The Confusing World of High Fructose Corn Syrup

Our love for sweets has been with us since the beginning of time. It is our natural, inborn desire for something pleasant tasting that first lead us to the nutritious fruits and vegetables that were available at the time and which thankfully, kept us away from the dangerous, poisonous plants because they tasted bitter. Isn’t it interesting that all poisonous plants taste bitter and good for us plants taste sweet? Even mother’s milk is extra sweet so as to entice those little babies to eat.

But our craving for treats goes way beyond this build in biological, survival mechanism or even beyond the desire for something that tastes good.

Sugary foods make us feel good. We don’t eat desserts in order to fill our empty bellies, we eat them so we can create a pleasurable experience. As a matter of fact it is thought that the reason that sugar and certain spices caused so many wars in ancient societies is because they were like mind altering drugs. And in today’s world if you have ever seen how a 4 year old acts when he wants candy and mom says no…well that’s pretty mind altering I’d say.

Now a little bit of sugar is probably okay, but it’s like anything else…too much is well too much.

Even the Bible reminds us to eat it in moderation.

“It is not good to eat too much honey…” ~ Proverbs 25:27

But what harm can it cause?

Well, how about…

• Tooth decay
• Obesity
• Heart disease
• Hypoglycemia
• Immune deficiency diseases
• Digestive disorders
• Calcium loss
• Diabetes
• Impaired immune system
• Cancer
• Dementia
• Liver failure

How is that for starters?

Plain old sugar that you find in your sugar bowl when called by it’s scientific name is sucrose. Sucrose is a blend of 50% glucose and 50% fructose. When introduced into your body the digestive track breaks down the sucrose into glucose and fructose. As an interesting note to remember, neither is good for you but fructose is the more offensive one.

Fructose found in it’s naturally occurring state such as an apple is fine because it comes with plenty of healthful nutrients like phytochemicals and fiber.

But when it is extracted and made into high fructose corn syrup it causes insulin resistance which in turn causes metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. It also has been shown to raise the triglyceride level in the blood which in turn causes heart disease. And it has been linked to non-alcoholic, fatty liver disease.

You see where as cane sugar is 50 percent fructose and 50 percent glucose, high fructose corn syrup is 55 percent fructose to 45 percent glucose.

Not only is fructose sweeter than glucose making HFC sweeter than regular table sugar, but it also cheaper because of the government farm subsidies. Hence all of the super sized sodas and the glut of processed foods in your grocery store.

We have been lead to believe that it is a natural product, made from corn after all, and no worse for you than sugar. But that’s not necessarily true.

You see there is no chemical bond between the fructose and the glucose like there is in regular sugar. That means that it doesn’t have to be digested, and so it is more rapidly absorbed into the blood stream and that fructose goes right to the liver. This triggers lipogenesis which is the production of triglyceride like fats and cholesterol and this causes liver damage. Also the rapidly absorbed glucose caused insulin to spike and thus disrupts the body’s major fat storage hormone. Both of these events can eventually lead to increased appetite, weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and dementia.

And a big part of why it is so bad is because there is so much of it. It’s in everything these days. You really have to go out of your way to avoid it. Just consider that one 20 ounce sweetened drink has 17 teaspoons of sugar in it and that the average teenager likely consumes two drinks per day. Compare that with our hunter gather ancestors who maybe consumed the equivalent of 20 teaspoons per year.

So you can see what a vicious cycle it causes. It’s cheap so it’s in a lot of foods, it very sweet so it makes us want even more of those foods. And it has no nutritional value. It does way more harm than good, but because it’s cheap and tastes good we end up eating way too much of it.

If you want something sweet opt for real sugar and only a couple of times a week. See if that doesn’t make you feel healthier and more energetic.