A friend brought this to my attention 3-4 years ago. I found this to be a good article to explain why High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is to be avoided. It's in most all processed food. Start looking at the list of ingredients for it, it's amazing all the foods that have it. I try my best to avoid it.
excerpt from http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/fructosedangers.htm
"What is fructose?
Fructose is a monosaccharide (simple sugar), which the body can use for energy. Because it does not cause blood sugar rise tremendously (has a low glycemic index), it was once thought that fructose was a good substitute for sucrose (table sugar). However, the American Diabetes Association and nutritional experts have changed their minds about this.
What happens if I consume too much fructose?
Most of the carbohydrates we eat are made up of chains of glucose. When glucose enters the bloodstream, the body releases insulin to help regulate it. Fructose, on the other hand, is processed in the liver. To greatly simplify the situation: When too much fructose enters the liver, the liver can't process it all fast enough for the body to use as sugar. Instead, it starts making fats from the fructose and sending them off into the bloodstream as triglycerides.
Why is this bad?
is potentially bad for at least three reasons:
High blood triglycerides are a risk factor for heart disease.
Fructose ends up circumventing the normal appetite signaling system, so appetite-regulating hormones aren't triggered--and you're left feeling unsatisfied. This is probably at least part of the reason why excess fructose consumption is associated with weight gain.
There is growing evidence that excess fructose consumption may facilitate insulin resistance, and eventually type 2 diabetes.
What are the major sources of fructose?
The blame has often been pinned to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which is made up of 55% fructose and 45% glucose. However, sucrose is half fructose and half glucose. So, HFCS actually doesn't have that much more fructose than "regular" sugar, gram for gram.
High fructose corn syrup has become incredibly inexpensive and abundant, partially due to corn subsidies in the United States. So, really, the problem is more that it has become so cheap that it has crept its way into a great number of the foods we eat every day.
Which foods have high fructose corn syrup and other sugars?
Today, almost all packaged foods have sugar added in some form, which almost always includes a lot of fructose. Honey has about the same fructose/glucose ratio as high fructose corn syrup. Fruit juice concentrates, sometimes used as "healthy sweeteners," usually have quite a lot of fructose (never mind that the processing of these concentrates strips away most of their nutritional value). Look at the ingredients on packaged food labels and you will probably see sources of fructose. See my article, Sugar's Many Disguises, to learn what to look for."
11 years ago
