Since it seems like a lot of people are trying to figure out what HFCS is and are trying to get some facts about it, I’ll do my best to present some of it here.
Essentially, HFCS is made from when they process corn syrups (which are 100% glucose) to make the fructose content higher. There are some different forms of HFCS which are used in different foods and drinks, but most contain 40-60% fructose, and one type contains 90% fructose.
Why use HFCS instead of regular cane sugar? It’s cheaper for one, it can be stored and transported in liquid form, and it increases the shelf life of processed foods.
There is some controversy as to whether or not HFCS can lead to obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol…etc, etc. (see: “Warning this blog may have the following side effects” posted…some time ago)
Why is it so bad? From an evolution stand point, humans aren’t made to handle this amount of sugar. Picture this…it’s somewhere around the ice age in North America. You’re starving, you’re freezing. What is there to eat? Some wild animals to kill, maybe you’ll find some fish in the river. What you won’t find…is any kind of fruit to eat. Picture this…today. You go into the grocery store at any time of year and you can buy almost any kind of fruit. Our early human ancestors relied on mostly meat from fish and wild game, but fruit was certainly not a huge part of their diet. If it was around, they’d eat it, but they didn’t have access to it year round like we do. And now…some type of sugar is found in almost any processed food we buy. Fast food chains load foods with sugar so we eat more.
Part of it, admittedly, is our portion size. McDonald’s didn’t always have the option to ’super size’ a meal, and 7-11 didn’t always have a big gulp.
Another thing about HFCS is that the corn industry will say that it is natural because it’s made of glucose and sucrose. If something is processed like that, can it really be natural? HFCS occurs nowhere naturally in nature without man’s interference. Spinach is natural, apples are natural…because they can be found in nature.
Here is some more reading for the curious:
“The Double Danger of High Fructose Corn Syrup”
“Sugar Coated: We’re drowning in high fructose corn syrup. Do the risks go beyond our waistline?”
4 Comments
May 8, 2007 at 11:11 pm
Good post! “Makes you eat more” is right. It totally sets up cravings from one food to the next. It’s damn near a drug. You have to search long and hard to find a drink without it. Vitamin Water is one.
May 9, 2007 at 10:54 am
I know that those Vitamin Water drinks contain crystalline fructose. I’m not sure how good that is for you. I’ll research it!
Thanks for reading!
August 3, 2008 at 10:51 am
GREAT POST! One thing though, our ancestors did indeed eat a great deal of fruit. According to the first humanoid dental remains analyzed by archaeologists early man ate mostly fruit, seeds and nuts. Some where along the line though they started eating meat. There are a couple theories on it, climate change and it was easier to eat meat then search for berries and seeds, but starting out we didn’t eat much meat.
Regardless, we did start to eat meat sometime and have for thousands of years now. Our bodies cannot handle not only the huge amounts of sugar that they put into everything but also our bodies cannot covert corn syrup, we just don’t know how to do it. So it stays in our bodies and clogs it up.
I can’t find hardly anything with out it! Even while at whole foods looking for barbecue sauce over half of the brands had corn syrup in them.
More and more people should be aware of this problem or care about it. I’ve taken to writing companies but so far all I get is, “The FDA has approved corn syrup for comsumption.”.
Ya thanks for caring about your consumer. LOL
GREAT POST!!!
August 4, 2008 at 11:24 am
Thank you for reading!
It is a shame that the only response you get from companies is that it has been approved for consumption. Well…so was vioxx, look at what happened to that!