High Fructose Corn Syrup

Roz Burnham

Metabolic Clinical Nutrition

Mysite.verizon.net/rozburnham

The amount and types of sugar in the American diet has drastically changed since 1970. Prior to this, most sugar was mechanically derived from processing the beet and sugarcane plants.

Then a new chemical process was created by food manufactures to produce a sweeter sugar from corn. Today, most of the sugars in foods and beverages come from corn. Corn derived sugars are called corn syrup, fructose, dextrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

The chemical process begins with genetically modified corn converted into corn starch and treated with chemicals to yield a crystal clear syrup known as high fructose corn syrup. This is a cheaper and more profitable form of sugar, allowing the large agri-businesses, profits of $2.6 billion annually at the expense of your health!

This new form is sugar is unable to be metabolized normally by the cells. Natural sugar can be broken down by every cell of the body into glucose, which is used as fuel for energy production.

High fructose corn syrup is only metabolized by the liver and is converted into fat! The liver becomes overburdened with fat molecules, spilling this fat into the blood stream, raising triglyceride levels and increasing LDL (bad) cholesterol levels leading to obesity and heart disease.

Corn derived sugars cause the loss of the vital minerals of magnesium, copper and chromium which help prevent heart disease and diabetes.

Read the list of ingredients on food labels for: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose or natural sweeteners. Foods labeled sugar free or no sugar added may contain one or more of these sugars. Especially check processed foods, soft drinks, juices, all types of beverages, bread, pasta and tomato sauces, ketchup, bbq sauce, canned veggies, pickles, jams, jelly, cakes, pies, cookies, yogurts, ice cream, applesauce, and canned fruits. You may be very surprised at how much corn syrup is in your daily diet!

You can avoid many of these sugars by eating whole unrefined organic foods and using natural unprocessed sweeteners like honey and stevia.