Why high fructose corn syrup is fattening....

Today's Post:  Tuesday, 1-8-2013

We already knew that high fructose corn syrup is fattening and extra harmful.  But two new things have come up showing why it is extra fattening.

The makers of high fructose corn syrup say that regular sugar in excess is fattening and high fructose corn syrup is too but not more fattening.  They also say that at 55% fructose where real sugar has 50% is a small difference.  So the problem is that people eat or drink too much and high fructose corn syrup is no better and no worse.

We've already posted on reasons this is false which we’ll review in case you missed them or don’t know them.

A.  But two new things were in the news recently.

1.  The big one is that real sugar turns down your appetite a bit when you eat it in foods; but recent research using brain scans proves that high fructose corn syrup does not!

We've already posted that fructose and glucose in real sugar are bonded or linked together and your body has to separate them. 

But high fructose corn syrup is a simple mix of some of each.  That means that the blood sugar surge from ingesting that high fructose corn syrup is worse and faster than it is for sugar.  So ingesting high fructose corn syrup is more addictive and more likely to cause type 2 diabetes and rebound hunger than sugar is.

And, we've posted that:

Regular soft drinks are the perfect fattener because they add calories but cause zero reduction in hunger. 

That is likely true even when sugar is used because there are no other nutrients of fiber in soft drinks. 

Worse, the sugar surge in your blood causes an insulin response that directly fattens you AND after ingesting calories that didn’t reduce your hunger, the resulting low blood sugar causes rebound hunger and you are hungrier than you were to start with!

Now we find out that even in foods, that high fructose corn syrup has that same effect!

Ouch!

2.  I've also recently read there is a petition to the FDA to limit high fructose corn syrup to containing the 55% 45% mix or at least label it if there is more fructose than 55%.  It seems that much of the high fructose corn syrup now used in foods and drinks is more addictive, sweeter, and more fattening for that reason too -- it contains more than 55% fructose!.

B.  We already knew that high fructose corn syrup was put into foods because it cost less than sugar, was easier to add to foods, and was sweeter than sugar so the food and drink was more addictive or you could use less high fructose corn syrup than the sugar it replaced.

It’s true that consuming too much sugar is much of the problem.  But the ease of adding high fructose corn syrup to so many foods and its low price has added quite a bit of calories to what most people have been eating.  And, the sweeter taste of high fructose corn syrup has until now meant that people have been eating more of those foods.

And, it was found a year or two ago that 30% of all high fructose corn syrup used in foods and drinks contains mercury contamination due to the way it’s created.  So ingesting lots of high fructose corn syrup is harmful in addition to being extra fattening.

It also was shown that how fat the average American is went up at almost the same amount percentage wise and the same time as the amount of high fructose corn syrup in foods did. 

C.  Because we are beginning to realize just how harmful and expensive excess sugar intake is due to increased type 2 diabetes and heart disease and their medical care costs –

and how much worse high fructose corn syrup really is than even real sugar, a case can now be made to ban high fructose corn syrup use in foods and drinks at all.

At the very least high fructose corn syrup should have a tax on it making it three times or more as expensive to use as sugar.

But neither of those things may happen or happen soon even if one or both do eventually.

What to do?

1.  Eat very few foods and drink very few drinks that don’t have labels on them. 

2.  When a food or drink does have a label, always read it!

And, if it lists high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, or corn sugar don’t buy or ingest it!

3.  Look for brands of food that have no high fructose corn syrup etc at all.

For some foods that works.  Annie’s Naturals at Whole Foods and many but not all Newman’s Own brands tend to be good candidates.

4.  Make some sweet things at home using better and real ingredients.  Then you can trust what is in the food.  And, for most people that also means they eat sweet foods less often.  Better yet you can develop recipes you really like for special occasions.

That makes for sweet treats that are dramatically better for you than the store bought things with high fructose corn syrup.  It helps you have sweet treats far less often.  But you still get foods you like.  (It’s even possible to make such treats without using high glycemic refined grains we are beginning to find out.)

D.  For good health and fat loss, doing this gives you a powerful second benefit too.

The majority of foods high fructose corn syrup is in have other ingredients you can do without calorie wise and you are dramatically better off and healthier if you never eat or drink them!

These include:

Refined flour made with GMO wheat flour; isolated soy protein from GMO soy; hydrogenated oils (heart attack starter); and oils high in omega 6 such as corn oil, soy oil, and canola oil – virtually of which are made from GMO corn, soy, and canola seeds.  Such foods also often contain MSG which is also addictive and fattening even when the MSG is deliberately mislabeled to hide it being there.  (Natural flavorings, spices, autolyzed yeast, and more are really deliberately hidden MSG.)