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Corn Syrup; The Bad, The Worse and The Lies

There has been a lot of controversy over a very simple food source brewing for several years. With good reason I feel an article needs to be posted in reference to Corn Syrup and it's health benefits and harm.

First what is High-fructose Corn Syrup? Well according to Wikipedia it is described in this way;

"High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) – called isoglucose in Europe and glucose-fructose in Canada – comprises any of a group of corn syrups that has undergone enzymatic processing to convert its glucose into fructose and has then been mixed with pure corn syrup (100% glucose) to produce a desired sweetness. In the United States, HFCS is typically used as a sugar substitute and is ubiquitous in processed foods and beverages, including soft drinks, yogurt, cookies, salad dressing and tomato soup. Click Here to read more with references."

The makers and producers are going way out of their way to try to convince the general public that HFCS is healthy and has no harmful effects on our bodies but I have been preaching for years that this is not true and now science has backed my theory (see below) on how devastating HFCS is on your weight and overall health. Here are a couple of videos of commercials that the Corn Industry has produced to try to trick us into continuing to make ourselves fatter and dependant on an overworked health care system.

After viewing those two commercials you should have a good feeling about HFCS and the use of it in your daily diet. Now what if the tobacco company decided to come out with a similar commercial would you fall for their lies too?

Yes I know that was silly but when a product is safe why would a company need to spend millions, maybe billions on trying to convince you that it is safe?

Okay enough fun stuff let's get onto the proof because the proof is in the pudding (of course no HFCS used in this pudding).

Goodbye, fructose

A carefully-conducted study by a collaborative research group at University of California-Berkeley has finally closed the lid on the fuss over fructose vs. glucose and its purported adverse effects.

The study is published in its entirety here.

Compared to glucose, fructose induced:

1) Four-fold greater intra-abdominal fat accumulation--3% increased intra-abdominal fat with glucose; 14.4% with fructose. (Intraabdominal fat is the variety that blocks insulin responses and causes diabetes and inflammation.)

2) 13.9% increase in LDL cholesterol but doubled Apoprotein B (an index of the number of LDL particles, similar to NMR LDL particle number).

3) 44.9% increase in small LDL, compared to 13.3% with glucose.

4) While glucose (curiously) reduced the net postprandial (after-eating) triglyceride response (area under the curve, AUC), fructose increased postprandial triglycerides 99.2%.

The authors propose that fructose specifically increases liver VLDL production, the lipoprotein particle that yields abnormal after-eating particles, increased LDL, and provides building blocks to manufacture small LDL particles. The authors also persuasively propose that fructose metabolism, unlike glucose, is not inhibited (via feedback loop) by energy intake, i.e., it's as if you are always starving.

Add to this the data that show that fructose increases uric acid (that causes gout and may act as a coronary risk factor), induces leptin resistance, causes metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes), and increases appetite, and it is clear that fructose is yet another common food additive that, along with wheat, is likely a big part of the reason Americans are fat and diabetic.

Fructose is concentrated, of course, in high-fructose corn syrup, comprising anywhere from 42-90% of total weight. Fructose also composes 50% of sucrose (table sugar). Fructose also figures prominently in many fruits; among the worst culprits are raisins (30% fructose) and honey (41% fructose).

Also, beware of low-fat or non-fat salad dressings (rich with high-fructose corn syrup), ketchup, beer, fruit drinks, fruit juices, all of which are rich sources of this exceptionally fattening, metabolism-bypassing, LDL cholesterol/small LDL/ApoB increasing compound. Ironically, this means that many low-fat foods meant to reduce cholesterol actually increase it when they contain fructose in any form.

When you hear or say "fructose," run the other way, regardless of what the Corn Refiners Association says.

- Dr. William Davis
http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com

Full study from PubMed

So what does all this mean? HFCS is NOT good for you at all. It has no health benefits and why add something to your body that is going to cause the possibilities of major health issues like heart disease, diabetes and more.

Are you having trouble losing weight? It may not be that you are over-eating, it could be the foods you are consuming are causing you to continue to increase body fat mass. Go into your cabinets at home and look at all your food labels. See how many foods have HFCS and while you are looking check the ingredients for Hydrogenated Oil, another killer I will be addressing very soon in an upcoming article.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, I will be happy to answer or point you in the right direction to help you get on the road to better health.