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Processed foods are one of the things people are often told to cut back on when they're trying to follow a healthy diet. In recent years, one particular processed food ingredient, known as high-fructose corn syrup, has been singled out as a possible health risk. Some researchers have suggested that it might be linked to a rise in obesity rates and related health problems like diabetes. What exactly is high-fructose corn syrup? Is it really bad for you?
Processing corn into a sweet liquid: Humans have been processing food for centuries, if you consider that "processing" means altering a raw food in order to make it safer, to make it last longer or to make it taste better. Some of the earliest food processing techniques included using salt to preserve meat and fish and using vinegar to pickle vegetables. Food processing has changed a lot since then, especially with advances in technology. High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is just one example of how sophisticated food processing has become. HFCS is made by using chemicals to transform the starch that occurs naturally in corn into a sweet liquid called corn syrup, made of glucose. The corn syrup is further processed in order to boost its sweetness. An enzyme is added that changes some of the glucose into much-sweeter fructose in a 42/55 proportion, to be exact. (The remaining 3 percent is other carbohydrates.) That's where the "high-fructose" in the name comes from.
High-fructose corn syrup was developed in the 1970s as a cheap, versatile replacement for sugar. During the next 30 years, its use skyrocketed. Today, it has replaced sugar as the most common added sweetener in sodas and many other beverages. It is also used in many packaged and processed foods, both as a sweetener and to keep food fresh and prevent browning. It can be found in everything from ketchup, salad dressing, bread and cereals, to lunchmeats, cookies and chips.
How is HFCS different from sugar? And is HFCS worse for you than other sugars? Two common sugars in our diet are fructose and sucrose. Fructose occurs naturally in fruits and honey and, as described above, it can be synthesized from corn to create HFCS. Sucrose, or table sugar, is structurally similar to HFCS -- its glucose/fructose ratio is 50/50. In many fruits, naturally occurring fructose is found in relatively small amounts. For example, a cup of blueberries contains about 30 calories' worth. In contrast, many processed foods containing sucrose or HFCS harbor dense concentrations of fructose. A single 12-ounce soda has approximately 80 calories' worth of fructose (1).
A 2004 study sparked controversy by suggesting that the obesity epidemic in the U.S. -- and related health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure -- might be linked to the rise of HFCS as the dominant sweetener in soft drinks and other foods. The study suggested that the body digests and metabolizes fructose in liquid form differently from the way it processes glucose. More recent research indicates that the liver processes fructose by converting much of it directly into fat and shipping it to fat tissue. Over time, excessive conversion of fructose to fat results in fatty deposits in the liver, leading to a condition known as "fatty liver disease." (1) In addition to fatty liver disease, the American Heart Association has recognized that excessive fructose consumption appears to be associated with an array of other health problems. They include increased triglyceride levels in the bloodstream, obesity, Type 2 diabete, and hypertension.
The question of whether HFCS is worse for our health than sucrose is still being studied, and there are differing opinions on the topic. Many researchers believe that HFCS and sucrose are essentially identical and have similar effects on the body. However, a recent study out of Princeton University suggests that HFCS may impact our bodies differently, leading to more significant weight gain, especially in the abdominal region, and a greater increase in triglyceride levels than what sucrose contributes.
How much is too much? How much added sugar is ok to eat? The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 100 calories a day from added sugar and men take in no more than 150 calories per day, although less is better. That translates into about six teaspoons for women and nine teaspoons for men. Currently, the average American takes in about 12 teaspoons of high-fructose corn syrup alone per day. That doesn't include other sugars like sucrose, maltose and lactose. Some teens and other high-consuming groups take in as much as 80 percent more HFCS than the average person.
Tips for reducing sugar How do you bring your sugar intake down to a safe level? Moderate your consumption of foods and beverages that contain high levels of sugar. That means avoiding sugary sodas, moderating consumption of 100 percent fruit juices and drinking more water. Choose breakfast cereals that contain no added sugars or only small amounts of them. Add fresh fruit to your cereal if you crave a sweeter flavor. Check ingredient labels on packaged and processed foods for added sugars. Look not just for high-fructose corn syrup (sometimes called corn sugar), but also sugar, brown sugar, glucose, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, molasses and syrup.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends substituting foods with naturally occurring sugars in them, like fruits, vegetables and milk products for foods with sugars that are added during food processing. That way, you avoid eating empty calories, since foods with added sugars tend to have fewer nutrients than foods with naturally occurring sugars. Instead of snacking on cookies, candy or chips, try fruit, low-fat cheese or vegetables. Once you get used to the taste of foods that don't have added or processed sweeteners, you'll find that not only are they good for you, they taste good, too!
Learn more about maintaining your health and well being:
TheVisualMD.com: The 9 Visual Rules of Wellness
(1) Taube G. Why we get fat and what to do about it. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf; 2011.
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FYI a single strawberry has about .6g of sugar in it. sugar in moderation does not make you fat, over consumption of calories in general makes you fat, not one single micro or macro nutrient
It is no secret that spike in obesity is associated with increased consumption of refined sugars. While having breakfast at a local eatery I saw many people using several teaspoonfuls of sugar per cup of coffee. And they were not restricting themselves to just one cup of coffee either.
Above not withstanding, how much of the disease that can be attributed specifically to fructose sweetener use is debatable. At the same time, I doubt many of us going to rush into paleo diet anytime soon. The rational approach might be to excercise moderation. http://t.co/p4dCgS6
I just published a book on this very topic called The Eating Enigma, which I co-wrote along with Simon Frost, a former dentist in the UK and a diabetic. Managing his disease with proper nutrition and dietary changes led him to uncover a lot of these truths in his research, thus feeling compelled to share them with others in The Eating Enigma.
The book is written in an easy-to-read conversational style and can be downloaded as an ebook from Smashwords, Amazon, Google Books and Barnes and Noble, priced at only $2.99.
yup fruit is terrible for your body, so are veggies. enough with this nonsense, in moderation fructose and sugar are fine
It's high fructose corn syrup, and the added sugars in processed foods (which so many people reach for in the grocery store instead of buying fresh/raw ingredients and cooking it themselves).
And I certainly eat my share of ice cream and other sweets, but in moderation.
Nonetheless, it has definitely been proved that excessive consumption of sugar damages the pancreas.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
A sweet problem: Princeton researchers find that high-fructose corn syrup prompts considerably more weight gain.
A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain: Rats with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
In addition to causing significant weight gain in lab animals, long-term consumption of high-fructose corn syrup also led to abnormal increases in body fat, especially in the abdomen, and a rise in circulating blood fats called triglycerides. The researchers say the work sheds light on the factors contributing to obesity trends in the United States.
"Some people have claimed that high-fructose corn syrup is no different than other sweeteners when it comes to weight gain and obesity, but our results make it clear that this just isn't true, at least under the conditions of our tests," said psychology professor Bart Hoebel, who specializes in the neuroscience of appetite, weight and sugar addiction. "When rats are drinking high-fructose corn syrup at levels well below those in soda pop, they're becoming obese -- every single one, across the board. Even when rats are fed a high-fat diet, you don't see this; they don't all gain extra weight."
if you do think so, please read these. besides that, there has been numerous criticisms of the Princeton study and not by people in the corn industry or on their payroll
Brocklehurst et al. Differences in regulatory properties between human and rat glucokinase regulatory protein.
Letexier et al. Comparison of the expression and activity of the lipogenic pathway in human and rat adipose tissue
Stop consuming HFCS and you'll live a longer, healthier life. End of discussion.
This is really good information. However, if you read Gary's book, you must also ackowledge that for many us, sugar from what you are calling "natural sources" is also damaging to our health. It is best to eliminate foods that metabolize as sugar, which is basically all carbohydrates. Even fructose from excessive (more than 25 grams a day) of fruit can cause fatty liver and weight gain. It is best to restrict all carbohydrate consumption to under 50 grams a day (even lower for those of us with damaged metabolisms/insulin-resistance and carbohydrate intolerance).
it is because it automatically calls into question the rest of the article. to quote Alan aragon
"good calories bad calories is what happens when you mix cherry-picked science with fantasy & fiction."
"It is best to restrict all carbohydrate consumption to under 50 grams a day (even lower for those of us with damaged metabolisms/insulin-resistance and carbohydrate intolerance)."
ridiculous statement that under 50g per day in cho is the best, veggies and fruits are packed full of micronutrients that are very beneficial
Gary Taubes "cherry-picked?" Have you seen the bibliography in "Good Calories, Bad Calories?" It is almost longer than the text. Pretty hard to cherry-pick that many references.
Some of the authors from the 2004 commentary have pointed out that “sugar is sugar” as noted in the following quotes:
“Sugar is sugar,” George Bray, M.D., NY Times health blog “Well,” September 14, 2010 http://nyti.ms/a8YWIl
“We were wrong in our speculations on high fructose corn syrup about their link to weight.”Barry Popkin, Ph.D., Food Navigator, September 16, 2009 http://bit.ly/alrRRD. Professor Popkin reaffirmed this statement in 2011, when he said: "All sugar you eat is the same... That's what we know now that we didn't know in 2004." TBD.com, May 5, 2011 http://tbd.ly/nVtZch.
The Princeton study was challenged by many experts, such as Marion Nestle, Ph.D, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition at New York University http://bit.ly/ccycUc, Karen Kaplan, Science Staff Writer at the LA Times http://bit.ly/bjkNaU, along with many others http://bit.ly/bkD52b and http://bit.ly/9ACeK1. You can also see our response at http://www.sweetsurprise.com/news-and-press/press-releases/princeton-hfcs-study-errors.
You can read many peer-review studies that show that HFCS and sugar are metabolized the same at http://www.sweetsurprise.com/science-and-research/journals.
Shannon McNamara
Corn Refiners Association
Stay away from corn. It's killing us. Don't believe anything the "Corn Refiners Assn." says. They are like the fossil fuel industry, trying to convince us that their product is safe. Then why are lots of food producers now proudly printing "NO HFCS" on their packaging? Because consumers have learned about the health hazards of HFCS. Look at the unhealthy fat children with diabetes around the country. Disgusting! What kind of country allows their next generation to become diabetics as kids?
Read labels. Avoid HFCS at all costs. Never feed it to your children.
White JS. Straight talk about high-fructose corn syrup: what it is and what it ain’t. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008 Dec;88(6):1716S-1721S
Children are unhealthy and fat because parents aren't following the the nutrional facts in the first place, foods are meant in moderation and thats why the facts are there. Another reason is they stay inside all day, and don't get the necessary exercise their body needs.
It's amazing to think that Native Americans had corn for a lot longer, but you don't hear a lot about obese Native Americans during colonial days. The reason modern day America is obese in my opinion, is neglect and laziness.
But in this kind of world, it's not going to get a whole lot better than cheese, or some really nice dessert.
I don't even care anymore.
correlation =/= causation
Agreed. HFCS is not the only thing that has changed since 1975.