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!

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.

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