High Fructose Corn Syrup Debate Gets Murkier

News Type: Event — Sun Jul 15, 2007 10:49 AM EDT

health, liver, corn-syrup, hfcs, fructose

Past studies have condemned using high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as a substitute for sugar because it was believed it interferes with leptin, a hormone that tells your brain you've eaten enough. New studies point to some far more disturbing things about HFCS.

According to Dr Robert Lustig, appearing on The Health Report, a significant culprit in the obesity epidemic is fructose. Widely believed to be a good substitute for sugar for diabetics because of it's relatively low impact on insulin levels, fructose has been shown to have other effects that are potentially worse.

Due to changes in food formulation we've gone from consuming about half-a-pound of fructose a year in 1970 to almost 56 pounds a year now. Invented in Japan in 1975 as a substitute for the more expensive sugar, HFCS, which is 90% fructose, is in everything from soda to spaghetti sauce.

Recent studies suggest that part of the problem is that only the liver can process HFCS while the entire body processes sugar. All this work done by the liver depletes phosphate stores and results in increased uric acid production which raises blood pressure and can lead to gout.

Fructose processing by the liver also leads to an increase in LDL Cholesterol (the bad kind).

Another effect Fructose has on the liver is produce a hormone called "Junk One" which blocks insulin reception in the liver causing it to rise throughout the body to compensate. It also leads to what doctors refer to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

So what is to be done about this? Well, we can stop artificially inflating the price of sugar in this country. This artificial inflation is what makes using HFCS cost effective. We actually have quotas limiting the production of sugar at a cost estimated at over a billion dollars a year to American taxpayers. That doesn't even factor in the indirect costs precipitated by the health care needs from all that fructose.

Reprinted with permission from apathy.net.

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{"commentId":867515,"authorDomain":"witchofthenorth"}

Glinda

Hard to believe it was not long ago I looked for fructose in the ingredients in preference to sugar when buying food. Sigh.

{"commentId":867515,"threadId":"125713","contentId":"837704","authorDomain":"witchofthenorth"}

2 votes

#1 - Sun Jul 15, 2007 2:29 PM EDT

{"commentId":867905,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}

Pamela Drew

Great article. There are a few items I'd add to the problems with HFCS. First is that more than half of America's corn is genetically engineered so the odds are the HFCS is gmo corn. If you don't know what's wrong with gmo foods I'll skip it here but add a link to my film site which has tons of links to introductions and issues surrounding gmos and the GMO Group here at Newsvine.

Next on the list builds on your point about the subsidies blocking fair trade with sugar imports. In addition to the trade imbalances and negative impact on small farmers, who are generally in third world countries, corn is a costly commodity in taxpayer dollars. Here's the favorite citation of mine for that, taken from the conservative Cato institute.

Archer Daniels Midland: A Case Study In Corporate Welfare by James Bovard

Thanks to federal protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, subsidized grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same period. At least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30

{"commentId":867905,"threadId":"125713","contentId":"837704","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}

5 votes

#2 - Sun Jul 15, 2007 5:27 PM EDT

{"commentId":867911,"authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}

Pamela Drew

oops forgot the GMO Group link

{"commentId":867911,"threadId":"125713","contentId":"837704","authorDomain":"PamelaDrew"}

4 votes

#2.1 - Sun Jul 15, 2007 5:29 PM EDT

{"commentId":897873,"authorDomain":"roan"}

Roan

Invented in Japan in 1975 as a substitute for the more expensive sugar, HFCS, which is 90% fructose, is in everything from soda to spaghetti sauce.

Actually the process used to create HFCS was discovered by Kooi, Moffett, and Marshall in 1957.

Also, while HFCS can contain as much as 90% fructose; the HFCS used in processed food contains 55% fructose which is only 5% higher than sucrose.

{"commentId":897873,"threadId":"125713","contentId":"837704","authorDomain":"roan"}

1 vote

#3 - Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:39 PM EDT

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CYBERMAGE

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High Fructose Corn Syrup Debate Gets Murkier

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