High Fructose Corn Syrup

The Truth About…

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Perhaps you’ve seen the recent television commercials that attempt to quiet some of the opposition to high Fructose Corn Syrup, a common sweetener used in thousands of food products.

One of the television ads features two women having a discussion about HFCS – planting the suggestion that many people are simply “mistaken” about the alleged negative side effects associated with the consumption of High Fructose Corn Syrup.

The pro-HFCS crowd alleges that HFCS is nothing more than a harmless combination made from fruit sugar (fructose) and corn syrup. Is that it? Are many of us in panic mode over nothing more than just some fruit sugar and corn?

Let’s look at the FACTS. First it is true that on the surface and from a recipe standpoint, ounce for ounce, High Fructose Corn Syrup is recognized as “sugar” no differently than refined sugar or corn syrup. Unfortunately, there’s much more to the story.

According to many respected researchers, HFCS has a greater impact on a person’s metabolism than just plain old sugar. The reason has to do with the manufacturing processes, and in some cases, impurities found in trace amounts of HFCS during each of the steps followed by with respect to the creation of the product. In short, when it comes to our livers (and other organs) a teaspoon of HFCS is not EXACTLY the same as a tablespoon of sugar.

Evidence strongly suggests that HFCS takes the “expressway” to the liver where the metabolic conversion to fat is far more rapid than the typical conversion from regular sugar.

The enzymes released as a result of the presence of HFCS are said to dramatically increase levels of both triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. There is also strong evidence that our satiety response. Translated, that means that we need more “stuff” to make us feel full, and that folks, is bad news for the waistline.