What is High Fructose Corn Syrup?

When I decided to get serious about what I was eating, one of he ingredients I considered "foreign" to my body was High Fructose Corn Syrup(HFCS). I was very diligent about eliminating foods that had it as an ingredient. As a result I might have become a pain to friends, family and even strangers. Declining a food item from someone who eats it can be insulting. People take it very personally. As a result, I had to justify my reason. Of course half way through, I would lose my audience. I was happy running the risk of looking a little wacky. One tends to lose more friends if you are a condescending know-it-all. Wacky people tend to keep their friends :-).

As news spread of the health risks in HFCS, more people started avoiding it and the corn lobbyists became alarmed. They quickly released a commercial was released in the U.S where a mom questioned the danger in HFCS. "It's just sugar" she declared. My thoughts were, if it's "just sugar" why not use sugar instead of a lab created equivalent? What are the benefits, if any, of HFCS. The article below explain all that we need to know about this ingredient. You be the judge...

Is one type of sugar worse for you than another?

Even if you've never heard of HFCS, you've almost certainly eaten it. This highly processed, chemically altered sweetener was created by a Japanese scientist in a lab in 1971 and has been used in almost all processed and prepackaged foods ever since.

HFCS consumption has skyrocketed in the last 25 years, up a whopping 1,000 percent since its creation. And no wonder! You'll find it in everything from soft drinks and yogurt to cookies and crackers. In fact, HFCS now represents more than 40 percent of the caloric sweeteners added to foods and beverages.

It is not a coincidence that this country's obesity rates have more than doubled during that time period?

HFCS is bad for your health -- and your weight -- in several ways.

First, you'll usually find large amounts of HFCS in energy dense foods -- those that are high in calories but not much else. That's just another name for foods that are processed, junk, and high in refined carbohydrates and sugar.

And we know that when people eat energy dense food, they tend to take in more calories than people who eat higher amounts of what I call nutrient dense food.

That's because nutrient dense food gives you more bang for your nutritional buck. For example, the classic energy dense beverage, a soft drink, weighs far less than a pound of asparagus but has a lot more calories.

So if you eat a plant-based, whole-food diet of fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains, you can eat a lot more and weigh a lot less! (Not to mention avoid nearly all the age-related diseases like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia.)

Of course, the obesity epidemic has many causes, including reduced levels of physical activity, increased portion sizes, eating outside the home and at fast-food restaurants, and our overall "toxic food environment." But we do know that the introduction of HFCS into the food supply is associated with the beginning of the obesity epidemic.

Don't believe it?

Well, consider this: Even a slight difference of an extra 100 calories a day can add up to a 10-pound weight gain in just one year. And the average American drinks 440 12-ounce cans of HFCS-laced soda each year!

The second reason that HCFS is bad news for your waistline and your health?

It makes you eat MORE!Yes, you read that right. HFCS actually increases your appetite.

Regular table sugar is 50 percent glucose and 50 percent fructose, while -- as its name implies -- HFCS is 55 percent fructose and 45 percent glucose. Doesn't seem like a big difference, but it can have HUGE effects on your appetite.

When you eat fructose, it doesn't set into motion the chemical reactions and hormones that tell your brain you are full. For instance, fructose doesn't stimulate insulin secretion or the increase in leptin (the hormone that makes you feel full). While glucose is transported into the brain, affecting brain signals that control or limit appetite, fructose is not.

Plus, fructose doesn't reduce ghrelin, a stomach hormone that stimulates appetite. And fructose may also decrease adiponectin levels, which is a hormone made by fat cells that helps make you more sensitive to insulin and helps control your weight and appetite.

What does all that mean? Simply put, when you eat more fructose you don't feel full -- so you keep eating!

The next Blog will discuss more on The Health Effects of High Fructose Corn Syrup

I am grateful to Mark Hyman, MD for his article clarifying this subject.

Florence x