Latest posts by jan (see all)
- Is high fructose corn syrup the one food making you fat? - February 11, 2012
- Stop eating fruit to stop sugar addiction - January 20, 2012
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As the obesity epidemic rages and we become larger every year, wouldn’t it be great to be able to point the finger at just one food, such as high fructose corn syrup, and say, “that’s the culprit making us fat”. It would be great, but do we want to eliminate this sweet food from our diets, and more to the point, can we eliminate it?
What is high fructose corn syrup?
High fructose corn syrup is a type of sugar made from corn. The corn is harvested and sent to a mill where it is crushed and the corn starch separated from the kernel. The natural enzymes added to the liquid convert some of the sugars from glucose to fructose. After more processing, the mill is left with a product that is typically 42% fructose and 58% glucose (HFCS-42). The high fructose corn syrup is then widely used in baked goods and many other processed foods.
The initial high fructose corn syrup product can be further processed to increase the sucrose content to 90% (HFCS-90), which is then be blended with HFCS-42 to make a sweetener that is 55% sucrose called HFCS-55. This is the sweetener widely used in soft drinks and sodas.
Glucose vs fructose
So what’s the problem? Glucose is the essential sugar of life, our bodies use glucose to feed our cells and provide us with energy. Fructose is the sugar found in fruit and fruit is good for us.
The problem is that when we lived as cave men, fructose was not a large part of our diet. It would only have been available as honey from native bees, or natural fruits in season. Our bodies did not develop the bio-feedback mechanisms that we developed for fat, protein and other complex carbohydrates to tell us that we are full. Therein lies the first problem. If we eat too much sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup in processed foods, our brain does not signal to us that we have eaten enough and that we are full, so it is very easy to overeat.
The second problem is that when we eat high fructose corn syrup, it is broken down into glucose that can readily be used for energy, but the fructose part is taken straight to the liver. Fructose does not go through the normal metabolic processes. If your liver is overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of fructose, often delivered as high fructose corn syrup in baked goodies, it will quickly convert the sucrose part into fat. The fat is then sent to circulate through your system to be deposited in your arteries and parts of your body where you really don’t want fat to be deposited!
What about the sucrose in fruit? Many sweet fruits contain a high percentage of sucrose, even more than high fructose corn syrup, but fruits come with lots of other benefits – fibre, anti-oxidants and vitamins. Eating one or two pieces of fruit a day is not a problem in a balanced diet. The problem is only created when we eat too much sucrose and our liver is overwhelmed because it cannot break it down quickly enough into glucose to be used as energy by the rest of the body.
How do we avoid high fructose corn syrup?
The only way to avoid high fructose corn syrup is to avoid sugary laden foods completely. This is not going to happen for most of us because most of us love desserts and sweet treats, and if somebody has made me a delicious home made dessert for dinner, I am certainly not going to say no. We do though need consider sweet foods as a treat and not as an every day part of our diet.
Also be aware that sucrose and high fructose corn syrup are not just found in sweet foods anymore, they are found in all sorts of food that we consider savory such as BBQ sauce, baked beans, tomato sauce, tomato paste and Asian sauces. So there will be high fructose corn syrup in places where you would least expect to find it.
Is high fructose corn syrup the only thing making us fat?
If only it were that simple. Of course there are other factors involved such as general overeating, lack of exercise and the hormonal influences caused by stress and lack of sleep. But cutting out high fructose corn syrup and fructose in general will help you to make a great start.
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