High Fructose Corn Syrup

It's one of the most evil things on the market today. It's in candies, cakes, gums, and virtually every aspect of the American diet. It's been marketed as a healthful product, and as "all natural", and as as safe as honey. Is it? Some of us beg to differ.

In 1980, the average person consumed about 39 pounds of fructose and 84 pounds of sucrose per year; but 1994, this number had dramatically changed to 83 pounds of fructose, and 66 pounds of sucrose. That is to say: more total sugar, with a disproportionate amount of it coming from fructose.

It was thought in the past that fructose-based sweeteners were safer than other sweeteners, including sugar, because fructose, obviously, comes from fruit; and fruit is good, right? Fructose is only absorbed at 40 percent the rate as glucose, and thus causes a lower spike in blood sugar. However, more recent research has demonstrated that fructose, in the form of high fructose corn syrup, carries potentially highly threatening health risks. Glucose is able to be metabolized in nearly every cell in the body; however, fructose must be metabolized in the liver. Animals fed large amounts of pure fructose have developed fatty deposits and cirrhosis, as well as other problems that are similar to those found in the livers of alcoholics.

In addition: the consumption of high fructose corn syrup causes a large increase in the concentration of uric acid found in the blood; uric acid is not something you want a lot of in your blood. A large increase in the concentration of serum uric acid can often be indicative of heart disease. It is also converted into fat at a much more rapid rate than glucose, meaning that you can get fatter off of fructose than you could off of similar amounts of glucose. A calorie is not just a calorie anymore. Perhaps this explains why Americans continue to get fatter as high-fructose corn syrup production continues to increase.

High fructose corn syrup and the direct consumption of fructose has been shown in humans to cause mineral leeching from the bones, as well as the losses of iron, magnesium, calcium, and zin, as well as copper. Decreased copper metabolism, which is a known result of large intakes of fructose, results in fragile bones, high cholesterol, arrthymia of the heart, and destabilized blood sugar levels. None of these things are things that one wants to happen to them, ever.

In experiments involving rats, rats that were fed large amounts of fructose experienced fatal organ failures, while the same sort of rats that were fed equal amounts of glucose experienced no organ failures. Rats, in the mechanisms that caused the organs to fail in this experiment, are quite similar to humans. Can we really trust something to be allowed into our food supply that can cause organ failure in a species as systemically and metabolically similar to humans as rats?

High fructose corn syrup is everywhere. Its use has continued to skyrocket. Companies have increased production in the United States of sodas from 22 gallons per person per year in 1970 to 41 gallons per person per year in 1997. Over nearly 30 years, there has been a 53% increase in production of soft drinks. In the past ten years, soda consumption in the United States, especially amongst teenagers, has nearly doubled. Most sodas contain high fructose corn syrup. There are approximately 20,000 vending machines in schools nationwide. This is a problem.

What you must do is fight the high fructose corn syrup companies. You must fight them with your wallet. You must vote with your money. Boycott high fructose corn syrup containing products. Show them that you will not stand for this insidious assault on the health of your family and your children: this insult to the value of your very lives.

Sources:
http://www.becomehealthynow.com/article/carbs/1170
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/18/FDGS24VKMH1.DTL
http://www.westonaprice.org/motherlinda/cornsyrup.html