High Fructose Corn Syrup

Most of us have heard of High Fructose Corn Syrup or have seen it on the packaging of almost everything on the store shelves, or so it seems, but most of us don’t have any idea of what it truly is. So, let’s start at the beginning; High Fructose Corn Syrup did not even exist before 1957. In 1957 two researchers developed an enzyme that could change the molecular composition of glucose and turn it into fructose. This is important because “When natural glucose in corn syrup is converted to fructose, the syrup becomes sweeter.”

Regular, unaltered corn syrup is glucose, which measures 70-80 on the sweetness scale with pure sugar providing the baseline measurement of 100 which is what all other sweeteners are compared to. After the molecular changes are made to corn syrup which measures at 70-80 it becomes High Fructose Corn Syrup with a sweetness measurement of 120-140. This allows the manufacturer to make their foods sweeter, and more tempting, at less cost than when they used sugar which now generates more profit. Remember, HFCS is no longer a natural substance. It is molecularly altered and is no longer handled by our bodies like sucrose, glucose, and unaltered fructose. We should ask ourselves the question: “Why did the High Fructose Corn Syrup manufacturers have to create commercials to tell us that it was ok to eat?”

Being molecularly altered High Fructose Corn Syrup is not handled by our bodies like other carbohydrates are. It does not cause your body to release insulin so it does not signal your brain that you are full. These molecular changes also mean that it is not digested normally by our bodies the way other carbohydrates are. “High Fructose Corn Syrup goes straight to your liver where it is then treated like a chemical and turned to fat.”

In review:

1)    High Fructose Corn Syrup wasn’t created until 1957.

2)    High Fructose Corn Syrup is 20-40% sweeter than sugar.

3)    High Fructose Corn Syrup is not digested normally by our body.

4)    High Fructose Corn Syrup encourages you to eat more.

5)    High Fructose Corn Syrup is stored as fat right away.

We must realize that we are eating less fat than we use to and we are still getting fatter and unhealthier every year. The thing we are eating more of is sugar and not spoons of sugar alone but also the non-nourishing foods that sweeteners make more appealing. The average American consumes 150-170 pounds of sugar per year. We not only need to get away from the molecularly altered sweetener enhanced pre-packaged foods, we need to move away from all sugar enhanced foods and get back to the basics of whole foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats.

(Much of this info is from an article by Dr. Claudia Anrig, DC)