High Fructose Corn Syrup, an inexpensive sweetener, flooded the American food supply in the early 1980s, just about the time the nation's obesity rate started its unprecedented climb. Because high fructose corn syrup mixes easily, extends shelf life and is as much as 20 percent cheaper than other sources of sugar, large-scale food manufacturers love it.
The list below shows how much sugar, mostly in the form of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), is in each of these single servings.
Sunkist soda: 10 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
Berkeley Farms low-fat yogurt with fruit: 10 teaspoons of sugar
Mott's applesauce: 5 teaspoons of sugar
Slim-Fast chocolate cookie dough meal bar: 5 teaspoons of sugar
1 tablespoon ketchup: 1 teaspoon of sugar
Hansen's Super Vita orange-carrot Smoothie: 10 teaspoons of sugar
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture we consumed almost 63 pounds of High Fructose Corn Syrup per person in 2001.
Until the 1970s most of the sugar we ate came from sucrose derived from sugar beets or sugar cane. The body processes high fructose corn syrup differently than it does old-fashioned cane or beet sugar. Because the liver metabolizes it, fructose does not cause the pancreas to release insulin the way it normally does. Fructose converts to fat more than any other sugar by forcing the liver to kick more fat into the bloodstream in the form of triglycerides.
Another side effect of fructose is that it fails to increase the production of leptin, a hormone produced by the body's fat cells. Both insulin and leptin act as signals to the brain to turn down the appetite and control body weight. In another metabolic twist, research shows that fructose does not appear to suppress the production of ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger and appetite. The end result is that our bodies are essentially tricked into wanting to eat more, at the same time we are storing more fat!
This may be one of the reasons Americans continue to get fatter. With twice the fructose, High Fructose Corn Syrup delivers a double danger compared to sugar.
Added weight is not the only health concern with HFCS. Dr. Field conducted a study on copper deficient rats. The males fed fructose had anemia, high cholesterol, enlarged hearts and delayed testicular development. Fructose in combination with copper deficiency interferes with collagen production. (Note: copper deficiency is widespread in America.)
"The medical profession thinks fructose is better for diabetics than sugar," says Dr. Field, "but every cell in the body can metabolize glucose. However, all fructose must be metabolized in the liver. The livers of the rats on the high fructose diet looked like the livers of alcoholics, plugged with fat and cirrhotic."
Not only does fructose have more damaging effects in the presence of copper deficiency, fructose also inhibits copper metabolism! A deficiency in copper leads to bone fragility, anemia, defects of the connective tissue, arteries, and bone, infertility, heart arrhythmias, high cholesterol levels, heart attacks, and an inability to control blood sugar levels.
Now, do you still want to eat High Fructose Corn Syrup? To stay healthy, eat natural and organic foods that have not been processed by man.
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