There is much confusion over this ubiquitous substance. When I read the studies that concluded mercury was found in HFCS, I set about purging it from our house. It was everywhere. It was in my son's chocolate milk, catsup, bread, burger and hot dog buns, Gatorade and is even a prominent ingredient in Yoplait yogurt. I expected to find it in candy, but yogurt? It is everywhere.
In his excellent book, The Sugar Fix, Dr. Richard Johnson talks about the dangers of a diet high in fructose. Fructose raises uric acid, which contributes to: high blood pressure, obesity, inflammation in the arteries, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. He also explains how when we eat fructose, it doesn't signal the brain that we have had enough. In fact, other research has shown that rats given a sugar water solution (glucose being the sugar) will binge on it but not get fat, as they will reduce the amount of rat chow accordingly. However, give these rats a HFCS sweetened water solution and they will gain weight.
When I wrote this blog about Dr Hoebels' work with rats and sugar addiction, it contained just two little sentences about HFCS and how I planned to write more about it coming up soon. Well, those sentences prompted the PR agency for The Corn Refiner's Association to contact me and suggest I have a "briefing" with their expert Dr. John White. Being a writer, and wanting to be fair, I did chat with Dr. White. His doctorate is in biochemistry, and he consults for the Corn Refiner's Association. What Dr. White said didn't surprise me. His job was clearly to convince me that HFCS is safe and makes sense economically.
There is a lot of research out there that tells us that eating too much fructose, in fact sugar in general, is bad for our health. Dr. White didn't dispute this. He did say that the research damning HFCS is using a diet so high in it that it doesn't apply to humans and the amount we tend to consume. He also compared it to the toxicity of water. You know how if you drink too much at one time you can die. Well....
As far as the mercury in HFCS, Dr. White said that research wasn't very accurate and that there is mercury in the air, the water, everywhere. That nasty water again. I asked him what further studies were being done to make sure there was no mercury in the HFCS and he said, "As far as I know there aren't any. This is a dead issue."
So is HFCS safe? Dr. White says he eats it. You be the judge for yourself. In my house we eat as little processed food as possible. We eat lean protein, vegetables, fruit and whole grains. Oh and chocolate, not sweetened with HFCS. Beware of too much water though.
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Carol Sloan RD
"Vote with your fork" - Michael Pollan
Not to freak you out or anything, but HFCS is ok in small amounts.
It comes from corn, it comes from nature.
You think pharma companies are behind it, making money , oh they are so evil.
Not really, not true
You should not eat HFCS because you want to watch your weight and not be addicted to sugar.
Organic food is not healthier , there has been studies.
I eat healthy pretty much , but sometimes i eat gummy worms with HFCS.
I am still healthy
There is not a giant conspiracy to make america sick
It is just cheaper to make food with HFCS
Working class people don't know or care about organic food
Organic food will always be in the minority for a few well off people
Take a chill pill on the subject of HFCS
My google alert for HFCS picked up your article. I'd like to ask Dr. White why they selected the variant of HFCS, HFCS-55, as the sweetener for all national brands of soda and other beverages. Although its composition 55%fructose:45%glucose appears to be similar to the 50:50 ratio found in sucrose, when you do the math a different number emerges. 55%:45% = 55/45 =1.22 This means that in every Coke or Gatorade there is, compared to glucose, 22% extra fructose. Pepsi and Coke made the big switch in 1984. So for 25 years Americans have been guzzling that fructose enriched brew. (Approximately 30% of our intake of HFCS comes through sweetened beverages). Could that extra fructose have contributed to our expanding waistlines and health woes? The CRA cannot deny the math. They designed the ratio.
Cheers
David.
The corn refiners know that and so does Big Sugar.
The science says fructose is deadly. Its just as deadly in sugar as it is in HFCS, but because 'sugar' does not actually contain the WORD fructose, Big Sugar is happy to have everyone believe sugar is a safer alternative (natural, even!).
That must frustrate the corn refiners to death. I'll bet they wish now they'd called HFCS something else around about now.
Poor old Dr White is just trying to use Big Sugar's spin against them by pointing out that HFCS is no worse than sugar. And of course he is perfectly correct but it is kind of like saying it is no worse to be run over by a red truck than it is to be run down by a blue truck.
Invert sugar is another matter. It's essentially the same as HFCS but it isn't made from corn and is more expensive.
We can thank the sever spike in diabetes in part to HFCS. I've seen teens and young adults with type 2 diabetes that need to go on oral meds and even insulin. What's their common link? Obesity and a high intake of HFCS.
If you need to use sugar, why not cane sugar. I'm not a pop drinker, but I enjoy it whenever I'm in Latin America since they only use cane sugar. It tastes so much better and it's not as bad for you.
This article is certainly right about HFCS being in almost everything and about having to read labels because it is in foods that you would not expect it to be in.
In my household, sodas are considered a desert...not an everyday beverage. Some companies are getting wise and advertise "No Corn Syrup", just "Sugar". I take organic sugar in my coffee and enjoy it. I purchase ice cream with sugar and no CS. I don't go near Yoplait (funny how they make it seem so oolala French when it's made in the US with our finest chemicals). Sweeten plain yogurt (Greek is best) with real honey. Real organic sugar, when consumed in limited quantities, is not harmful (ok..diabetics are an exception). Besides, why go fake when one can have the real deal? I really like this article!
I had gone to my gyn for the results of a cervical biospy; it was negative. We talked about using a vaginal cream before the next PAP.
And so I left the office and as it was late morning and as I had had no breakfast; I decided to go to a diner. I ordered eggs, sausage, whole wheat toast and homefries ( something I eat 3-4x a year) and there was a package of apple jelly;I read the ingredients:the first thing on there was HFCS. I thought to myself "that little will not affect me" and spend it on my toast.
After breakfast, I waiting in the pharmacy for a half -hour while they counted out my order.
As I was leaving the pharmacy, I noted that I felt hungry and thought to myself "what can I eat"
At the moment , I had that thought I realized that despite my intake of 2000-3000 calories in my breakfast, the HFCS had sent a message to my brain asking for more food. The effect was truely scary.