The Deadly Truth About High Fructose Corn Syrup
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Are you wondering why you are not able to lose weight or why your energy levels are diminishing?
You have undoubtedly heard that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is not good for your health. However, most people don’t understand why HFCS is so harmful to their health. Simply put, it causes your body to store fat and robs you of energy. I want to help you understand why this happens so you can begin to make smarter choices for your health. HFCS is processed differently than cane sugar in your body, and regular consumption of this product can cause problems that can diminish your quality of life as you age.
What is HFCS?
It is a sweetener that is made from corn syrup, which has undergone enzymatic processing to convert some of the naturally occurring glucose in corn into fructose, which ultimately creates a product that is much sweeter than regular corn syrup. What makes this even worse is that the corn from which HFCS is produced is genetically modified. Natural News refers to this product as “the Ultimate Franken-syrup sweetener.”
Why has HFCS been so widely used in food products?
This product was originally manufactured for use as a very low-cost sweetener in many processed foods and beverages when tariffs on imported cane sugar were increased in the 1970s. Government subsidies to corn farmers resulted in an overabundance of corn, which drove down corn prices and made corn-based products very inexpensive for food manufacturers to use to keep their prices competitive. In 1980, Coca-Cola began using HFCS instead of sugar, and other soft drink manufacturers followed suit by the mid-1980s. The use of HFCS escalated and could be found in almost any processed food, especially when manufacturers were trying to create low-fat foods that tasted good. The irony is that the low-fat craze of the 1980s only resulted in increased obesity statistics.
The corn industry has made a veritable fortune on this HFCS product, especially with the corn subsidies provided by the US government to corn farmers. The corn industry has vociferously defended the various attacks that have been leveled against HFCS in response to research proving that HFCS contributes to obesity and leads to diabetes. Ads sponsored by the corn industry have been produced to camouflage the negative health consequences of HFCS. These ads are analogous to putting lipstick on a pig. The Corn Refiners Association recently petitioned to have the product renamed as “corn sugar” in an attempt to fool consumers into believing that it is something other than HFCS. The FDA would not allow this.
Why is HFCS worse than sugar (sucrose)?
If you are trying to maintain or lose weight, you should read labels and look for the kind of sugar that is in the ingredient list. I’m not going to tell you that consuming vast amounts of sugar (sucrose) is healthy for you. Sugar in any form should be consumed in limited quantities to prevent the body from producing excessive amounts of insulin, a fat-storage hormone.
Consuming simple forms of sugar, like fructose, causes blood sugar to rise rapidly, which sends a message to the pancreas to secrete insulin to lower the blood sugar. Then the blood sugar level plummets, and the hormone that regulates hunger is released and sends a message to the brain to eat to bring the blood sugar back to a normal level.
If you must consume sugar, be sure to combine it with protein, fat, and fiber, because this will help to stabilize your blood sugar.Protein prevents the blood sugar from dropping dangerously low, triggering excessive insulin production.Fat and fiber help to slow the metabolism of the sugar into the bloodstream, minimizing the production of insulin, which is a fat storage hormone.
Whereas sucrose (cane sugar) must be converted by digestive enzymes into glucose and fructose before it can be absorbed by the body, free fructose, the product of HFCS, goes directly to your liver, triggering lipogenesis, the formation of fat (triglycerides and cholesterol) in the body. Through lipogenesis, simple sugars are synthesized into fatty acids, which are esterified with glycerol to form fat. These products are secreted from the liver in the form of very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), which are secreted into the blood, where they function to deliver the fat to the body’s tissues. The effects of HFCS lead to increased metabolic disturbances that cause sugar cravings, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and digestive problems. HFCS can elicit pervasive inflammation in your body, causing joint pain, cognitive slowing, and a host of other issues associated with inflammation in the body.
Additionally, research shows that HFCS actually can make us feel more fatigued because it negatively impacts the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a coenzyme in cells referred to as "the molecular unit of currency of intracellular energy.” In simple terms, it is our body’s energy source. Furthermore, HFCS can cause damage to our intestinal lining, which can cause a host of immune reactions when bacteria leak through the intestinal lining into the bloodstream, causing inflammation in the body. Last, but not least, chemical contaminants contained in HFCS include trace amounts of mercury. If you are consuming sources of HFCS daily, mercury can build up in your body, creating a toxic heavy metal overload.
What is the good news?
The good news is that many food manufacturers are making an effort to eliminate HFCS from their ingredient lists. Starbucks no longer serves foods or beverages with HFCS. Yoplait Yogurt eliminated the use of HFCS in their yogurts. This is evidence that consumers are becoming more savvy and are unwilling to purchase products with HFCS. Food manufacturers, in turn, are finding ways to eliminate this dangerous ingredient and use healthier ingredients to sweeten their products.
I challenge you to completely eliminate HFCS from your life for the rest of your life. Look at every label in your house and dispose of products that have HFCS. You will be surprised how many foods in your pantry or refrigerator have HFCS in their ingredient list.
You may be surprised to learn that the following foods frequently contain HFCS:
Tomato paste, bottled salad dressings, ketchup, BBQ sauce, Hershey’s chocolate syrup, jams and jellies, Dryers and Ben & Jerry’s ice creams, yogurts, cottage cheese, wheat thins crackers, pickles, canned cranberry sauce, applesauce, cool whip, and breakfast cereals. Even most cough and cold syrups contain high fructose corn syrup.
Make more healthful choices at the cocktail bar.
Chances are when you order a vodka tonic, margarita, whiskey sour, or a rum and coke, you aren't really considering that these beverages may be putting your body into fat storage mode and negatively impacting your body's energy source. I want to help you make a more healthful choice next time you order a cocktail at a bar. There are options available that won't add inches to your waistline the way those with HFCS will.
Let's start with tonic water. Did you know that almost every tonic water on the market contains HFCS? Many people mistakenly think that because it says water on the label that it is calorie-free like club soda. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you check the label on a bottle of tonic water, you will find that it has almost as much sugar as a cola. But what makes it less healthy is the HFCS. Zevia makes tonic water that is sweetened with stevia, which is a safe plant-based sweetener. Fever-tree makes a tonic water made with sugar, which is a healthier alternative to those made with HFCS.
The following are examples of beverage mixers whose ingredient list includes HFCS (at the time of this writing). Note that the serving sizes, so you understand how many grams of sugar you are consuming in a serving of your favorite cocktail.
Coca-Cola 39 g sugar for 12 oz serving (HFCS)
Schweppes Tonic water 32 g sugar for 8 oz serving (HFCS)
Master of Mixes Margarita Mix 33 g sugar for 4 oz serving (HFCS)
Master of Mixes Sour mix 30 g sugar for 4 oz serving (HFCS)
Schweppes Ginger Ale 33 g sugar for 8 oz serving (HFCS)
Ocean Spray Cranberry Cocktail 28 g sugar for 8 oz serving (no HFCS)
A product used in many bars, called Rose's lime juice, is a sweetened lime juice that makes cocktails taste great; however, it's ingredient list also includes HFCS.
Healthier cocktail choices
Instead of using bottled sour mix, use fresh lemon juice and with a small amount of simple syrup. Rather than using HFCS laden tonic water, you can use club soda with lemon or lime or a splash of ginger ale. If you must have the taste of quinine, you could add a splash of tonic water to club soda to minimize the impact of higher amounts of HFCS.
With companies trying to eliminate HFCS from their ingredient list, it is much easier these days to find healthy alternatives. You simply need to read your ingredient labels and avoid those products with HFCS. You can even write the food manufacturing company a letter and tell them that you have been a loyal fan of their product but will not continue to purchase it until they eliminate HFCS from the ingredients. These food companies care because they don’t want to lose customers. They are aware that HFCS is unhealthy but they may not remove it from their product unless they see it is affecting their profits.
In good health,
Valerie Folsom-Martin, MSW, LCSW, CIMHP, CCTP, FDN-P, CHHC
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