If you desire to contract down drastically the amount of processedfoodyou eat , do n’t buy anything that hashigh - fructose corn syrup(HFCS ) in it . Unfortunately , you ’ll have to have a strong liking for the taste of lettuce and notebook newspaper , because HFCS is in nearly everything : jelly , juice , sodas , whole - caryopsis dinero , cereals , ketchup , crackers , yogurt , sweet pickles , applesauce , salad fecundation , ice ointment , coughing syrup and luck more .
So what is it ? First , countenance ’s take a smell at laevulose . Fructose is a naturally occurring simple sugar that ’s produced by many works . It ’s very angelic , and it ’s more soluble in water than glucose , another simple sugar that ’s also made readily usable by nature and is the body ’s main root of energy . Fructose and glucose have the same character of speck but are put together differently . When you fuse fructose with glucose , you wind up with saccharose , which is your introductory board sugar .
Corn syrup is a glucose - enceinte syrup made from corn starch . There ’s no laevulose in corn sirup – not naturally , at least . In 1957 , investigator discovered an enzyme that could grow the glucose in Zea mays syrup into fruit sugar . This cognitive operation was modify and improved upon in the 1970s , score it possible to mass - produce HFC . The total outgrowth affect several steps and three unlike enzyme , but finally a sirup with around 90 percent fructose content is create , and this is commingle down with untreated syrup ( containing only glucose ) into a mix of either 42 percent or 55 per centum fructose . The rest is glucose .
Knowing that it tastes scrumptious , should we go ahead and assume high-pitched - fructose corn whiskey syrup is also incredibly bad for us ? Many people think it is , guide to the rise in obesity anddiabetesthat seems to have mirrored the rise in consumption of hydrofluorocarbon . Critics point out that it ’s not a natural bod of fructose and that the availability of cheap sweetener lead to the supersizing of individual servings , such as 64 - ounce washing soda . Those on the other side point out that HFCS serve keep food prices depressed and is deem " good " by the Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) . moreover , board sugar is 50 percentage fructose and 50 percentage glucose , so there ’s only 10 percentage more fructose in most HFCS .
So what ’s the truth ? In this clause , we ’ll find out just how regretful for you – if at all – HFC is .
High-fructose Corn Syrup and Nutrition
Normally , corn syrup is n’t very mellisonant . But once its glucose has been converted into levulose and the corn syrup has been transformed into high - fructose corn sirup , it ’s very sweet , angelic than sugar . hydrofluorocarbon also mixes well with other liquidity – it ’s much easy to mix eminent - fructose corn sirup into flaccid drink than moolah , for example . comfortably yet , despite the considerably more complicated processing , eminent - fructose corn syrup is cheaper to use than regular sugar . Additionally , the shekels in the syrups playact as apreservative , which is why HFCS is now added to some nitty-gritty .
So where is all thecorncoming from ? Throughout the past 100 , the U.S. governance has supported its Farmer through subsidies to ensure that the United States ' domestic food production continued to grow . Growers of corn , in particular , have been rewarded for producing more and more corn , regardless of whether the inordinateness could be put to practice . As a result , the United States grows and consumes more corn than any other nation on ground [ source : Corn Refiners Association ] .
Improvements in the ability to work HFCS were welcome news to the corn industry and the soft drink industriousness – the former had a new outlet for its breed , and the latter could save hundreds of one thousand thousand of dollars by switching to HFCS from the slightly more expensive sugar . The Midwest was literally cover with the peeled material , and soon more than a dozen large HFCS processing plants sprang up in the region to handle the growing requirement for the sweetener .
In 1970 , more than 83 per centum of sweetener run through in the United States was sucrose . By 1997 , that number had drop to 43 percent , and the ease of the sweetener being eat – about 57 percent – was HFCS [ source : OU Kosher ] .
The problem with this variety in consumption is that discipline have render that when people consume artificial sweeteners , they have an increase desire to continue exhaust [ informant : Tordoff ] . This occur with all bait , and it does n’t seem related to the means the consistence metabolise the sweetener , but rather the appreciation of sweetness .
In a study of 1,400 halfway school educatee , it was found that about one - third of their caloric intake was added refined sugar ( as opposed to the shekels found of course in fruits and vegetable , which are n’t normally count when discussing sugar breathing in ) [ author : Havel ] . In 2005 , Americans each consume , on intermediate , more than 42 punt ( 19 kg ) of high - fructose corn sirup [ informant : Corn Refiners Association ] . The fair American also consumes 200 dailycaloriesfrom HFCS , which is closemouthed to 10 percent of all daily nutritionist’s calorie consumed .
Obesity rate have been climbing in the United States since the eighties [ reservoir : CDC ] . In 2007 , Colorado was the only state with less than 20 pct of its population characterize as obese . Additionally , between 1994 and 2004 , new diagnoses of type-2 diabetes increased by 23 percent [ source : Gardner ] . Many people believe that HFCS plays some theatrical role in the obesity and diabetes epidemic now chevvy the United States and much of the world . We ’ll take a look at how hydrofluorocarbon may play a role in these unhealthy trends in the next surgical incision .
In small amounts , HFCS should n’t be any more harmful than even sugar . The levulose in HFCS , though modified from glucose , is structurally and in all other way the same as natural fructose . Additionally , HFCS has nearly the same make-up of laevulose and glucose as table sugar ( most HFCS has 55 percent fructose , compared to 50 percent found in mesa sugar ) . But there does seem to be a connective between the habit of HFC and fleshiness and type-2diabetes , so what gives ?
First off , that additional 10 per centum of fructose content does make a difference in caloric aspiration , particularly since HFCS is happen in so many product . opine a world in which all sugar has been replace by HFCS ( not a far stretching ): You could eat the exact same food , but you would be consume 10 percent more boodle .
Unlike glucose , which is metabolize a number of ways by your body , fructose is only metabolize by your liver . When the liver receives more fructose than it can handle , the supererogatory lolly are turn intofatsin the physique of triglyceride , which are harmful to your arteries and yourheart .
There ’s much to be learn about how our bodies react to fructose , but researchers do know that levulose does n’t perk up yield of insulin , leptin or ghrelin , all of which play a part in telling the consistence how much it want to eat [ source : Havel ] . Without pick up these home signals to hold back eating , it becomes that much easy for us to continue chowing down on that dry pint of dual - chocolate fudge internal-combustion engine ointment .
The biggest job is that HFCS is being tot up to food items that do n’t normally have sugar and that you would n’t even report as fresh – firecracker , for example . So , not only are we chug down lots of loot with our sodas , but your PBJ sandwich could have HFCS in each of its three ingredients . Meal after meal , Clarence Shepard Day Jr. after day , all of this extra sugar total up , and that , and not necessarily the quality of HFCS itself , is probable one reason why rates for obesity and diabetes have climb since the introduction of HFCS . ( Other factors are in play as well , such as decreased activity and exercise levels and increased fat consumption . )
So what can we do ? Well , for starters , do everything you ’re already reckon to do . Get even exercise , catch your blubber intake and get even medical checkups . Next , it would n’t hurt to mime the practices of those strange ( and rare ) individuals in grocery - entrepot aisle who show the label of the intellectual nourishment they are purchasing . Once you get in this habit , you will in all probability be shock to hear just how much of your regular grocery purchase contain high - fructose corn sirup . If nearly all of your food for thought contains hard scratch , it stand to reason that you ’ll be eating too many moolah . And if you need to go gaga , eat some fruit and veggies . You ’ll get all the glucose you take ( not much ) , and these sizeable choice will take the situation of the less levelheaded foods now flooding our grocery and market store .
For more HowStuffWorks articles you might like , from how feeling tripping make for to the meaning of the fleshiness paradox , essay the links on the next page .
