Could high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) be one cause for the rise in obesity, diabetes, and fatty liver disease? Pick up almost any product in your kitchen and you will see high fructose corn syrup listed in the ingredients. Despite what the corn industry and the food and beverage manufacturers want you to believe, high fructose corn syrup and sugar are not exactly the same.
What is High Fructose Corn Syrup
High corn fructose syrup flooded the food market in the late1970s; about the time the obesity epidemic started and type II diabetes started.
The food industry loves it because it is cheaper and easier to use than regular sugar. HFCS is the real reason soda pop companies and fast food restaurants were able to supersize their soft drinks.
It is made from cornstarch that has added fructose through an added enzymatic process. Corn syrup is normally high in glucose, once the fructose is added it is then HFCS. Sugar is sucrose, which contains 50% glucose and 50% fructose. There are three main types of HFCS:
- HFCS-42 is 42% fructose and is mainly used in baked goods.
- HFCS-55 is 55% fructose and is used in soda pop and other sweetened drinks.
- HFCS-90 is 90% fructose and is used in special applications and also mixed with the HFCS-42 to get the HFCS-55.
How High Fructose Corn Syrup Causes Obesity
Obesity is not only about calories; there are other factors that add to the obesity problem. Glucose, whether it is from sugars or carbohydrates causes the body to produce insulin.
Insulin increases the production of leptin in the body, which is a hormone that decreases the levels of another hormone called ghrelin. Leptin tells our brains we are full and ghrelin is the hormone that tells our brains we are hungry.
Fructose is absorbed differently than glucose and carbohydrates since it doesn’t use insulin. No insulin means no production of leptin and no suppression of ghrelin.
This can cause us to feel constantly hungry or to be hungrier sooner and consistently overeat.
Fructose disrupts the leptin and causes the leptin to stop working and the ghrelin doesn’t give the proper signals to the brain. This is called Leptin resistance. [1]
The liver puts out more fat after metabolizing fructose from HFCS, which causes more fat being stored in the body, which in turn adds to obesity. The type of fat that fructose causes is the worst kind of fat and is stored internally around organs [2].
Everyone’s complaint is why does it have to be in everything we eat. We know it’s in Coke or Pepsi, but it is also in whole wheat bread, low-fat foods, so-called health foods, dressings, sauces, fruit juice drinks, cereals, sports drinks, soups, ketchup and in some yogurts to name just a few foods.
The average American now consumes 63 pounds of HFCS per year. That isn’t even counting the amount of regular sugar that is consumed.
What used to be honey for your biscuits at KFC is now honey sauce with high fructose corn syrup, color, honey flavor, and 11% honey.
The food industry isn’t selling us food anymore; they are selling us cheap and unhealthy imitations of food. Food that tricks our bodies into not even knowing we aren’t hungry anymore.
A preliminary study published in the March 2007 issue of Hematology had this to say about obesity and HFCS, “According to this study, and precisely because of its unique effects, HFCS might be able to increase risk of obesity in a way that is unrelated to the calories it contains" [WebMD].
High Fructose Corn Syrup Could Cause Diabetes
A 2007 study conducted at Rutgers University tested 11 different carbonated beverages containing HFCS and found “astonishingly high” amounts of reactive carbonyls [3].
Reactive carbonyls are believed to cause cell and tissue damage that could lead to diabetes. Reactive carbonyls are not found in regular table sugar.
So does high fructose corn syrup cause diabetes, the answer is that it is possible, since HFCS and sugar causes insulin resistance.
But the main dietary factor that causes diabetes is saturated fat. It has been now proven that saturated fat in our diet kills off pancreatic cells, and causes insulin resistance leading to diabetes type II [4].
High Fructose Corn Syrup and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
HFCS also chelates minerals in our blood, causing deficiencies in certain nutrients like chromium, zinc and copper.
Every cell in the body uses glucose, but fructose can only be metabolized in the liver. Studies have shown that a diet high in HFCS and sugar can cause fatty liver disease, just like that found in alcoholics [5].
In fact, the rate of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in children is rising at an alarming rate right along with the rising obesity rate in kids.
A diet high in HFCS is now believed to cause insulin resistance, gout, high cholesterol and fat to accumulate in the body. It causes gout because HFCS raises the uric acid levels of the body. Over consumption of fructose also leads to high triglycerides, which can be a sign of heart disease and diabetes.
A diet high in high fructose corn syrup raises blood pressure. All of these factors lead to what is called the metabolic syndrome.
Fructose without Fiber
Proponents argue that high fructose corn syrup can’t be bad for our health because there is plenty of fructose in fruit. That is correct. There is one big difference; there is a lot of healthy fiber in fruit. Fructose with fiber is not a problem; fructose without fiber is a health problem. Fructose in nature has a lot of fiber.
The fructose made from corn is not the same fructose sugar found in fruit. The fructose in fruit does not interfere with the leptin hormone. The following short video explains fructose without fiber.
HFCS Hinders Weight Loss
I read numerous web sites with people complaining that they eat right and exercise and they still cannot lose weight or inches.
Most wrote that once they stopped eating and drinking anything that had high fructose corn syrup in it, the weight and inches started dropping off.
Even though you are careful not to include much if any sugar in your diet, there is still a lot of HFCS listed in most foods. You have to read the ingredients of everything you cook and eat.
GMO High Fructose Corn Syrup
Since corn is one of the most genetically modified foods, the corn used to make HFCS is also genetically modified and new studies have found GMO foods can cause numerous health problems.
2018 Update
Due to pressure from American consumers, many companies are now replacing high fructose corn syrup with sugar again with big advertising announcements.
Continue to read the ingredients in the foods and drinks you buy, there is still plenty of HFCS in drinks and foods. And obesity, diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are still the main health issues.
About the Author
Sam Montana is a certified Food Over Medicine instructor from the Wellness Forum Health Center and certified in optimal nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
© 2010-2018 Sam Montana
Resources:
