Not everyone is aware of just how prevalent High Fructose Corn Syrup
(or HFCS) is in everyday foods and how difficult it is to avoid. In fact HFCS is now the most common sweetener
in processed foods and beverages. This is
viewed by many experts and nutritionists as quite the creeping menace and as it’s
found in so many soft drinks, dressings, jams, soups and baked goods it’s as
well to be armed with the facts when confronted with it on a food’s ingredients
listing.
Food labelling is notoriously spurious and confusing to consumer and as
sugar is listed in so many forms from glucose syrup to sucrose and dextrose it’s
not always easily decipherable what the food’s contents actually are.
HFCS was developed in Japan around 1970s and was quickly embraced by US
food manufacturers as it was cheap to produce and with the advantage of a long
shelf life. But why is it suddenly
viewed with so much suspicion and is fast becoming Public enemy No.1? What does it contain and what effect does it
have on our bodies?
Of course all sugar is suddenly in the spot light with many people
attempting to eradicate it from their diets altogether. However, research has indicated that HFCS
could be of far greater detriment and the studies point to its association with
unprecedented weight gain, the potential to increased risk of cancer,
cardiovascular disease, diabetes and the suppression of the immune system due
to the way the body is forced to process this unnatural and noxious additive.
Why is this? The tests show that
HFCS is processed differently from normal sugar and instead of a 50/50 ratio of
fructose and glucose the corn syrup has an increased level of fructose. The science here is linked to basic human digestive
system which easily and efficiently metabolises glucose, so much so in fact
that it can be processed by any cell within the human body. Fructose however puts a far greater pressure
on our livers as this is the only place that is capable of dealing with
it. The liver can very quickly be put
under far too much stress if compromised into managing this fructose intake and
when overwhelmed the resultant chemical reaction is that increased
triglycerides are produced creating a greater insulin intolerance leading to
higher blood pressure. For those
regularly repeating this destructive cycle the knock on effect of all of this
is to increase the risk of obesity and all of the other negative factors
already mentioned.
In controlled groups rats were compared with HFSC against everyday sugar
and despite both groups consuming identical calorie content, you guessed it,
the HFCS animals all gained significantly more weight. It is therefore believed that these
indicators are high alert warning signs of potential obesity and increased
abdominal, or visceral, fat; which is now known as the danger hot spot and chief area to
avoid an accumulation of excess fat stores.
Leptin is a naturally occurring chemical within our bodies. It is an indicator and sends a message to the
brain to let us know when we’re full and to stop eating. However, in common with fructose, when
consuming HFCS, containing high a proportion of fructose, there’s an odd effect,
whereby no leptin is released. Therefore,
no signal is flashed up to indicate that we are full, so encouraging us to
stop eating. We continue unchecked which
is where HFCS is culpable as a factor in encouraging over eating. It procures high profits within the food
industry as consumers continue to consume but with obvious results of unhealthy
and unnatural abdominal weight gain.
It would be good if that were the end of the story but as HFCS also
contains mercury which scientists find disturbing and in 2009 (Washington Post)
this is what they had to say: “In the first study, published in the current
issue of Environmental Health, researchers found detectable levels of mercury
in nine of 20 samples of commercial HFCS.
In the second study, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a
non-profit watchdog group, found that nearly one in three of 55 brand name
foods contained mercury. The chemical
was found most commonly in HFCS containing dairy products, dressing and
condiments”.
The message is clear. Natural
foods are healthy and processed foods contain hidden additives which could be
potentially more harmful than is originally obvious.
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