recent studies that have examined pure fructose — often at abnormally high levels — have been inappropriately applied to high fructose corn syrup and have caused significant consumer confusion. Sharing an article from the Nutrition Diva “Is High Fructose Corn Syrup Worse Than Sugar?” http://ht.ly/1WnzA
Government data confirms that per capita consumption of high fructose corn syrup in the U.S. has actually been declining in recent years, while the obesity problem continues to grow. Obesity is becoming a more global problem each day, yet high fructose corn syrup is used very little—or not at all—in many countries where obesity is rising. Sugar is the primary sweetener in most parts of the world. Please see Table 52—High fructose corn syrup: estimated number of per capita calories consumed daily, by calendar year- http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/Sugar/data.htm. and please also take a look at the (International Obesity Task Force. October 2009. Global Prevalence of Adult Obesity.) http://www.iotf.org/database/documents/GlobalPrevalenceofAdultObesityOctober2009v2.pdf
Furthermore, no mercury or mercury-based technology is used in the production of high fructose corn syrup in North America.
You and your readers can rest assured that high fructose corn syrup is safe. Safety is the highest priority for our industry, which is why we immediately commissioned external testing as well as independent expert review of claims concerning mercury and our corn sweetener.
Woodhall Stopford, MD, MSPH, of Duke University Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading experts in mercury contamination, reviewed the results of total mercury testing of samples of high fructose corn syrup conducted by Eurofins Central Analytical Laboratory (Metairie, LA) in February and March 2009. Dr. Stopford concluded:
•No quantifiable mercury was detected in any of the samples analyzed.
•High fructose corn syrup does not appear to be a measureable contributor to mercury in foods.
You can read Dr. Stopford’s findings at http://duketox.mc.duke.edu/HFCS%20test%20results4.doc.
As many dietitians agree, all sugars should be consumed in moderation as part of a balanced lifestyle.
Audrae Erickson, Corn Refiners Association
Corn Refiner – High Fructose Corn Syrup is NOT “just like sugar.” Sugar braks down in the stomach the organ designed to diagest food.HFCS is broken down by the liver & makes the body work twice as hard to diagest it.
Actually there is one sweetner that is actually good to use, and the ia Xylitol. Low glycemic and safe for diabetics. It is used better brands of toothpaste (Shaklee)becuase it is beneficial to tooth health. Looks like, and tastes like sugar, can be used the same, however it is slightly sweeter. Zylitol is metabolized independentaly of insulin. So you can have a bit of sweet, and not send your system into overload.
I don’t know who is right in this debate, but I do find it interesting that the article and people like Condo make claims without citing any studies or verifiable information to back them up as CornRefiner does.
Is there an unbiased 3rd-party study that shows HFCS “makes the body work twice as hard to digest it” or is that just something you read on a blog? People need to remember that literally anyone can write a blog about literally anything, and they don’t have to have any expertise or proof to do so. So I’ll be researching this issue using scientifically supported sources before I make any decisions about what’s what.
The key difference between sugars and high-fructose corn syrup is that HFCS is metabolized differently, as Condo Blues noted, but it also fails to trigger the hormone signal to the brain that the stomach is full. When this is bypassed, people overeat because their brain isn’t getting the message that they’re full. Overeating –> obesity.
This is an outstanding lecture by Dr Robert Lustig, the Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of California SF. It is very detailed, but I think it’s very understandable for us laymen. He explores the links between obesity, inflammation, chronic disease and fructose (in all of its forms). All of his illustrations are cited in detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM
As a general rule, I would never take the word of someone in the food or drug industry who has a vested interest in making money, period. There is way too much faulty science and creative wording used to back up the mainstream food industry’s “healthful” claims. Jenn, you’re wise to investigate third party sources for your information.
The Corn Industry maintains that this additive is healthful and that moderation is key. A consumer who makes it a habit to read labels will note that, not only is it ubiquitous – and in the most surprising of places – but the amount used in the product is not quantified. How are we to exercise moderation if we don’t have this information? This is the primary reason that I read labels religiously and I will always choose a product that does not have HFCS over one that does. Even if the health evidence was less condemning, I always opt for more natural foods over those that have been chemically processed because those are what my body recognizes as “foods” and it uses them efficiently. When you fuel your body with artificial products or those that are chemically altered, there are health effects. Would you put water or soda in your car’s gas tank? Seems like a no-brainer: a car isn’t meant to run on those things! And yet, we fill our bodies with unnatural things passed off as “food” and expect our bodies to function well.
Hopefully our cultural pendulum will swing back from the trend of almost totally processed diets to those that are more natural and therefore healthful.
Happy eating!