Image by Steven Vance via Flickr
It’s becoming less of a secret that high fructose corn syrup is hazardous to your your health. Unfortunately, it’s also no secret that it has replaced other forms of sugar in a large number of manufactured foods. Making things worse is that most high fructose corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn.
Since the late 1980s, high fructose corn syrup has replaced regular sweeteners in practically everything.
Why is it bad?
- In addition to causing significant weight gain, 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.
- When high fructose corn syrup is ingested, it travels to the liver which turns the sugary liquid into fat, and unlike other carbohydrates it does not cause the pancreas to produce insulin; which acts as a hunger quenching signal to the brain. So we get stuck in a vicious cycle, eating food that gets immediately stored as fat and never feeling full.
- A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain. The Article
Why is it used?
- Cheaper than white sugar. Thanks to government subsidies and trade policies.
- Easy to transport in tanker trucks.
- Not susceptible to freezer burn.
- Long shelf life.
- Keeps foods from becoming dry.
- Gives baked products a nice color.
Raises our risk for:
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Hypertension
- Atherosclerosis
My opinion
It does not matter if you use honey, fruit juice, brown sugar, raw sugar, white sugar, corn syrup or some other sugar, you are still going to find the same caloric effect.
The problem is that sugars have become so prevalent in our food, especially in our beverages, that we have a hard time avoiding excess. Just because high fructose corn syrup is bad for you doesn’t give you permission to pour white sugar all over your morning cereal.
Just watch your intake of all sugar and when you have the opportunity to choose something other than high fructose corn syrup, do so!
I totally agree; this additive is highly dangerous and needs to be taken out of things we put into our bodies…
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Reblogged this on unprocessedginger.
Thanks for this informative post!! It is frightening how addicting and harmful sugar (and especially high fructose corn syrup) can be. Your post really helped me to keep it in perspective because a lot of times I find myself still eating my favorite sugary things!! Thanks for the reminder.
It is nice to have a reminder every now and then.
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I had my first gout attack about 10 years ago.
At the beginning I was having attacks every 6 months. Then gradually I was getting them
every 3 months, then every month and eventually every week.
It started at my big toe and then it was moving sometimes in my knees,and generally all
around my joints, in my feet.And the pain was agonising.
I have tried all the cures you can imagine.I tried ACV, lemons, drinking a lot of water, but
to no avail.I tried water fasting, juice fasting,baking soda, again without success.
I almost gave up meat, limiting it to only once a week ,gave up alcohol completely,again
no success.
I was living on vegetables, lots and lots of fresh fruit, milk ,cheese beans and so on .My
eating habits could not be healthier ,or so I thought.But my gout was worsening.
Then I decided to increase the amount of fruit I was consuming, thinking that if some fruit
is healthy, more fruit will be more healthy.Some days I was eating fruit only ,others over 10
portions a day.
And alas my gout instead of improving it became chronic.
I was desperate I did not know what to do.
And then one day accidentally I read an article about fructose,which is contained in fruit in
large quantities.It said that it increases uric acid, in a matter of minutes.
Fructose is also present in table sugar, and in HFCS, which is used in soft drinks.
I put two and two together and realised what I was doing wrong.
I stopped eating fruit and all other sugars, for a period of 3 weeks,and by magic I saw a
dramatic improvement.Pain was gone, swelling was gone, I was fine.
I re introduced fruit again in my diet but reducing them to 1 or 2 a day, and my gout completely
disappeared.
I do eat more meat now, and occasionally have an alcoholic drink, and thank God everything
seems to be fine.
Fructose was my enemy.
Wow. What an ordeal. Glad you figured it out.