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High Fructose Corn
Syrup and the Obesity Epidemic
The addition of high fructose corn
syrup to our foods has led to a dramatic increase in obesity rates and a
startling increase in disease.
In 2018, adult obesity rates
in the U.S. exceeded 35% in seven states, 30% in 29 states, and 25% in 48
states.
West Virginia had the highest
rate at 38.1%, and Colorado had the lowest rate at 22.6%.
Among other countries, only
Mexico surpasses the U.S. in obesity rates.
How did we get so fat?
The answer might surprise you.
In 1841, Orlando Jones
developed a process for separating corn starch from corn kernels.
A year later, Thomas
Kingsford began creating corn starch, and you can still buy his product today
as Kingsford's Corn Starch.
Twenty years later,
corn syrup was first created, but it wasn't as sweet as the syrups created with
a cane or beet sugar.
Fast forward to 1967, when
high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was first produced, using a process that
converted dextrose sugar into sweeter fructose sugar.
While cane and beet sugars
contain 50% fructose, HFCS contains 55% fructose.
"...we subsidize
high-fructose corn syrup ... but not carrots" -- Michael Pollan, "The
Omnivore's Dilemma"
The United States
spends over $20 billion a year on farm subsidies, with 39% of America's 2.1
million farms receiving them.
The lion's share of the
subsidies goes to the producers of five crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton,
and rice.
Corn is the largest crop
grown by American farmers, and the U.S. is the number one producer of corn.
U.S. production accounts for 32% of all corn grown in the world.
That means that corn
is cheap to buy, and that fact wasn't lost on food manufacturers.
Starting around 1970, manufacturers
began adding high fructose corn syrup to their products.
On November 6, 1984, both
Coca-Cola and Pepsi announced that they were switching from sugar to high
fructose corn syrup in their soft drinks.
Today, HFCS is found
in cookies, crackers, soft drinks, salad dressings, catsups, cereals, flavored
yogurts, ice cream, preserved meats, canned fruits and vegetables, soups, and
beers. It's even used on sealable envelopes, stamps, and in aspirin to make it
taste better.
Consumption of HFCS in
the U.S. went from zero in 1970, to 60 pounds per person per year by 2000, and
HFCS accounted for half of every person's sugar consumption per year.
In Europe, the European Union
holds HFCS (known as isoglucose) to a production quota, and in Japan, it is
regulated by the government who holds it to a 27–30% share of the Japanese
sweetener market.
Consumption of HFCS
has been implicated in many of health problems,
including weight gain, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, high triglyceride levels,
gout, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and kidney stones.
1. HFCS causes weight gain. Because
it is not metabolized by the body in the same way as regular sugar, fructose
converts to fat more quickly, and it inhibits the production of leptin, the
satiety-inducing hormone.
2. HFCS causes inflammation.
Because it is harder for the intestine to absorb fructose, it has to use extra
energy called liver adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
The intestine usually uses
this extra energy to strengthen its lining, so that harmful bacteria is kept
out, and semi-digested food is kept in and doesn't leak out, enter the
bloodstream and cause inflammation.
Inflammation is one of the major factors in diseases, such as
diabetes, dementia, heart disease, cancer, and rapid aging.
3. HFCS causes fatty liver disease. HFCS
is not digested by your body in the same way as regular sugar. HFCS is quickly
absorbed in the bloodstream and travels to the liver, where it triggers lipogenesis, a
process that produces liver fat.
This, in turn, triggers non-alcoholic fatty acid, which
contributes to high cholesterol and triglyceride levels, polycystic ovary
syndrome (PCOS), diabetes, and thyroid problems.
4. HFCS causes gout. While
gout may sound like something out of Elizabethan England, it is, in fact,
a debilitating condition. Consumption of fructose causes excess uric acid
production, which leads to gout.
Gout is an extremely painful type of arthritis that occurs
mainly in the foot. Men and women who drink an excess of fructose-rich soda
have a higher incidence of gout.
5. HFCS causes kidney stones. Kidney
stones are small, hard mineral deposits, and consumption of fructose has been
linked to an increase in the production of calcium, oxalate, and uric acid,
which combine to create kidney stones.
When kidney stones block the
ureter, patients experience extreme pain, painful urination, blood in the
urine, nausea, vomiting, and fever.
6. HFCS causes Type-2 diabetes. 90%
of diabetes' patients suffer from this variety of the disease.
When you eat food, it is
broken down by your body into glucose, which is used by cells for energy. The
hormone insulin, which is produced in the pancreas, transfers that glucose to
the cells.
In Type 2 diabetes, the body produces insulin, but the cells are
unable to receive the glucose properly. The body produces more and more insulin
until it exhausts its supply. Then, your blood sugar level can rise to dangerous
levels.
Increased blood sugar can
damage your kidneys, rot your teeth, and lead to blindness, heart
disease, and stroke.
7. HFCS causes elevated Triglyceride
levels. Your body converts any extra calories it receives
from food into fat. Triglycerides are a type of fat that is found in your
blood.
Studies have shown that
people who consume a lot of HFCS have significantly increased triglyceride
levels which increase your risk for coronary artery disease and heart attacks.
8. HFCS elevates LDL. High-density
lipoproteins (HDL) are the good kind, and low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are
the harmful kind of cholesterol.
Over time, LDL accumulates in
your arteries, narrowing them and preventing the flow of oxygen-rich blood to
your heart. When an artery becomes completely blocked, this is a heart attack.
High fructose consumption significantly raises LDL levels, and
overweight children who consumed a lot of fructose had increased LDL levels.
9. HFCS causes hypertension. Hypertension,
or high blood pressure, occurs when the force of blood flow against your blood
vessels is too strong. This damages those vessels and eventually damages your
heart.
One in three Americans suffers from hypertension, and most
strokes and heart attacks occur in people suffering from high blood pressure.
High intake of HFCS has been
positively associated with elevated hypertension.
Breakfast - the most dangerous meal of the day
So,
how can you avoid HFCS? Read food labels!
If a food contains HFCS, put
it back on the shelf. Especially considering what you eat for breakfast -
cereal, muffins, yogurt, pancakes, waffles, cereal bars, jam and jelly, bagels,
donuts, and toast are all brimming with HFCS.
It's even in your favorite
low-fat or fat-free yogurt, which contain more than 40 grams of HFCS.
And,
the biggest culprit when it comes to HFCS – soda.
Coke's information page states, "Depending on where you are in the world, we’ll either use sugar
or HFCS. We generally use HFCS in places where corn is more widely available.
In places where sugarcane or sugar beet is more available, we’ll use those
instead."
In answer to the question "Is high fructose corn syrup bad for you?"
Coke
states, "No. We are committed to
product safety and quality. All ingredients we use – including HFCS – are
safe."
Marcia
Wendorf
Author
Marcia
is a former high school math teacher, technical writer, author, and programmer.
In much the same way as high school students in the U.S. are taught
"defensive driving", Marcia practices "defensive living":
staying on top of worldwide news about science, government policies, finance,
infrastructure, and medical issues. An outlier, Marcia is always "sniffing
the wind" for the latest trends and directions, and keeping her readers
abreast of these developments.
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